When my orchid first lost all of its flowers, I thought I had killed it. There was only a pot with a few stiff leaves and a sad green stick on the windowsill. It looked empty all of a sudden. I stood there with my watering can, looking through gardening forums at midnight. I was half-tempted to throw the whole thing away and start over with a cactus. People were asking the same question all over the place: “Why won’t my orchid bloom again
Then I saw a strange little tip hidden in a comment thread. The person said to put this thing next to your orchid. Two weeks at most. I rolled my eyes, tried it anyway, and saw a tiny spike push out of the stem like a miracle in slow motion.
The surprisingly strong thing your orchid has been waiting for
Three days after an apple slice was placed next to its pot on a quiet kitchen counter in Lyon, a white phalaenopsis orchid began to grow a new flower spike. No magic, no too much fertiliser, and no fancy grow light. A small green apple sat in a saucer close enough to the damp bark that its smell mixed with it after watering. The 60-year-old retired teacher who owned the store said she hadn’t done anything else differently. The plant had been sad for months. The apple came, and the dormant buds suddenly woke up. Your grandma might have told you the apple trick over tea, half-secretly and half-jokingly. But for years, growers have been messing with fruit that is close by. They say that putting a ripe banana or apple near a “sleeping” orchid and then quietly waiting will help it wake up. People post pictures of their plants before and after they bloom on forums. The pictures show bare stems, then new green nubs, and finally fully opened blooms. It won’t be written on the shiny tag that hangs from the pot in the store. They only say “bright, indirect light” and “water sparingly.” People who have been staring at the same pot for months, hoping for a sign of life, tell each other the real stories.
This quiet little hack makes sense in a simple way. When fruit ripens, it releases ethylene, a natural plant hormone that sends strong signals through the air. Like a lot of other plants, orchids can “read” those signals. Ethylene tells them to change gears and stop just growing leaves. They need to start thinking about reproducing and flowering.
When you put a ripe apple next to an orchid, it acts like a tiny hormone diffuser, making the orchid bloom after a long green pause. It doesn’t take the place of good care. It just gives the plant a little push that it doesn’t always get when it’s on a shelf far from its natural tropical rhythms.
How to wake up a stubborn orchid with fruit
The method is so simple that it’s almost disarming. Put a ripe apple or banana on a small plate next to your orchid, about 5 to 20 centimetres away from the pot. Not touching the bark or hiding behind another plant, just quietly sharing the same small pocket of air. After that, leave it there for three to five days.
Don’t worry about it; just keep watering it like you always do. While you check your email and scroll through your phone, the fruit whispers to you, gently filling the air around the orchid with ethylene.
A lot of people make mistakes when they get too excited. They put two bananas, three apples, and maybe a pear “for good measure” on top of each other and push them all right up against the roots of the orchid. The fruit rots, small flies come, the bark stays wet all the time, and the plant doesn’t bloom. We’ve all been there, that moment when excitement ruins the outcome.
The sweet spot is boringly average: one ripe piece of fruit, a few days, and then stop. Wait a couple of weeks for the plant to react before you try again.
If your orchid already has a flower spike about to open, too much ethylene can hurt the buds. That’s why this trick works best on plants that are resting and haven’t grown a new stem yet. Don’t use it as a panic button; use it as a nudge. And don’t forget that this isn’t a miracle that fixes bad light, the wrong potting mix, or too much water all the time. It helps a plant that is mostly healthy but not very active.
Marc, an orchid grower who sells flowers to florists in the south of France, says, “Think of ethylene as a wake-up text, not a life-support machine.” If your plant is starving or drowning, a text won’t help. But if it’s just putting things off, that little message can change everything.
Use only one ripe banana or apple at a time.
Put it close by, but don’t let it touch the potting mix.
Leave it alone for three to five days, then take it out. Look for a new spike in the next two to four weeks.
Do it again only after a month if nothing happens.
What really makes orchids bloom again, besides the apple
After you try the fruit trick, your orchid looks different to you. You see that it’s not a fragile decoration; it’s a living system that reacts to light, temperature, and tiny hormones in the air. You start to notice how the leaves feel when you touch them, how the roots turn silver when they dry out, and how the room gets a little cooler at night.
The thing next to the pot stops being a magic key and starts being a way for you and the plant to talk.
| Key point | Detail | Value for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| Use of nearby fruit | Ripe apple or banana releases ethylene around the orchid | Simple, low-cost way to stimulate new flower spikes |
| Timing and moderation | 3–5 days of exposure, then wait a few weeks | Reduces risk of rot, bugs, and bud damage |
| Healthy base care | Right light, watering, and temperature drops at night | Turns a one-off trick into long-term, repeated blooming |
FAQ:
Question 1What kind of fruit should I put next to my orchid?
Answer 1: Use a banana or apple that is ripe. They give off enough ethylene to work without hurting the plant if you only use them for a short time. This trick doesn’t work as well with citrus fruit.
Question 2: How long will it take for my orchid to bloom after I put the fruit on it?
Answer 2: You won’t see flowers for a few days, but you might see a new spike or small nub on the stem in 1 to 3 weeks. After the spike starts to grow, it usually takes a few weeks for the full blooms to show up.
Question 3: Is it okay to do this if my orchid already has buds?
Answer 3: No, you shouldn’t. Extra ethylene can make buds turn yellow and fall off. If your orchids haven’t sent out a new spike yet, try the fruit trick on them.
Question 4: Is it bad to leave the fruit out for too long?
Answer 4: Leaving fruit on the plant until it rots can stress the plant and attract fungus and bugs. Limit the exposure to 3–5 days, then throw the fruit away and open the windows.
Question 5: Do I still need to use fertiliser if I use the apple or banana method?
Answer 5: Yes. The fruit only sends a signal to the plant’s hormones; it doesn’t feed it. During the growing season, use a gentle orchid fertiliser to give the plant enough energy to make and keep flowers.
