I received this message via "Mail" and thought it was something that might be helpful to the ATP community. The message was sent by Nanny 23 and she agreed to allow me to post it here.
Nanny said: "So when you purchase an orchid that is already blooming or has finished blooming, what is the best way to get them to bloom again? I have a few orchids that I purchased on sale from Lowes, that had finished blooming so they put them on clearance back in the late Summer/Early Fall. One of them has bloomed for me, but the rest don't have any sign of blooming. Some of them weren't in the best shape. But out of the 8 that I bought I managed to keep 7 alive. I believe they had been over watered. And I am pretty sure that the one that is failing had too much sun on top of being water logged. But they were marked down so cheap I couldn't resist. And they needed me!
My mother and I bought all they had left that looked salvageable. I know "cheap" does not usually give you the best plants. But I figured if I could get these to grow, I would be able to invest in some better quality (and more expensive) plants with a little more confidence. And the orchid pots alone ,that some of them were in ,cost more than we paid for the potted plants. Most of them have a marker in the pot with a month ,date and year, as well as the color and variety? and a number. Any clue what that means? Is the date an indication of age? Most have 11/13/10. Or a similar date ending in 2010. I am not familiar enough with Orchids to know what all that means.
I put them (my "rescue orchids") near a east/southeast facing window and fertilize every 3-4 weeks. I only water once a week usually, some are planted in commercial orchid medium, a few are still in moss. They are in my dining room now, but as soon as the weather is warm enough they will go outside on my covered patio on the east end of the house. I haven't tried any of them in the greenhouse yet. I suppose as an experiment I should put one or two in the greenhouse just to see how they do. But I like having them were I can monitor their progress.
So what can I do that I am not already doing?"
First the label. Keep those labels with your plants. I always like to know what my plants are, so knowing the variety of the plant is important, at least to me. The date is perhaps the date that the plants were potted up. That's just a guess. The numbers are probably the grower's item numbers and thus are not important.
When I lecture to organizations, I always have a "Question and Answer" session at the end. Always, and I do mean always, one of the questions is: "My orchid (usually bought at a big-box store) was in bloom when I purchased it and it has never bloomed again", or "My orchid was in bloom when I purchased it and within six months, it was dead". Most orchids, particularly the phalaenopsis varieties, are shipped with sphagnum moss as their media. Sphagnum moss holds water a long time and since these plants may be in transit or sitting on a shelf for weeks, the grower/big box store doesn't want to have to worry about watering them. Good for them, bad for the buyer. It is difficult if not impossible to really know when a plant growing in sphagnum moss needs watering. Take the plant out of the pot, remove the moss, and replant it in orchid media, something like a mix of Douglas fir bark, horticultural charcoal, coconut fiber chunks, and perlite. I have typically substituted expanded rock for the perlite for my plants, but perlite is easier to find. Just be sure that the perlite is course, not fine or medium. What you are after is an extremely well-draining mix, one that doesn't retain moisture long-term. If you use a pot that is full of holes so that air can pass through, so much the better. Don't allow your pot to sit in a saucer full of water unless the bottom of the pot doesn't touch that water, such as filling the saucer with pebbles. The vast majority of orchids that die do so because of over-watering. The roots literally drown. That's why some water their plants with ice cubes. The ice melts and thus waters the plant, but those ice cubes don't over-water. If you want to water with ice cubes that's fine, but don't put the ice directly on the plant or its roots. Sometime that is the problem. The leaves might be low, almost resting on the media and often the roots are growing along the surface of the media. There might not be enough space to put the ice cubes on without touching plant or roots.
Be sure your orchid received good, indirect light. Phalaenopsis plants can grow well with less light than the cattleya alliance plants, but the better the light, the better the blooming. Mist your plant every few days to keep the humidity up. From November through February, I generally water my plants one week and then fertilize it the following week. I also dilute my fertilizer at 1/2-1/4 the recommended rate. A handy term used with orchid growers is "Fertilize weakly, weekly". From March through October I still alternate watering/fertilizing, but I might have to water every 3-4 days. Other than my "baby" orchids, my plants are all outside during the warm months and thus dry out more quickly.
Many books have been written on orchid care, potting media, fertilizer, etc. It is impossible to cover much detail in a thread such as this.
