Use This Trick On Your Withered Orchid to Make It Bloom Quickly! You’ll be surprised with the results you get!
Homemade tonics do wonders for plant health. While there are many methods for caring for orchids, some gardeners use kitchen hacks like garlic water. This leverages garlic’s antibacterial and antifungal properties to promote healthy growth and blooms.
Trick to Use on Your Withered Orchid to Make it Bloom
Garlic contains sulfur, an important mineral that helps the plant produce chlorophyll; it also helps activate certain enzymes and vitamins, which help in overall growth.
Garlic also has organosulfur compounds like allicin, which is antimicrobial and helps with the plant’s metabolic processes, enhancing its potential to bloom. This compound also makes its extract useful for deterring root rot, a common orchid ailment.
It’s interesting to note one gram of freshly crushed garlic cloves yields about 2.5-4.5 mg of allicin.
How to Make the Powerful Garlic Water
Now that you know how useful garlic can be, here’s how to make the garlic tonic:
Gather 10-12 garlic cloves and one liter (3-4 cups) of water. Peel and crush the garlic cloves, then add the mixture to boil for about 20-30 minutes. Otherwise, you can simply allow the cloves to sit in hot water for a few hours.
This steeping process ensures the water is infused with garlic’s potent properties. Once the combination has cooled completely, strain out the garlic pieces, leaving a clear garlic-infused solution ready for use.
But don’t use it on the same day. Shake it up in a bottle and let the solution rest for a day.
Applying Garlic Water to Orchid
Before you do anything, clean the orchid’s roots and remove any damaged parts with pruning shears. Then, wash the plant with clear water. This allows the roots to now absorb the garlic solution efficiently. Skip this step if your orchid roots are fine and not rotting!
Next, pour this tonic slowly over the roots and potting medium to ensure even coverage. Garlic’s high sulfur levels protect the roots from pathogens, help enzyme function and chlorophyll production, and keep pests away due its smell.
Use this trick once every 7 to 14 days—not more. You’ll start seeing the difference in flowering in 3-4 weeks only if it’s a flowering period for your orchid.
Think of it as a mild fertilizer, and don’t go overboard with the trick. Too much garlic water will harm your plant rather than help.
Additional Care
While homemade supplements like this garlic tonic do help, orchids mainly need adequate light, humidity, warmth, and water to thrive.
A well-draining potting medium like orchid bark allows air to circulate around the roots and prevents them from rotting. You’ll find orchid-specific mixes at most garden stores but there are many homemade recipes on the internet as well.
