Hello everyone. I am new here and made an introduction thread above. I recently got my first orchid as a gift from a former colleague. He said it was a "keiki" that his wife replanted so it is not a "store-bought" orchid. He gave it to me on March 31 and it had four blooms on it but it fell off the shelf and I lost the flowers (it was planted unbalanced in the container and it fell.) I replanted it and I had been watering it sparingly (my mother-in-law said to soak the orchid for 15 minutes or so every other week-ish) but nothing was really happening with it.
About a month ago I saw an orchid in the house my parents were staying in and it was inside a clear container which was submerged in another container and the orchid was effectively sitting *in* the water which was filled to about halfway. So, I tried doing that for a couple of weeks and my orchid produced two new leaves! (See pic.)
I wanted to see if I could get it to bloom again so I started doing some reading, and from what I read, that is NOT the proper way to water an orchid so I won't be doing that anymore. It is planted in bark and the bark was rather wet but not soaked. I also read that I should cut off any old, brown roots so today I took the orchid out gently and cut them off - there are quite a few healthy green roots as well. I also cut the flower spike down about halfway and dipped it in cinnamon - you can (hopefully) see it in the picture.
So, have I done anything wrong here? How does the plant look to you? Are the leaves too dark, i.e., is it getting too little light? And how shall I properly continue watering my orchid?
Thanks for your advice
I have heard that orchids can be fickle, and since this one has some sentimental value to it, I'd love to keep it around as long as possible. Thanks!
New to orchids - how's mine doing? (pic)
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