The Orchid Care Glossary from R to S

In case you’re wondering where Q went, there were no entries for it in the American Orchid Society’s glossary, so we skipped it! Though we did find this very extensive orchid glossary with a few Q’s – quadrangular, quadrate and quadrilateral. But here are orchid terms for the letters “R” and  “S” from the AOS glossary, with some additional links for more in-depth explanations. 

Raceme- An unbranched inflorescence of stalked flowers.

• The Wikipedia entry has diagrams and photos!

Rhizome- A root-bearing stem of sympodial orchids that progressively sends up leafy shoots.

• Sympodial means "with conjoined feet", and photo examples may help explain the difference between a monopodial orchid like the Phalaenopsis orchid and sympodial orchids.

Scape- An unbranched inflorescence with one flower. Or, as Answers.com puts it:Scape, flower stalk; erect leafless flower stalk growing directly from the ground as in a tulip.

Sheath- A modified leaf that encloses an emerging inflorescence or leaf.

Somaclonal Variation- Genetic variants arising from tissue culture.

Species- A kind of plant that is distinct from other plants.

Spike- An unbranched inflorescence of unstalked flowers.

• The Wikipedia entry for Raceme, above, has a diagram and photo example.

Stem Propagation- See micropropagation

• Micropropagation- The use of tissue culture to grow inactive axillary buds into whole plants with very little somaclonal variation, unlike adventitious propagation.

• For details, see The Orchid Lady’s explanation.

Stolon- A branch that grows horizontally above the medium and produces roots and shoots at the nodes.

• For photos and examples see Wikipedia’s Stolon entry.

Stomata- The breathing pores on the surface of a plant's leaves.

Sympodial- Orchids which grow laterally and produce leafy growths along a rhizome.

• See the explanation and  link under rhizome, above.    

Come back to read the exciting alphabetical conclusion of our journey through orchid terminology!   

If You Think You Killed Your Orchid

Here is some comfort for those who find they have accidentally killed their orchids from Larry Litwin, a veteran grower:

“I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow orchids in climate-controlled growth chambers, greenhouses, outdoors, under lights and on windowsills. Throughout, I have managed to kill a lot of orchids.  I feel qualified to offer reassurance to the beginner who has some apprehension. I would advise you not to worry.”

Of course, he understands, it will be by accident. “You will repot something at exactly the wrong time. You will both overwater and underwater. You will heavily fertilize a plant that is salt-intolerant. You will give shade lovers too much sun and sun lovers too much shade. This is unavoidable. Some mistakes will be made because you just didn't know any better. Others will occur because you followed well-intentioned advice which was inappropriate for your conditions.”

“Much of orchid growing depends on your experience. Experience takes time. The more experience you have, the more mistakes you will have made, the more problems you will be able to anticipate and avoid.”

“…reading and talking to other growers is very important. Learning what has worked for other people is only one of the benefits. This also exposes you to considerations which may not have occurred to you otherwise.”

His advice is to “balance all advice against your experience with your own conditions. Find out why the advice is given. Determine the cause-and-effect basis for the advice. Then analyze how that relates to your situation and conditions. Modify the advice as necessary and apply it. You won't go too far wrong. The important thing is to understand the "why" of it rather than the "how" or "what." Above all, be prepared to make mistakes.”

In closing, he offers, “don't fret too much over the ones you kill. It really can't be helped.”

Read the full article on the AOS website.

The Orchid Care Glossary from M to P

Learning orchid terminology involves a refresher on basic biology, so we’ve included links to help you out. Here are letters “M” through “P” from the American Orchid Society’s glossary.

Medium - the material in which an orchid is container-grown, it may be organic such as fir bark or inorganic such as lava rock.

Mericlone - a plant derived from tissue culture that is identical to its parent. More info is available on the Orchids Wiki!

Meristem - the actively growing area of the plant from which mature tissues such as leaf, stems, flowers and roots originate.

Micropropagation - the use of tissue culture to grow inactive axillary buds into whole plants with very little somaclonal variation, unlike adventitious propagation.

• Axillary buds - new growths in the area between the upper side of a leaf or stem and the supporting stem or branch.
• Somaclonal variation involves genetics – here’s the Wikipedia explanation.

Monopodial - orchids which grow upward from a single stem producing leaves and flowers along that stem. Phalaenopsis orchids are included in this group.

Node - a joint on a stem or pseudobulb from which a leaf or growth originates.

Panicle - an inflorescence with a main stem and branches, the flowers on the lower branches open earlier than the upper ones.

• Inflorescence - the flowering portion of a plant.
• From Answers.com: a loose, open, branching cluster of flowers that bloom from the center or bottom toward the edges or top. Examples of plants that produce panicles are yucca, catalpa, and baby's breath.

Photosynthesis - the process a plant uses to produce carbohydrates and sugar from water and carbon dioxide in the air using chlorophyll-containing cells exposed to light. For a refresher, check out this online biology book!

Polyploid - a plant with more than the normal two sets of chromosomes. Brush up with the Wikipedia entry for Chromosomes.

Pseudobulb - a thickened portion of the stem of many orchids functioning as a water and food storage device.

An Anatomy Map of Phalaenopsis Orchids

When people begin to really get into orchid care, they are likely to find themselves asking for help from those with more expertise and/or referring to websites or books on the subject. It can be difficult to be absolutely sure what the expert is describing if you’re not familiar with orchid anatomy. The written description may not be enough without a orchid photo or drawing to point the way. That’s why we’ve provided what you might call “orchid maps!” That way you can tell exactly what we’re referring to when we give advice on orchid care.

We’ve given you a good amount of orchid terms too, so you can build your vocabulary as you go. But a picture is said to be worth a thousand words – well, at least 10 to 15 of them.

The orchid spike image gives you only two main parts to worry about – the bloom and the bud. The orchid plant image has eight terms that cover from the roots to the flowers, and the orchid flower anatomy has five terms but spread over eight locations. And of course, because we love them the most, the photos are all of lovely Phalaenopsis orchids.

They’re so pretty, you’ll probably want to click on the Printer Friendly Version link at the bottom right of the page and print them out! They can serve as educational reminds, garden shed décor in the form or posters or pin-ups, or even framed and placed around your home or office to brighten up rooms that don’t already have an real orchid in them for whatever reason. We know there must be a good reason!

Orchid Care Videos

Have you check out Just Add Ice orchid care video section? We’ve got a selection that includes:

For those who plan ahead, we’ve got “Selecting a Healthy Orchid”. Because it is important when purchasing a new orchid to be sure that the plant is in good shape. Orchid blooms should be healthy and flowering.

Basic orchid care is covered in “Simple as 1-2-3 Orchid Care”. We’ll help you keep your Just Add Ice Orchid plant flourishing and in bloom for months by just adding 3 ice cubes once a week. It's that simple!

“Orchid Lighting” highlights a very important aspect of orchid placement. When placing you Just Add Ice orchid in your home, be sure to locate it near a window for the proper amount of light. Just Add Ice Orchids flourish in the right environment.

“Orchid Pot Water Drainage” helps you make sure that your plant stays healthy once you’ve gotten the watering schedule down. Every Just Add Ice Orchid comes in both a ceramic decorative pot and a clear growing pot. The growing pot is equipped with holes on the bottom for just this purpose!

For those who have had their orchids a bit longer, we’ve got:

“Repotting Your Just Add Ice Orchid”, in which a Just Add Ice Orchids expert walks you through the steps of re-potting a phalaenopsis orchid, including the type of pot and soil that should be used and where to cut the flower stem when re-blooming your flower.

“Trigger Orchid Reblooming” Once the last flower fades on your phalaenopsis orchid, you have a options for your next steps. New buds will not form on a flower spike that has turned yellow.

“Orchid Flower and Bud Loss” Your orchid can bloom for several weeks to several months and it is natural for your orchid to enter a dormant stage in which flowers begin to fall.

It’s like having your own orchid university!

Glossary Exploration of the letter A for Orchids

Looking at a few online glossaries of orchid terminology, we realized that the explanations given for the words that begin with the letter “A” alone require looking up a number of other words just to understand the definitions. So here’s our reinterpretation of orchid terms from the American Orchid Society that begin with “A”.

Adventitious Bud - meristem originating from a single cell or group of cells not part of preexisting meristem.

• Meristem - the actively growing area of the plant from which mature tissues such as leaf, stems, flowers and roots originate.
• Translation into simple English: a bud that develops in an unusual, unexpected place on the plant.
• For more, go to Wikipedia’s page on Adventitiousness

Adventitious Propagation - the use of tissue culture to produce whole plants from adventitious buds. Can lead to high levels of somaclonal variation, unlike micropropagation.

• Tissue Culture - the technique of culturing cells on a sterile synthetic media. There are two general methods use to propagate plants -- micropropagation and adventitious propagation.
• Somaclonal Variation - genetic variants arising from tissue culture.
• Micropropagation - the use of tissue culture to grow inactive axillary buds into whole plants with very little somaclonal variation, unlike adventitious propagation.
• Axillary Bud - preexisting meristem within the axil of a leaf that is normally inactive in growth.
• Axil - the angle between the upper side of a leaf or stem and the supporting stem or branch.
• Wikipedia explains, “Adventitious roots and buds are very important when people propagate plants. Propagation via root cuttings requires adventitious bud formation. Adventitious roots and buds must develop in tissue culture propagation of plants.”

Aerial Root  - any root produced above the growing medium.

Aerial Stem - a stem with an erect or vertical growth above the ground.

Anther - the part of the stamen containing the pollen; the end of the column.

Axillary Bud - preexisting meristem within the axil of a leaf that is normally inactive in growth.

To Rescue or Cut Broken Orchid Leaves and Stems

It happens. You drop something on your orchid plant, or perhaps the whole pot gets knocked over or dropped. Maybe it gets damaged on the way home from the nursery, or a pet or child gets a little to inquisitive. Whatever the case, orchids survived and thrived in the wild for a long, long time, so they can’t possibly be as fragile as they seem. Here’s how to deal with broken leaves or stems with proper orchid care.

A broken leaf shouldn’t cause any harm to your Phalaenopsis orchid plant. But if you want to cut it off for display purposes, you should do it carefully. Use a sterile knife or scissor to prevent infection, and cut it a half-inch from the central stem.

If one of the flowering stems has broken, you might be tempted to wrap some tape around it and pretend it didn’t happen, but it’s not likely to stay unnoticed for long. Besides, leaving it like that invites infection, which could do a lot more damage.

Instead, cut the orchid flower spike above where it has broken, and put it in a vase with water, like you would with any cut flower. Then, remove the remaining broken flower spike down to the base of the orchid. This will encourage new flower spikes to grow.

Many orchid lovers recommend putting some cinnamon on the broken end for it’s antimicrobial properties. New blossoms may take up to a year to appear, but as long as the leaves and roots of your orchid are healthy, you will get new flowers eventually!

If you have any questions about your Just Add Ice Orchid, feel free to post it to our Orchid Care Forums!

Good Orchid Care: Avoiding Orchid Sunburn

For a great dose of advice regarding sunburn for humans, we’ll refer you to the lyrics of the song “Sunscreen” which advises (among many other wonderful things): “If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.”

We actually have found a sunscreen for plants but so far it only seems like it’s made for use on large crops. For our small relatively small orchid collections, we’ll just have to plan ahead, just as you do when you apply sunscreen before putting yourself in the sun.

Though Phalaenopsis orchids are from warm climates, they’re not necessarily exposed to direct sunlight, since they spend most of their time attached to trees, enjoying the dappled sunlight and shade and humid, watery air. Here’s what you can do to help recreate that setting for your orchid plants during the hot summer months:

1. Move the orchids into a shady spot that still gets some light
2. Water more often to make sure the roots stay hydrated
3. Provide a breeze to cool the plants, especially if closed indoors
4. Mist plants in the morning to create orchid humidity and bring down the ambient temperature
5. Hose down surrounding benches, floors, and ground to keep them cooler
6. Have someone take care of your orchids if you go on vacation

Just like people, plants turn red when they’re burning. If they’re turning red, act fast to prevent the leaves from turning yellow, withering, or sporting white or brown splotches. Photos and more info can be found at My Orchid Care.com.

The Five Docks Orchid Society also warns that sunburned orchids are susceptible to infestation and orchid disease and fertilizer may burn orchids even further.

So enjoy the summer sun, but be sure to protect yourself and your orchids!

Make Orchid Facebook Friends

If you like our blog and webpage, you’ll LOVE our Just Add Ice Orchid Facebook page! It’s colorful and full of orchid care tips, cool orchid facts and discussions – plus you can make new orchid connections among the others who have become our Facebook fans and friends.

One friend posted, “I just recently purchased my first orchid, Just Add Ice, and it is the most beautiful plant I have ever had! It is the most brilliant deep lavender and the blossoms are flourishing. I look forward to seeing how it grows and now I am hooked, I want to get more!! I love the weekly watering with 3 ice cubes e-mail reminder, great idea.”

Also on our Facebook page you can follow a link to visit P. Allen Smith’s page. If you don’t already know, P. Allen Smith is an award-winning garden designer, author and popular television show host. He says, “When it comes to bringing the garden indoors, the Phalaenopsis orchid is my favorite flowering houseplant. Long lasting flowers, elegance and ease of care make it a great choice for both new and seasoned gardeners.”

So join us! View the beginnings of our fan orchid photos section and make your own contributions, then check out what orchids are blooming in our greenhouse. And as an added bonus, once you become a fan on our Facebook page, you can win free orchids! Our fans will have a chance to win a free orchid each week, and then, on August 2nd, our grand prize drawing will reveal which fan will win a one-year supply of free orchids.

More contests are going on, like orchid trivia and photo contests too. That way you can teach us a thing or two about orchid care from your own store of orchid knowledge.

Orchid Care on YouTube

If you haven’t already discovered it, you might be surprised at the amount of information on orchid care that’s available on YouTube. The Just Add Ice Orchid YouTube channel has great information on watering, lighting and temperature for orchid to keep them healthy and blooming. 

The American Orchids Society has a channel called Orchid TV. They’ve got 18 videos on their channel, including 2 different ones on cutting Phalaenopsis spikes. It can’t hurt to see it done once before trying this out on your own plant.

Just Add Ice’s favorite decorator P. Allen Smith has his own channel too but one video in particular dedicated to Phalaenopsis Orchids. The description says, “They're known the world over and grow in some pretty strange places. But, as Allen Smith shows us, orchids don't have to be foreign to you.”

A channel called My orchid care has a couple on our favorite Phals. One on Phalaenopsis Repotting one on Cutting Spikes on a Phalaenopsis.

The Expert Village channel has tips on how to do just about anything, but they’ve got several on orchid care that seems to begin with Orchid Care: Plant Structures and Development : Understand the Various Stages of a Growing Orchid. Once you’re there, you’ll see a slew of additional orchid care videos listed. We counted 15 more listed on the right.

And someone going by the name of Orchid Expert has, among other things, a video called Phalaenopsis Orchid Care Made Easy “Phalaenopsis Orchids can be easy to care for if you know the steps. This tutorial on Phalaenopsis Orchids should help you care for this Orchid variety.”

And these are a few of the videos we found when we did a search for “orchid care”! If you’ve watched them all, you can also do a search for “orchid plants” or just plain “orchids” and you may find a few you haven’t seen before.