- Peasant orchids cannot be grown for several years
- Sow the split flower every year
- Find a good location
The farmer's orchid, also known as the split flower, has nothing to do with the real orchid. Both plants belong to very different plant families. In contrast to real orchids, farmer's orchids are not grown as perennials, but as annuals and sown anew every year.
The farmer's orchid only thrives once a year
Peasant orchids cannot be grown for several years
Farmer's orchids tolerate frost down to minus seven degrees, at least for a certain period of time. The plant, which originates from the Chilean highlands, is not hardy and will not survive a harsh winter outdoors.
You can of course try to overwinter a farmer's orchid indoors in order to grow it for several years. However, it's not worth the effort. Farmer's orchids survive the winter indoors under favorable conditions, but they no longer flower the following year.
Therefore, you have to resow the pretty ornamental plant with its multicolored flowers every year.
Sow the split flower every year
The farmer's orchid flowers very early in the year if you sow it in the autumn of the previous year:
- Fill the seed tray with potting soil
- Sow seeds thinly
- lightly cover with substrate
- set up bright and warm at 22 to 25 degrees
- prick after emergence
- Plant outdoors or in tubs from March
Find a good location
So that the split flower can develop its many beautiful flowers, it needs little care but a favorable location. It should be sunny to semi-shady. You are welcome to place them under trees or shrubs, where other flowering plants rarely develop their flowers.
It is essential to prevent waterlogging, as the otherwise very robust plant will then die. Mix the soil in the flower bed with sand and create drainage in planters.
You only have to water outdoors if it has been very dry for a long time. In the tub or flower box (€16.99) ensure that the substrate never dries out completely. Fertilize the farmer's orchid outdoors with some mature compost and in the planter at fortnightly intervals with some liquid fertilizer.
tips
Although the farmer's orchid is not hardy, it can tolerate temperatures down to minus seven degrees for some time. She can therefore go outdoors as early as March. You should only protect plants in tubs from frost.