Newbie question on caring for orchids

[AccidentalOrchidOwner]

Hi....my name is Jim....and I'm an Accidental Orchid Owner. I recently purchased what I assume is a fairly common orchid: P. Zuma’s pixie x Veitchiana. It's a cute little plant and I hoped for an easy entrance into the world of orchids. However, it came with no care information and I can't find any on the Internet no matter where I search. And frankly I looked in the "beginners" forum here and didn't find anything either. Maybe I just don't know how to search adequately.
Any way, can someone clue me into how much water, light, and food this little guy needs? And should I ever re-pot it or just keep it in the little ceramic pot it came in?

[WhiteRabbit]

There's a lot of info in the thread here: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ad.php?t=44792
It's a long thread, but reading the first few pages may help.

And here's a care sheet fit beginners https://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=217

[AnonYMouse]

This is important:

Mind your watering. Water when the growing medium is near dry. Stick a wooden/bamboo skewer in to determine media dampness. Avoid getting water in the axil (junction of leaf and stem).

The other stuff can wait until you read that thread.

[lauraeli]

Those little teacup orchids often come in a small flexible plastic 'pot' that is slipped into the ceramic one. Im assuming it is in sphagnum as well? I have one just like yours. I kept mine in sphagnum, but loosened it, and pulled the sphagnum out of the middle of the rootball. To check if it needed water, I put my finger into the created space in the middle of the rootball and checked for moisture. (you need a pinky-size hole in the bottom of the pot for that...) If you feel any moisture at all, hold off on watering. But dont wait until the sphagnum contracts and feels crispy. Then you have waited too long.

Mine is growing like a weed.

If you havent, pull it out and check the roots. The plastic pot will be clear so you can see them. Healthy roots are silver or green. Dead roots are dark brown or black.

[tarev]

AOC!

I would also suggest you take a photo of your plant, to document for yourself how it looked like when you got it, then follow the advice given already.

Try to get to know the type of media your plant came in, so you can adjust accordingly your watering method, and see if there is drainage in that ceramic container.

Air circulation along the root zone is important, and when watering do not wet the crown. If it does get wet, just get a paper towel to gently dry it out.

[NYCorchidman]

For a easy and short care version, you can look up phalaenopsis or mini phal.
It basically needs bright light, warmth, and once a week watering.
No direct sun unless it is an early morning sun or vey late afternoon sun. For now (assuming it is in bloom) you don't actually need to worry about light.
Just avoid sun. bright area is the best. shade is fine if that's where you want to place the plant to look nice.

Do not water too often because doing so will kill the roots and the plant.

If yours is in bloom, you don't need to worry about the repotting for now. Just enjoy the flowers.

With such tiny phal, I normally just mist heavily and that usually does enough as far as watering goes.
Water from heavy misting will wet the moss enough to last a few days. Err on the dry side rather than wet. You can always revive dehydrated phal with soaking but the other way around is usually not so easy.

Once it finishes flowering, then I recommend repotting your phal into small grade bark chips or something of that sort. Also, use a slightly larger pot to hold the roots and more space as phals grow lots of thick roots during the warm months.

I usually do not fertilizer during the winter and begin fertilizing in the spring when there is a new leaf starting.

Enjoy your phal!

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[lauraeli]

Switching from moss to bark is very hard on the roots. You can do 50/50 moss and bark. I prefer that over one or the other, especially for my smaller phals. It has benefits of both. The sphagnum holds more moisture for thirsty roots. It also wicks moisture away from the bark and allows it to evaporate more readily. Likewise the bark aerates the sphagnum and keeps it from being sopping wet. The moisture seems to be more consistent throughout the pot making it easier to tell when the plant needs water.

That being said, my healthiest phal is the same phal that you have :-) and it is the only one I grow in straight sphagnum.

The reason I kept it in sphagnum (I repotted it into fresh) is because it had zero issues when I got it. There were no signs of rot or dying/unhealthy roots. Otherwise, I would have done the 50/50. If it's not broke, why fix it?

It had just gotten done flowering when I got it. Four months later, it has put out 3 new leaves (one in progress), doubled its root mass, and is now throwing out another flower spike.

Vigorous little phals :-) I love minis.