do i cut the stem of my dying encyclia cochleata
 

Hi, please can anyone tell me if I am to cut the stem right down near the bulb, as my flowers are dying and the top part of the stem is going brown. This is all due to the horrid little white pests, white fly I think. I have managed to get rid of them I think but my flowers are totally wilted and brown. Please can someone help me. :roll:

You can remove the entire inflorescence to help the Enc cochleata recover from the white fly infestation. Just make sure you are using a pair of sterile cutters.

thankyou so much for your quick reply, I will do this, will this make the other shoots grow quicker?

No, not necessarily. It just allows the plant to not waste anymore energy on reproduction attempts.

orchid bulbs: when to split.
 

thanks, i have now done what you said, heart renching it was!
Also could anyone advise me of when to repot and seperate the encyclia cochleata. i have 3 large bulbs and 4 small in a 11cm pot, thanks:waving

my home made orchid tree
 

can anyone advise me on keeping orchid in this way, i am misting the roots everyday, is this right.

my hubby went to the woods to get me a nice looking tree stump, took it home jet washed it, cut 3 ledges with his chainsaw in it and gave it a spary of teak oil to preserve it a little. he then left me to go to work with my project...

I bought 3 phals from the garden center (for just £1 each, i asked to reduce the prices as they wasnt looking there best) i bought coconut fur, and garden twine. i nailed the coconut fur to the tree, tied the phals to the ledges and began to arrange the roots around the fur, then misted with orchid spray. The finished look is beautiful. It now sits in the front porch with all my other orchids. It looks so different and all for just a fiver. Hope people like it.. will try and download some photos..i am new to this. thanks

I'm still growing mine and it is in a 10 include (~22 cm) pot. So there is no need to divide it unless yup want to. I have about 7 spikes coming on mine right now. Always best to report when new growth is coming so that it re-established as quickly as possible. Tho' cochleata is pretty forgiving.

ok, thanks to all. its nice to look at peoples questions and answers about orchids. my family think ive gone a little loopy, its all i do when i get home from work, look after my orchids and get orchid books from the library, its took over having this obsession, there is something very satisfying about watching your baby orcs grow! sad!