What now?
 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...055201_793.jpg

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.

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:05 PM ----------

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?

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------

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