Growing Orchids in Avocados – Lynne’s Experiment

After watching a television program about the Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens, I had the idea of growing my own Phalaenopsis Orchids (the most common indoor Orchids) an indoor plant. In my sun lounge I have a large avocado tree that I have grown from a discarded stone. This is supported by a moss pole that seemed to be the perfect thing to grow my Orchids on. In the wild Orchids grow on trees by using nooks and crannies in bark to attach themselves. They are not a parasitic plant, as they take no nutrients from the tree; just use them as a growing ledge to give them the perfect spot for light and moisture. At Kew they exploit this property by attaching the Orchids to all sorts of trees and growing frames including pergolas and arches.

I was not so ambitious but I am pleased to say that after a month or so all three of the orchids I attached came into flower. I water the roots with a bottle and the excess water will also water the avocado  and both benefit from an occasional spray with orchid fertiliser. I used hessian ribbon to tie loosely around the roots and sphagnum moss, they already had around their roots, and bit by bit the roots are escaping and finding their way around the tree and the moss pole. I love how the orchids have added colour to my avocado tree and moving them there has freed up space on the window sills for more plants.