MINIATURE ORCHIDS

To start, we will have to establish what “miniature orchid” actually is. For many, miniature orchid is that smaller version of Phalaenopsis sold in grocery stores all around the world. For others, miniature orchid means orchid baby, so they think these miniature plants are orchid seedlings that will grow much bigger in time. None of the above is true.

So, what are miniature orchids? Among 30k plus orchid species found around the world, there are thousands that will fall into a miniature orchid category. We separate orchids into 3 categories – micro, miniature, and small orchids. Miniature orchid plants would be the adult orchid species that reach anywhere between 0.5 – 2inches in leaf spam. When talking about miniature orchids, we are not referring to bloom sizes but rather to their actual leaf size. Categorizing plants into different sections like miniature orchids helps growers and hobbyists when choosing proper size plants for their setups, terrariums, and other growing environments. Many websites would mark “miniature orchid” any orchid plant that is smaller than regular orchid, which can lead to confusion and disappointment after the purchase – when you are looking for some tiny orchid plant for your small terrarium setup or glass orb and you receive orchid with leaves nearly 10” tall, you just won’t be able to fit it into such setup. 

I would like to clear another misconception about miniature orchids – size of their blooms. Many growers think that miniature orchids will have tiny little blooms, some impossible to see with your naked eye. This may be true for some species, but others will surprise you with a huge bloom compared to actual plant size – there are miniature orchid species that produce blooms larger than the plant itself.   

Where do you start when choosing your new miniature orchid? First, prepare your setup – the size of your new orchid home will determine what size orchids you are looking for and how many miniature orchids you can actually fit in. After your setup is ready, you must consider growing conditions – what will be your temperatures day/night, is there added light, fan for air movement, what humidity will you be able to provide for you miniature orchid babies. All these are crucial for choosing the correct plants – none of us wants to be disappointed by choosing the wrong miniature orchids for our environments and watch them slowly die. 

Depending on your temperatures, you select cold growing, intermediate growing or warm growing miniature orchid species. There may be a mix of all if you can provide mild day temperatures in 70’s and night drops to 60’s or even 50’s. It is very important to read and research before you purchase your new orchids – it will be very hard to grow warm/hot growing species when your temperatures at night are in low 60’s or 50’s, the same way it would be impossible to grow cold growing species under temperatures above 70F constantly. 

Humidity is another key factor when choosing your miniature orchids – there are some species that tolerate lower humidity between 60-70%. These are plants that like to dry out between waterings so good air movement will be crucial for successful growing. They can be grown in terrariums or other simple setups, or just hanging on your windowsills. Other miniature orchids will require high constant humidity – and as such, they must be grown in setups that can guarantee these conditions. Even within the same setup you can achieve slightly different conditions for your miniature orchid – usually, bottom of setups where there is a layer of some media and/or moss provides much higher humidity. It is also further from light. These conditions will be perfect for miniature orchids like Lepanthes, Pleurothallis, Trisetella, Masdevallia, Porroglossum, jewel orchids and others. The top of the setups provides much drier conditions with brighter light and better air movement – here you can place miniature orchids that like brighter light, lower humidity, and stronger air movement. 

Last but not least, light – providing correct lighting for your miniature orchids will be another important ingredient for successful growing, and blooming. You can do anything correctly, nailing temperatures, humidity, air movement but your miniature orchid is still not doing well or blooming – and all is caused by improper light levels. Some orchids love shade, others prefer bright light. Position your new miniature orchid babies according to their requirements. In many cases we can see an issue in just a few weeks – when orchid leaves are turning deep/dark red (red on the bottom part of leaves is usually normal) – this is an indicator of too much light. You should reposition your orchid away from the light source to help it grow healthy and bloom. Some miniature orchids will not show any signs, they’ll grow looking healthy but never bloom. This can be caused by light levels as well – too much or too little light can cause a lack of spikes/buds. 

To sum it all up – miniature orchids are fully grown, adult size orchids bringing a lot of joy to those who fell in love with them. Many of us are looking for miniature size plants due to lack of space, some want to enjoy growing orchids indoors, others want to add miniature orchid to terrariums with frogs or other amphibians. Whatever your reason is, we would love to invite you to the charming world of miniature orchids. Join us on this journey and do not hesitate to ask any questions before you purchase your miniature orchid plants.