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HUMIDITY
In many parts of the country, high humidity is the hallmark of
summer. Along with the warm temperatures, orchids simply thrive in
the higher humidity outdoors. So make sure you leave your orchids
outside, while you crank up the air-conditioning and cool off inside
the house. If your outside humidity is very low, say below 50%, you
may be better off keeping your plants inside the home where you can
maintain higher humidity. AIR MOVEMENT
The more air movement there is, the happier and healthier your orchids
will be. Place them where the foliage actually rustles gently in
the breeze. Air movement helps keeps leaves cool (reducing the
chances of leaf burn) and also reduces the incidence of fungal and
bacterial attacks. It is one of the most frequently overlooked factors in
growing healthy orchids
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and of
course...FERTILIZER
During summer, you can increase your fertilizer applications on many
orchids, such as brassias, cymbidiums, cattleyas, vandas, and phalaenopsis to great
advantage (more growth means more flowers). However, do not overfeed
your orchids no matter how wonderful the weather conditions and how well
they grow. Excess feeding can cause root and leaf 'burn' which can cripple
your orchid. Most of the orchids we grow are epiphytes and
depend upon rainfall and leaf ebris for all their nutrients. There is an optimal level of fertilizer and anything beyond
this will either collect in your potting mix to the detriment of your
orchid, or leach out and be wasted. With warm sunny weather,
however, you can water your orchids heavily to leach out any
salts that have built up in your mix.
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