Allow me to introduce myself and my poor little Orchid
 

Hi there, new here and happy to have found a place where I can learn about my lovely little plant, hopefully making that "plants" sooner than later. Please be patient with my lack of knowledge on these wonderful plants and my tendency to be a little long winded, a apologize for both now :blushing: I'm more than happy to learn new things.
I've always wanted a house full of orchids but never had the courage to get one, I guess I was afraid I'd kill it as I've always been told that they're terribly delicate.
Long story short my Grandpa liked white flowers, I was wandering around a Home Depot and noticed a hand full of discounted sickly looking blooming orchids one of which happened to be stark white.
Discounted, Orchid, and White flowers?!? I plunked down my eight dollars and came home with my first orchid. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would kill a discounted sick looking plant. Been a little over a year now and it's still kicking.
I believe, not even close to certain, that it's a Phalaenopsis. From what I understand they're the ones most commonly encountered in hardware and department stores.
Still in it's original pot, I've been too scared to replant it, it's still alive and I desperately want it to stay that way lol. A month or so after I brought it home the flowers shriveled and fell off, then three or four inches of the spike died and I risked trimming the dead bit off.
Now about two inches below where I cut the dead part off of the tall spike there's a new little arm sticking out with several nice sized buds? on it.
I've been giving it bottled water when I have it and water out of my aquarium's filter system which I also use for my more sensitive plants of other types. So far it seems to agree with the way I've been hydrating it.
I did some super basic research, watering and light requirements for phalaenopsis, and whether or not to feed it, I could never figure out a consensus from what I read so I just stuck with what I was doing until I got a wild hair to see if there was a place to get solid answers.
Haven't removed the moss ball or anything, but the roots look pretty good to me, nice and bright green at the ends, not much looks dry or nasty from what I can tell, and the fact that it's trying to bloom again makes me think I'm doing something right. It's got a plastic sleeve inside of the pot it came in, when I water it I pull the plastic sleeve off, set it gently in the pot, water and let it drain, run the water back through it once if it's particularly dry, make sure it's really well drained then put the whole thing back together the way it was when I brought it home. I've got the whole mess sitting in a broken coffee mug to keep it upright.
With a teeny tiny bit of confidence under my belt I've been contemplating acquiring another, but before I plumb the depths of what could potentially become a serious botanical addiction I thought it would be wise to learn as much as I can about the one I have before ordering something less common and possibly killing a more expensive plant :)
I was going to add pictures to this post, but I see that I'll have to wait so off I go to browse and drool over pictures of all your plants <3
I look forward to meeting the folks here and learning all about one of my favorite kinds of plant.

Welcome to Orchid Board :welcome:

Sounds like you're doing well so far. One comment I would make is that if the bottle water is mineral water that might not be the best thing for it. They like water with a low mineral content. Tap water can be OK for it depending on how good your tap water is.

Our tap water is horrible, smells like a swimming pool in a glass, and though I haven't tested it recently the total dissolved solids in it last time was disturbing enough that I won't drink it unless I'm desperate.
When I give it bottled water I use distilled or purified, I'm not even sure if they sell mineral water around here lol

That sounds best then. Here I don't think they sell distilled or purified, we only get mineral water in bottles (that I've seen).

Welcome Fenrirs, I completely understand your searching the web and finding conflicting advise. I had the same problem until I found this board. I have found most of the advise on here to be very helpful. When disagreements happen they are usually explained so things make sense. With orchids there is such a variation of culture needs plus location variation that the same advise won't work for everyone. This thread is a great place to start. Happy reading:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...hal-abuse.html

Welcome to Orchid Board. I agree with emg53 about the different conditions resulting in different advise and the link provided should prove helpful. It sounds like your Phal is happy if its blooming again for you :)

Welcome!

You're going to love it here! The folks who know more than we do are so kind and helpful. Lots of genuine people who don't mind helping us beginners. =)

:wavingFenrirs-Rage, besides 'Under the Bed' where else do you live. Sometimes it helps the folks who help to know where you are and what zone you are in.
And Welcome.

Hello and welcome! Really, we are all beginners in some area. If not, that means we have stopped trying to learn anything new. :)

:welcomeflowers: