SMALL ORCHIDS

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

So, what are small orchids? Among 30k plus orchid species found around the world, there are thousands that will fall into a small orchid category. We separate orchids into 3 categories – micro, miniature, and small orchids. Small orchid plants would be the adult orchid species that reach anywhere between 2 – 7inches in leaf spam. When talking about small orchids, we are not referring to bloom sizes but rather to their actual leaf size. Categorizing plants into different sections like small orchids helps growers and hobbyists when choosing proper size plants for their setups, terrariums, and other growing environments. Many websites would mark “small orchid” any orchid plant that appears smaller than regular size orchid, which can lead to confusion and disappointment after the purchase – when you are looking for some small orchid plant for your terrarium setup or glass orb and you receive orchid with leaves over 10” tall, you just won’t be able to fit it into such setup.

I would like to clear another misconception about small orchids – size of their blooms. Many growers think that small orchids means 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 small orchid species that produce blooms larger than the plant itself. 

Where do you start when choosing your new small orchid? First, prepare your setup – the size of your new orchid home will determine what size orchids you are looking for and how many small 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 small orchid babies. All these are crucial for choosing the correct plants – none of us wants to be disappointed by choosing the wrong small orchids for our environments and watch them slowly die. 

Depending on your temperatures, you select cold growing, intermediate growing or warm growing small 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 small 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 small 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 small 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 small orchids like Lepanthes, Pleurothallis, 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 small orchids that like brighter light, lower humidity, and stronger air movement like Ddendrobium, Cattleya or Oncidium. 

Last but not least, light – providing correct lighting for your small orchids will be another important ingredient for successful growing, and blooming. You can do anything correctly, nailing temperatures, humidity, air movement but your small 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 small orchid 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 small 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 – small 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 small size plants due to lack of space, some want to enjoy growing orchids indoors, others want to add small orchid to terrariums with frogs or other amphibians. Whatever your reason is, we would love to invite you to this giant world of small orchids. Join us on this journey and do not hesitate to ask any questions before you purchase your small orchid plants.