Newbie needs help with Phalaenopsis care
Hello all, I am a newbie seeking advice on my phalaenopsis problem. I received it as a gift last December. It was in full bloom and very beautiful. After about two months it lost all its blossoms. During that time it was in a corner of a well lit room with lots of windows but no direct sun. I watered it sparingly about 2 ice cubes every two weeks. It was in a ceramic pot with no bottom vent. I decided to re-pot the plant into a slightly larger pot with a bottom vent hole.
When I took the plant out of its pot, the roots were tightly wrapped with sphagnum moss which was quite wet at the bottom of the ball. I found many of the roots were in bad shape so based on information that I found on line, I cut much of the soft rotten roots off. I re-potted the plant in Ferti-Lome orchid mix composed of peat chunks, coarse bark, hardwood charcoal, and red basalt rock.
Since then, I have been keeping the plant in an east window where it gets filtered direct sun only about 3 hours a day and bright light the rest of the day. Here is my problem.
Since re-potting, the plant has lost all of its original leaves, but sprouted out a new leaf each time an original leaf dried up. I was originally giving the plant two ice cubes every week, which is what two friends of mine are doing with their orchids and they are doing very well. Once a month, I give the plant one fourth cup of fertilizer in place of the ice cubes. There has been no new flower spike and the new leaves are somewhat smaller than the original ones were. I can’t decide if I am over watering, under watering, too much light, too little light or whatever. I really don’t want to loose this plant because it is really beautiful in full bloom. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
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