How to Get an Orchid to Rebloom

Your orchid may look like it’s dead, but it may just be dormant. Learning how to get an orchid to rebloom is the key to having gorgeous flowers year-round. This guide will teach you everything you need to know.

Do you love to decorate your house with live plants? If you have a green thumb, you might find yourself tired of easy-to-care-for plants and interested in caring for something a little trickier.

Orchids will bring a sense of uniqueness and sophistication to your decor. There are many meanings behind the orchid flower, making it a special addition to your home. With over 25,000 different species of orchids to choose from, you’re sure to find one that matches your home.

However, they can be a very finicky flower to care for, and you might have trouble figuring out how to get an orchid to rebloom. Despite this fact, tons of people take on the challenge of caring for orchids every day.

Are you interested in adding an orchid in your life? Keep reading to learn how to get an orchid to rebloom every year.

Opt for Cooler Temperatures

While many houseplants may enjoy the warmth, cooler temperatures might actually be the key to getting your orchid to rebloom.

Orchids are tropical flowers and usually love warm weather. The best method to help your orchid rebloom is to keep it in a warm environment during the day. At night, move it to a cooler location.

Ideally, the orchid should be kept about 10 degrees cooler at nighttime – or around 55 to 65 degrees. You should continue this routine until you notice a new flower spike appear.

Have you been trying to get your orchard to rebloom and found yourself asking the question “how often do orchids bloom?” If so, we have the answer for you.

Orchids flowers rebloom once a year. While most flowers bloom in spring or summer, many orchids actually bloom in the autumn.

During autumn, the nights get colder. Because of this, keeping your orchid in cooler temperatures at night may help it rebloom by helping it notice that it’s autumn.

Use Ice Cubes as Water

Watering your orchid can be the hardest part of caring for them. If you water them too much, their buds might fall off before they bloom. Continuing to overwater the plant could lead to it dying.

Underwatering can have a similar outcome. If the leaves don’t receive enough water, they’ll suck water away from the buds in order to save themselves. If underwatering continues, your orchid may die.

So how can you tell if you’re watering it the right amount?

Well, your orchid should be able to dry out in-between waterings. If you notice the soil is still damp, hold off watering it until the soil is dry to the touch. If you start to notice your orchid flower buds start to turn yellow or shrivel, that’s a tell-tale sign that they are dehydrated and the plant needs more water.

One good trick is to use ice cubes instead of regular water. About 3 ice cubes should be enough to adequately water your orchid. Plus, the cold water will help chill your plant at night.

Use the Right Fertilizer

Choosing the right fertilizer can be an important step to learning how to care for orchids.

Orchids typically don’t need a lot of nutrients to survive. However, in order to get your orchid to rebloom, you might need to include some fertilizer in their pot.

Urea-free fertilizer is the best type to use as it provides nitrogen for your orchid to feed on. However, remember that orchids do not react well to salt, so always avoid fertilizers that contain this harmful ingredient.

Find the Right Lighting

Lighting is key for any plant to survive and bloom. In fact, bad lighting is the top reason why orchids won’t rebloom.

Now, you might hear this and be tempted to place your orchid in direct sunlight to assist in the blooming process. However, direct sunlight can be detrimental to an orchid flower. Too much direct sunlight may cause their delicate petals to burn. Instead, you should keep them in indirect sunlight.

Also, be aware of the damages artificial light can have on an orchid flower as well. Remember when we said that orchid flowers bloom in autumn? Well, in addition to cooler nights, autumn also has shorter days where orchids would have less access to sunlight in nature.

For the reason, keeping your orchid in artificial light 24/7 may prevent it from reblooming. By setting artificial lights to a timer (or by simply turning them off when it’s dark outside), your orchid may notice that the days are shorter and take it as a cue to start blooming again.

This coupled with moving the orchid to a cooler environment at night will help your orchid believe it’s autumn and time to rebloom.

Re-pot Early

Re-potting your orchid can be a difficult process. When your orchid medium begins to break down, your plant’s ventilation may suffer. This can cause a lack of reblooming, so repotting your plant may be necessary for proper orchid care.

However, even if your orchid does need to be repotted, this may not fix the problem right away. Some orchids find repotting to be a traumatizing event and will not rebloom for 6 months to a year. Because of this, you should be sure to re-pot early enough to give your orchid time to settle before blooming season.

To help tell when it’s time to repot, you can look at the roots. If they appear brown or you can see some roots sneaking over the edge of the pot, it’s probably time to re-pot your orchid.

When re-potting, remember to keep your orchid flower in a small pot. They actually thrive on having crowed roots. Also, be sure to cut off any dead roots before placing the flower in its new pot.