Hi everyone,

I picked this up yesterday at the store.



I have never grown an orchid before in my life. I wanted to try it. The plant came with instructions, but I have a few questions that aren't in them.

First, do orchids need humidity?

Second, do orchids need fertilizer?

That's pretty much it. I look forward to growing these things. If I am successful with this one, I may start a collection.

If I have more questions, I'll post them.

Jared

Hi Jared,

Your new orchid is a Phalaenopsis. There is an entire 'sticky' with all sorts of links about care for Phals at the top of the main page called "Starting out with Phals/Supermarket Orchids." Hopefully you can find all the info you are looking for there. The most important consideration is don't overwater.

The thread "🗣 Starting out with Phals/Supermarket Orchids 🛎 ✍️" in Orchids forum

Jared, it is a very nice looking Phal!

At the moment I would simply enjoy the blooms, not thinking at all about humidity and fertilizing.
I would every so often stick my finger into the medium, if it feels dry, take the plant to the sink and let room temperature water run down the medium. If you get water into the crown, just tissue it out gently. Let the pot drip off and place the plant back into its spot, keeping it out of the sun.
Down the road, perhaps in Spring/perhaps Summer the plant will start growing new leaves and then might benefit from some fertilizer.
Have fun!

Ursula said: Jared, it is a very nice looking Phal!

At the moment I would simply enjoy the blooms, not thinking at all about humidity and fertilizing.
I would every so often stick my finger into the medium, if it feels dry, take the plant to the sink and let room temperature water run down the medium. If you get water into the crown, just tissue it out gently. Let the pot drip off and place the plant back into its spot, keeping it out of the sun.
Down the road, perhaps in Spring/perhaps Summer the plant will start growing new leaves and then might benefit from some fertilizer.
Have fun!

Thanks for getting back. I appreciate it.

I'll take your advice and do what you say.

By the way, here are the instructions that came with the plant. I forgot to post it.



Jared

Honestly, regarding the ice, that is a gimmick! Nature better doesn't throw ice cubes!
A few years ago by sheer luck, while running in errant in Oberlin, Ohio, we met a lady who worked at this large nursery.
https://www.justaddiceorchids....
The Just add Ice addition is their marketing ploy to get people to buy their Phals. The plants are nice and the nursery ( when we were in Oberlin) employed about 2000 people, as the lady told us. 2000 American jobs! I thought that was a good thing!

Update:



The orchid is doing very well. Two of the three last buds are getting ready to bloom.





I will post again when I notice the flowers are starting to wilt. I'm not sure what to do at that stage.

Jared

Looking good!

OK, I have a question now.

These pictures were taken in a two hour period.




8:50 AM



10:01 AM



11:10 AM

Do they usually move/bloom this fast?

I might as well set up a time lapse if it's going this fast!

Yes, once they are ready to open, Phals do that pretty fast.

Ok, I'm officially hooked on orchids.

Hey, a happy welcome to the club! Isn't it enjoyable? Nice pattern on this one !

Nice ones, Jared. Yes the flowers really "pop" open pretty fast once the buds are ready. Then the flowers often last a month or more. Some humidity around your plants will help the flowers last longer - some people use a tray of pebbles with water in it to raise the humidity around their plants. The air can be really dry there in the winter - I know, we lived in Utah for years, and my daughter still lives there. Be sure not to place your plant where the heating vents blow dry, warm air on it. If you have other indoor plants, it's good to put it in a group of plants, and they will all keep the atmosphere around them more humid. (but spraying with water, or a humidity tray will also benefit all of them, and you, too)

It will be a while until the flowers finish, then don't cut off the flower stem until it dries and goes brown. If it stays green, it could branch and produce more buds for you, or even a new baby plant (called a "keiki").

Here's a link to another page on the care of Phalaenopsis from the American Orchid Society. https://www.aos.org/orchids/cu... Bear in mind that the advice is very general. There are no strict rules, and everybody's growing conditions are different - the temperature and amount of light in your house, as well as the humidity and air movement are all different. I grow Phals outside in Florida year round, and it's really too hot and too humid for them here, for example. You can't just always "water once a week" because even growing indoors, the light conditions and temperature changes with the seasons, and your plant will need more water in summer and less in winter etc. As the light gets more intense and the days are longer, your orchid will respond to some fertilizer, too.

As Ursula said above, the ice cube watering thing is just a bad gimmick. No orchids growing in nature ever have ice on them. Use cool to warm water, not ice cold from the tap.

OK, I have a new question.




The flower in the middle of the photo, on the right near the window, is beginning to wilt. Is there anything specific I need to do when the flowers start to wilt? Do I need to wait for all flowers to wilt before I do anything?

They will drop one by one, starting with the lowest flower. If they all droop at once, I'd say your plant isn't getting enough light, or maybe enough water.

Looks to me like you still have a bud to open on that stem. Could be another month or so it will still be blooming. The flowers last a very long time if the plant is happy.

I have an update for you all and the question:



This orchid suffered a fall while I was playing billiards. I accidentally hit it and knocked it off of the credenza with my cue. That's why there's not many flowers.

My question is simple. I thought they were supposed to wilt from the bottom up. As you can see, a flower is wilting in the middle of the stalk.

Was I mistaken, and do they wilt at random places? If not, am I doing something wrong that is making the plant unhappy?

My other orchid, however, is doing fantastic. I've been fertilizing both biweekly, and watering both weekly. So far, it seems to make the purple one happy. I'm not sure about the yellow one.



Jared

I haven't grown enough Phals to answer that question. But, if you might want to check if the wilting bloom is missing its pollinia? If that got knocked out while dropped, the flower thinks it is pollinated and "done" and starts wilting.
https://www.researchgate.net/f...
Nice pink one!

Ursula said: I haven't grown enough Phals to answer that question. But, if you might want to check if the wilting bloom is missing its pollinia? If that got knocked out while dropped, the flower thinks it is pollinated and "done" and starts wilting.
https://www.researchgate.net/f...
Nice pink one!

Thanks. The pink one is pretty beautiful. Lots of flowers.

I've actually experienced this with the pink one, but only on two separate occasions. Maybe somehow, it thought it got pollinated, and the flower was finished, like you said.

However, the pollinia is still there.

I don't know.

Hi everyone,

I have an update. It's been a while. One of my orchids finally had all its blooms wilt and fall off.



It was the small one with purple flowers.

I have some basic questions.

First off, how do you prune back the flower stalks?

Second, is there any specific care they need while they are dormant and not flowering?

Finally, how long do they stay dormant before starting to flower again?

I'm researching on the Internet, and I'm getting a lot of conflicting information.

Jared

Jared,
I would simply cut the dry flower stalks.

I would expect the plant to add some new leaves over the Summer and when temperatures cool down a bit, the plant might spike again and bloom over the next Winter.

If the medium looks fine, keep going with watering your plant when needed and fertilize perhaps once a month over the Summer.
If the medium looks old or contains Sphagnum moss, I would repot into fresh bark mix at this point.

Who else would please chime in?

Yes, good advice from Ursula there, but NOTE! she says "cut the dry flower stalk". So you should wait until the stalk is brown before you cut it off. Sometimes the stalks stay green, they branch and put out new flowers, or maybe even a new baby plant (called a keiki).

Also watering when needed means you should test the medium with your finger, and water when it feels dry-ish. Where you are, the air is dry, and your house will be warmer, plus the light coming in the windows is brighter in summer as well. You probably need to water more often than you were through the winter. If you run a/c the humidity in the house is also reduced by that. But if you use a swamp cooler (I'm from Utah where we use those) it will actually humidify the air a bit - a good thing for orchids.

My Phals usually only bloom in the spring for a couple of months, then grow through the summer and start spikes again in winter for the next spring's blooms. They're very slow growing so be patient with them.