New to orchids - how's mine doing? (pic)

[Samhain]

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!

[Paul Mc]

Sounds like you're doing everything right, or have at least learned from it. It's hard to tell from the photograph, but you want your leaves to have a dark green hue to them. While a few species of phal's actually have red in their leaves, most do not. To be honest, I shoot for getting those leaves as dark as I can which means getting them into more light and when I see a bit of red coming in then I know I may have gone just a bit too far (in essence, they are starting to get a bit of a sunburn).

You might want to invest in a light meter. You can find a good cheap one for aruond $20 bucks or so. It will be your best friend with growing orchids. Shoot for about 1500 footcandles.

[Paul Mc]

Oh, and be sure it doesn't get a lot of direct light, especially hot light (such as summer, mid-day or early evening).

[Samhain]

Hey Paul! Thanks! The leaves look really healthy to me and are indeed nice and green. I do not have the plant in direct light - it is above the stairway underneath a window. I have a little jungle up there because I have certain plants that are not cat-friendly

Have you perhaps any watering tips for me?

[Daethen]

Paul, I thought the goal was a lime green. Now I am confused. I get told that my leaves are too dark because of not enough light.

[Strider 60]

Originally Posted by Samhain

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!

I'm new to Orchids as well, yours looks good so far, one thing I have learned about light is that an east facing window is best but we can't all have that. If you don't have a light meter you can judge light levels using the shadow method using your hand to cast a shadow from your light source, dark easy to see shadow= bright light, faded but still seeable shadow= a lower light level, the problem is though is the type of Orchid, each needs different light. You may have to go by the leaves so see what it needs. Hope I helped a little, lets learn together

[Paul Mc]

I always thought that less light was darker leaves, but at an orchid repotting clinic the instructor was saying the opposite. And she said that her goal is to get just a slight bit of red on the leaves, but I think she's pushing it a bit, lol...

Overall, if it's blooming and the roots are healthy then you're giving it exactly what it wants. That was just a general rule of thumb but of course there are always exceptions to that rule. To be honest, most of mine have a bit darker leaves and they are all happy and blooming, however 2 of them do not seem to get a good "tan" going despite where I put them, lol... So I'm assuming they want to remain that lime green you are talking about. I think it really depends upon what species they are or what they were breed with to be created.

[Daethen]

I think the most common advice for watering is to make sure the medium is aproaching dry (with phals). Then water weekly, weakly. Water once a week with weak fert. I water by running the water through the medium for a few minutes to make sure that the bark has a chance to get completely wet.

[Strider 60]

Another good idea to monitor moisture in your medium is to use a cheap bamboo skewer, put it in the pot and pull it out once in awhile and you should be able to see a bit of moisture on it, check it often and water when it's dry

[Samhain]

Oooo that's a great idea! Thanks! Would a run-of-the-mill wooden chopstick from a Chinese restaurant work as well? How deep should the stick go into the "bark"?