What now?
 

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My orchid is slowly opening one of its flowers so it is doing fine I guess.

I repotted into some bark medium.

I am wondering, after all the flowers are spent. What do I do with it? I still want to keep it and have it blossom again.

I live in CALIFORNIA, it is currently rainy weather now and still cold.

I keep it in my shower. I take hot showers 2x a day so I guess it likes that considering it lives in the jungle.

I also leave the light on sometimes for it, not all of the time.

One lightbulb is 1k white LCD and the other is 5k warm orange.

I don't think I got the numbers right but one is white and the other is warm orange, the 2 lightbulbs I have in my light housing that is.

Bottom line:

what happens after all the flowers are spent and can I keep it alive or do I have to trash it.

Provide it with good growing conditions and proper care and it will bloom again.

As in, literally in the shower stall (or tub or whatever you have)?

Unless it's very close to the bulbs (like less than 12 inches from the leaves) then the lights aren't doing much of any good assuming you're talking about standard, typical household type lighting.

Once the flowers are gone, you should provide consistent, good care. Then when the plant is happy, healthy, and ready, it'll bloom again.
See AOS Culture Sheet For Phalaenopsis.

No, on the counter.


It seems the only thing I am missing is fertilizer. Any info this one?

Thanks, MrHappyRotter

What sort of light does it get, though? What is your watering schedule? How do you check to see if your orchid needs water? Fertilizer is important but not anywhere near as important as all of the other factors. Orchids don’t really need a lot for nutrients.
Have you tried reading through all of The Phal abuse ends here. ?

If you want it in your bathroom, that's fine, but these new phal hybrids are bred especially for an average home's interior environment. They basically need fairly average indirect sunlight, and certain watering instructions with lots of drainage.

What you have is a Phalaenopsis orchid, and while the flowers are lovely, being in bloom is not necessary for the plant to thrive. I personally feel that Phals have pretty nice foliage even when not in bloom. With proper care, it will likely bloom many more times for you, but even when it's not in bloom, you will have a nice houseplant.

A couple other posters have provided links to learning about proper care of your particular type of orchid. And this forum is always a good place to ask questions!

What does fairly average indirect sunlight look like?

I have it in bark in a very large pot.

I lined the bottom with big rocks for extra drainage and airage.

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It gets indirect light.

I water it when I stick a chopstick inside and it feels dry to my lips.

That is the only way I know my orchid needs water.

Also, it's leaves are splitting in half.

This is normal?

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Being in bloom is necessary for me to thrive.

How do I support its bloom.

Good question. About 1,500 foot-candles. And by "fairly average" I mean, any other low light indoor plant will also thrive in this light. It would be generally off to the side of a south or east facing window. There are ways to measure it: with a light and your hand (hold your hand to the light and look at the shadow: if the shadow is sharp but has a fuzzy edge, that is good. Very fuzzy is not enough light, a very sharp shadow is too much light. Also you can measure with a light meter, a camera light meter, or by watching the plant. If you get a spike and the spike blooms, you have enough light.



Lastly, a phalaenopsis orchid blooms one time a year. The bloom will last between 4 and 6 months. No matter what you do, if it is a genre of orchid that blooms once a year, you will not get it to bloom more than that.

I can understand that you would enjoy the flowers. I think it's safe to say we all have that in common here. But it is the nature of orchids and most other flowering plants that I'm familiar with that they have a blooming season, they produce buds, which open into flowers, the flowers last for varying lengths of time, they wilt and die, the plant waits for a while, and the whole cycle starts over again.

When orchids are not in bloom, they are often busy growing new leaves, new pseudobulbs if they have them, putting out new roots, etc. I personally find all of this interesting and enjoyable, though of course I look forward to blooms!

I have a Phalaenopsis right now that is blooming about six months after the last time it bloomed and another one that waited about a year and a half between blooming. I guess if we average those two out, we can say they bloom approximately once a year. :)

I really like the color on that... vibrant. The correct answer is actually once it's done blooming you should carefully package it but not trash it. Simply mail it to me, and I'll dispose of it for you. :rofl::waving

If you could comfortably read there is your hand held above casts a fuzzy shadow, light is ok. With a large pot, coarse bark, and rocks, you will have to water frequently. You probably cannot overwater that set up. After you water, pick up the pot and notice how heavy it is. Water when it feels light.

not happening

Is this a good thing? Frequent watering?

Also,

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...301_195552.jpg

It is shooting off a new bud I think. I am guessing my orchid is happy or it thinks it is dying so it is flowering as much as possible.

Am I killing my orchid or is it happy?

I think I mentioned judging watering by weight of the pot. The right amount of water is what we're after. We'd need a picture if the entire plant to see it's health.

If you have large bark, there us more sure space and a need (probably) for more frequent watering. It's also hard to overwater it.

If you look at the top of the phalanopsis section, you will see a sticky note topic, "The Phal Abuse Stops Here." Might be helpful for you to read.

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[/COLOR]I am still working on reading through the phal abuse thread.

It is a very dense thread information wise.

In my opinion, your Phal looks good. I think your cracked leaves are from underwatering. And that, not severly. Keep reading...😉

I messed up

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...303_125620.jpg

We're all sorry to see that, it's happened to all of us. But, your language (while common) is offensive to many of us, please watch it.

Did you snap the spike? - I can't see clearly what happened. If you did snap it, stick it in some water and if has not dried out too much the flowers should still last a couple of weeks or more.

If the spike is snapped above a node (the junctions on the spike) it may produce a branch and rebloom - frustrating but don't give up on it.

Oh no, poor spike! Stuff like that happens too easily unfortunately... Enjoy it in a vase of water, it won't last as long but you'll still get another week of enjoyment from it.

I hope you don't mind that I have edited your post. While the F word is now very common, on Orchidboard it's not the sort of language we want to see.

And what have you done with the mother plant? It looked pretty good in the pics, and dispite the unfortunate mishap, you can still bring her to bloom again. And if and when you do, it is a very good feeling :)

forgive me

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i dont mind

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i didn't think it would snap that easily. i felt my heart drop when i did.

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My leaves appear to be withering and leathery in appearance.

I have prescribed 1 LED 100 watt equivalent light bulb at 7000 kelvin bright white temperature held ~6" above the leaves for 6h a day to encourage mitochondria and vegetative growth.

If condition does not improve, I will water it once a day until I see the leaves return its luscious appearance and is no longer leathery in appearance.

I cannot help but to be in a constant state of panic.

I request professional advice on how I may restore this phal back to health.

Or is it too late and I have to call it?

I don’t think it looks bad, if it’s looking wilty it’s probably a root or water issue more than light. I think you have much more of a challenge on your hands keeping it in the big pot. I’d get a smaller clear plastic slotted pot, repot the orchid in that, and if it fits put the plastic pot inside the original. I’d also recommend giving the skewer method of gauging water needs a try, it’s in one of the sticky threads on top. If you repot in a smaller clear plastic pot, you will also be able to see the roots: when they’re silver it’s time to water, when they’re green hold off. You’ll also be able to tell if something goes wrong (if the roots start dying) and you can troubleshoot and fix before you have too much root death. You’re kind of flying blind with your current set-up.

Is it too late? Goodness, no. You should see what these phals can put up with and still bounce back. Truly, even though I don’t know what the roots look like, your phal doesn’t look bad. Give it some time though. These are very slow growers and it can take weeks and sometimes months to show signs of improvement. Watering it once a day will do more harm than good unless it is grown bare root or in extremely open media. You run the risk of suffocating the roots of you water it too much. By the way, does that pot have a drain hole in it?
Someone else will have to help you with the light, I grow my orchids outdoors so I know nothing about that subject, but is it by a window? Why not just give it some filtered natural light?

a small pot will suffocate it.

i am still working through the "phal abuse must end" thread. it is the reason i put my phal in a big pot.

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It has 1 drain whole on the bottom

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Repotting a Phalaenopsis orchid in to a 15cm clear pot - YouTube

this man suggests that repotting for orchids is not like ordinary house plants where you need a bigger pot. You only repot to replace the growing medium.

Also, he uses a small size pot.

I will be repotting my orchid now.

Adjust your expectations.

It won't improve over night. It won't improve over a week. It may take forever for a Phal to recover some perceived wrongness you see (seriously, not much wrong happening). Daily watering will not help. Daily watering will probably be detrimental.

Listen to these people!

Try to water by the weight of the pot. Water well, then lift it. Now just lift it every day until it approaches lightness. I watered like that for years.
As to your spike, I snapped off a beauty trying to clip it to a stake, and I can't tell you how many I've dropped. Yours will be fine. Please don't expect perfection...

I'm surprised about your comment on small pots suffocating the plant. The common advice is to use the smallest pot the roots comfortably fit in, and if anything most orchids prefer a snug fit because the medium then dries out evenly and quickly.

As already mentioned, there is no quick fix. A dehydrated Phal can take MONTHS to visible bounce back. Yours doesn't look bad at all, so the leaves may only take a few weeks to firm up again Daily watering is probably the best way to rot the roots, an a water logged medium will deprive them of air circulation.

The best approach is to water when needed (use wooden skewer or root color to judge when), keep the plant is a somewhat warm and humid environment and out of direct light, regular feedings, and lots of patience. It will bounce back, and the plant actually looks pretty good.

You mentioned earlier in the thread that your orchid is in large bark with a layer of rocks at the bottom and that the pot has one drain hole at the bottom. It also appears to me from your pictures that the pot is glazed ceramic. It seems to me that this may be a scenario where the roots are not getting enough air.

You say you are going to repot. I would leave the rocks out. With other types of houseplants, you often see that advice, but it's not something typically done with orchids. When you have your plant out of the pot, you can get a good look at the roots and perhaps post some pictures here, which I believe would be helpful.

As to the pot, you might want to consider putting it into a clear plastic pot made for orchids. They have multiple drain holes, not just one, and you can get them with additional slots in the sides for even more aeration. The clear plastic is admittedly not the most attractive, but many of us like them because you can easily see many of the roots, which is helpful in determining when to water and keeping an overall eye on the health of the plant.

Edited to add: I am also someone who grows indoors in front of a window, with no supplemental lighting, but I am concerned about your plan to put a 7000K light six inches above your plant for six hours a day. That sounds like too much for a Phalaenopsis, but, hopefully, others with more experience will chime in.

Thanks for your reply. The plastic pot it came with was too small. I repotted into the other pot it came with. I must say. It looks ALOT better being in a small pot.

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I echo Cheri's concern. That seems like a lot of light. My phals thrive in a north facing window.

This is so complicated.

It's complicated because you want it all to be perfect. It never will be. Just give it good light and water, the rest will come. We've all been there.

are you suggesting to me that perfection is unobtainable?

Yes. But you can drive yourself crazy in the process. Excellence is achievable, perfection is not.

how do i obtain(attain?) excellence then

When you learned to walk, did you do it perfectly at first? You learn by listening to our advice and sifting it. Don't over react. Most of what happens to orchids doesn't happen fast. Do you tend to overwater, underwater? Ask yourself some cultural questions and how mindful your care is. We've ALL killed our share and learned from it. And we've ALL broken leaves, spikes and roots, underwatered and overwatering.

1. Know your growing conditions.
2. Know your orchids ideal growing conditions (research)
3. Learn how to provide those conditions (or close) to your orchid in your conditions- in other words, combine steps 1 and 2.
4. Patience. Don’t fuss with them too much.
5. Join your local orchid society. There will be members there growing under similar conditions and the wealth of knowledge you can gain will be invaluable.

by this logic, it would also take weeks or months for physical symptoms of deterioration to appear would it not :tombstone:

By doing what you are doing now. Asking questions, learning, and trying to apply advice. Excellence can’t be achieved overnight, even with something like growing orchids, it takes lots of practice and experience. Even after 12 years of growing I still don’t feel like I’ve reached that level. I can now grow my orchids very well, but I see that there are still a number of aspects that I can improve on. And I certainly can't grow everything well either.

All the people who are the best in their field (athletes, singers, dancers, artists) didn’t attain excellence overnight. It takes countless hours of practice, and a willingness to try things and possibly fail. For us it means accidentally killing, nearly killing plants or not seeing them bloom or thrive by under/overwatering, by giving too much/ not enough light, fertilizer and so on. There is trial and error involved for everyone, because everyone has a different set of environmental conditions to deal with, and that affects pretty much everything.

The other thing is that orchid growing is supposed to be fun. If you enjoy your plants, are eager to learn and apply that knowledge, and try to do the best you can for the plants, you’ll see that THAT is the road to excellence. The journey is what’s important, and not actually getting there.

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Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I would say that if it's a root related problem (usually rot) then the symptoms are going to appear really fast. And also too much light, then you'll see sunburn quite quickly. But for most other things, underwatering, poor fertilization, not enough humidity/air movement, then the plant usually undergoes a gradual decline.