new here with questions??

[aries23]

I recieved a beautiful orchid from my husband and the last bud that was on it just opened. I searched around bc I love orcids for info on the internet. Saw that the flowering is all yr long . Also I wanted to cut it down but dont know exactly where? I saw that I will need fertilizer for the foliage for the cut stalk and then after I will need a fertilizer to help with flowering. I would also like to repot it but I dont want to kill it . Right now it has the p moss, I dont know what type is better?..help me plss

[aries23]

Anyone?? I am going to try to get some supplies today! Thank you

[RosieC]

With a choice of medium it can depend on a lot of factors. I like a mixture of bark CHC and perlite but it depends on your conditions.

Take a look at Ray's advice on his website.
Choosing Potting Media

[Ashleigh's Orchids]

The best i think is to pot it in bark moss tend sto keep in too much water and yes it will need fertilizing as it doesnt grow in soil so the only wasy of the orchid getting nutrients is from what you provide, You can either use half strength plant food or buy orchid fertilizer which obviously has the right elements. As to where to cut it, thats totally personal preference, i like the idea of cutting the stalk right down to the base as it can use all its energy to grow, whereas when you cut the stalk higher up the flowers tend not to be as big or bright as it takes too much energy! i dont like the idea of forcing flowers, i prefere to wait to have bigger brighter and healthier flowers. Hope i helped a little

[RosieC]

I cut the spikes right down at the plant. Again it can be down to personal preference and again Ray has good advice on his website.

Spike Cutting

[RosieC]

Some people use different fertilisers for growth and blooming (including me) but others say the blooming ones are a waste of time. I'm not sure, but I keep using the ones I have simply because they work as a generarl fertiliser and I have some left in the bottle.

General advise is to use a balanced fertiliser where all three numbers are the same. Some fertilisers sold for orchids are not like that though so you might want to look arround.

Yet again Ray has losts of advice about fertilisers. The link below is just to his 'free information' page, because there are quite a lot of links near the top of that which relate to fertiliser, not just one that I can post here.

First Rays' Free Info

[Ashleigh's Orchids]

whe it comes to fertilizer i use two different ones - i use babybio which is a liquid and a powder which i cant remeber the name of sorry! I use 2 different ones just in case really (if one doesnt work as well the second one should) Obviously i dont use them at the same time! I fertilize with liquid one week and powder the second weekand so on