Growing Orchids in a windowless office

[SheilaJ]

12 inches from the leaves is best. Of course, if you have a tall flower spike, you can't do that...

[gmdiaz]

Can you add a plant stand or a small aquarium? Then you CAN add lights to a government building!

[adlemsi]

I bought a beautiful large white double Phal. orchid about a month ago. I mainly bought it to make my desk area at work more homey. However, my company made some employee cutbacks and I was transferred to another office, so I was forced to transfer my orchid as well.

Unfortunately the "new" office is darker with less air circulation, in contrast to the other office which had good sunlight (all the windows have solar shades) and really good air circulation (although sometimes it would get cold). Within the first two days the new buds that were growing in (it still had the original full blooms) shriveled and dried up. Over the next few days the original buds fell, as well as three of the lower flowers.

Within the past week or two the lower leaves started turning yellow and drooping and I noticed a lot of fruit flies in my area. We're not allowed to dispose of any food at our desk, so it's not old food that's attracting them. This morning I noticed the top leaves were starting to turn yellow, closer to the crown.

I don't know if I should repot the orchid, its label states it was potted in December of 2006. The medium used is moss (don't know which kind), which is losing its color but retaining moisture (I haven't watered it in about two weeks).

If anyone has any advise, I will greatly appreciate it.

[Dorothy]

I would repot it - depending on your conditions - you may want to look into medium options - bark or coconut husk chip mix vs. sphag moss - This is one thread that addresses this - Favorite phalaenopsis mix. . .
also check out the beginner's and phalaenopsis forums and do a search with keywords - medium, sphag moss, bark mix and threads will result pertaining to these subjects.
.. make sure that there is no water in the crown - that can cause rot .. wick it out with a paper towel or Q-tip ..
What happened to your buds is called bud blast due to this occurs from environmental changes (change in light, drafts etc) ..
Perhaps you can provide some supplemental lighting ..
There have been past threads addressing this also ..
you can do a search for phalaenopsis lighting ..
while you wait for responses from others

[adlemsi]

Thank you for your suggestions, Dorothy. After inspecting the plant better I notice some of the roots were visible above the moss it was potted in. Also the two bottom leaves fell off this morning and the yellowing is spreading to the next two (it has three left).

I will definitely repot it, probably on Monday so I can do it early in the morning. Does anyone have tips on repotting an orchid? Also if someone has any suggestions on preventing and getting rid of the fruit flies that started showing up around the orchid, I'd greatly appreciate it. They get really irritating, for me as well as my new co-workers.

[AaronM]

I'll leave th repotting advice to the experts, but the fruit flies will most likely go away when the sphagnum moss does. Little insects seem to love that damp moss. I had a similar problem and finally had to give my whole basket a dip in diluted insecticide.

AaronM

[adlemsi]

Thanks, Aaron. I'm going to repot it in medium orchid bark mix.

[quiltergal]

The fruit flies are actually fungas gnats and they feed on decomposing medium. They will go away when the old medium does as Adam says. Another good reason to keep your medium fresh!

[adlemsi]

Thanks Terri! After giving it some thought, I decided I'll bring the orchid home to repot it. I originally planned to go to work early to do it, but since I just got transferred I don't want to step on any toes. I'm definitely going to repot it in a medium orchid bark mix, which includes screened fir bark, screened hardwood charcoal, redwood bark. I'm going to follow the same process I used for three orchids I saved from my company (they thought they were dead because the blooms fell, lol).

[adlemsi]

So I brought my orchid home from work. Here are pics of how it looked when I got it and how it looks now. The first pic is when I got it and had it in my original office, which had good lighting and air circulation. The other three pics are what it looks like now. I wish I had pics of what they looked like in my current office so you could see the difference in atmosphere. I guess the orchid felt the negative vibe of the office and the people in it.

I'm going to repot it (in medium bark medium) early in the morning and keep it in a shady area in my apartment until it gets better.