Orchid Care Tips Blog

These are the best 5 ways to care for your Orchid and bring the Orchid back to life when it is almost dead. Orchid care miracles aren’t guaranteed, but hopefully these techniques help you! They usually have helped me.

1. Light: If the leaves are dark green, get more light. If they are light green, decrease light. If they have sunburn, decrease light.
2. Orchid Roots: If the leaves are dissolving and mushy, repot into soaked Orchid bark in a smaller pot. If the roots are still alive but not mushy, and instead are dry, water a bit more.
3. Fertilizing: If the Orchid has salts built up around edges of pot, wash the plant with clear water, then fertilize less.
4. Leaves: If there are no leaves left, your Orchid may be done. If there are any leaves left, there may be hope, so care for the plant carefully.
5. Bacteria on Orchid leaves: Cut the the plant leaf closer to the plant so the bacyteris cannot spread.

When is the best time to repot my Orchid?

After the Orchid is done blooming. If it is an Orchid with numerous canes or Pseudobulbs (Dendrobium, Cattleya, Oncidium, Miltonia, etc.), wait until the new growth starts. If it is an Orchid without Pseudobulbs (Phalaenopsis, vanda, etc.), just wait until after blooming.

My Orchid just dropped all of the blooms after only a very short time blooming. Why?

Could be any one of these reasons:

• Got too cold or hot
• Smog problem or air not good
• Not enough humidity
• Too much sunlight

What kind of Orchid should I grow as a beginner?

Easiest Orchid for shade: Phalaenopsis
Easiest Orchid for bright light: Dendrobium

What kind or Orchid do I have? It looks like this…..

Post a photo to a site such as flikr.com for free, post to our discussion board and provide a link to see a photo of your Orchid, and we’ll answer your question on the discussion board.

Why should I grow an Orchid?

It will be with you a long time if you care for it well. Orchids are amazing plants for many reasons which you can read about here.

Hi everyone, we’ve had a lot of people joining this blog - thank you for participating. Your emails, posts to our discussion board, and guestbook comments are much appreciated. I want to make sure you know where to go for what on the Orchid Tips website - there are different places to go for different things.

As you have Orchid care questions, the best place to post them to get answers from me in the evening is here:
http://orchidcare.imagine123.com/discussion-forum/
It doesn’t take long at all to create an account.

If you have comments on the Orchid Tips website, but no Orchid care questions, please post comments about our website here:
http://www.imagine123.com/guestbook.html

If you want to read the blog entries, you’re already in the right place, and can enter comments if you like. Please, though, post comments about posts on this blog and save up your Orchid care questions to post on the discussion boards.

Enjoy!

Orchid Care and Troubleshooting - Things to look out for and fixes for common Orchid care problems

Orchid has small plant growing on flower stem
Plant is in distress, some part of the growing conditions are incorrect, probably over watering, not enough humidity, or too much light. For care information go here

Orchid has spots on flowers
Bacteria is forming on flowers from watering too late in the day - make sure to water earlier so that leaves and flowers fry out by night.

Orchid hasn’t bloomed in over a year
Either not enough humidity (get a humidity tray), roots not happy (repot), light incorrect (read about Orchid care at URL above for correct amount of light)

Orchid flowers fall off days after they open
It got too cold or warm and dry for the flowers - make sure temperature doesn’t get too cold or too warm. If it does get too hot, cool the plants with ventilation/fan, and mist.

Orchid plant bulbs were once firm and are now shrinking
Over or under watering - if roots are now dead plant needs to be repotted, if plant has been under watered, start watering more.

Orchid plant seems healthy, but frozen in a sense, where it never grows much or starts flower spikes
Pland needs a humidity tray and to be fertilized

Orchid mix is degrading fast
Make sure you have a mix meant for Orchids

You feel this is all overwhelming and there are too many things to learn
Read this website, or get a good Orchid book for reference

You feel your Orchid/s don’t bloom for long enough
Get more Orchids as there are Orchids that bloom at all times of the year. Here are some long blooming good ones.

As an Orchid expert, these are the top 7 kinds of Phalaenopsis Orchids I recommend to choose and grow. There are many kinds of Phalaenopsis Orchids, and I have chosen an execellent representation below to show the cross section of the categories of Phalaenopsis Orchids. I do love all kinds of Phalaenopsis Orchids as they are easy to care for, beautiful, and flowers are long lasting. Included below are some great premium Phalaenopsis Orchids that will perform well, as well as some of my favorite novelty Phalaenopsis Orchids.

Enjoy! - L.T.
8/22/06 9:18 PM

1. Mini Green PhalaenopsisThis is a mini green Phalaenopsis Orchid. Although this plant won’t bloom longer than other types of Phalaenopsis Orchids, it is mainly sought after for being more compact. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.
2. Premium Standard Purple PhalaenopsisThis is a standard, premium purple Phalaenopsis Orchid in a 5″ pot. This is the most common standard pot size. This Phalaenopsis will perform and have good plant strength. Click to read about this purple Phalaenopsis on Amazon.com.
3. Compact Novelty PhalaenopsisThis is a novelty Phalaenopsis Orchid. Novelty Phalaenopsis Orchids are my favorite as I love the waxy, thick texture many of these have, their compact nature, long time flowering, and most importantly, variety in colors, patterns, and flower shapes. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.
4. Award Winner Novelty Phalaenopsis with Blended Flower ColorThis is another novelty Phalaenopsis Orchid, but with taller arching spray of flowers and blended flowers. This plant is an award winner and therefore you know the flower shape pleases us Orchid judges with perfect symmetry and other features. Flowers are also well spaced. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.
5. Premium Standard White PhalaenopsisThis is a wonderful perfect premium white standard Phalaenopsis Orchid. This is a large plant which is very strong and should flower for a nice long time. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.
6. Award Winner Yellow Novelty Phalaenopsis with Clear ColorThis is an award winner yellow novelty Phalaenopsis with white lip. Phalaenopsis Orchids this clear are often very sought after and hard to find. This plant has wonderful shape and clarity of color. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.
7. White and Pink Blended Premium Standard Phalaenopsis Award WinnerThis is an award winner pink and white blended Phalaenopsis. This plant has very nice color and is a great plant. Click to read about this Phalaenopsis on Amazon.

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Dendrobium Orchids are some of the easiest Orchids to care for. They love warmer weather, drying out between waterings for a day or so, and come in many colors. Dendrobiums come in yellow, green, pink, white, purple, red, and mixes of these colors.

When caring for Dendrobium Orchids, don’t pamper them. Put them near a window where they’ll get a half day of sunlight, and don’t let the leaves heat up too much without having some good air flow to make sure your Orchids don’t get sunburn.

Please use a humidity tray. Dendrobium Orchids will bloom for 2-3 months and won’t rebloom on the same flower spike like Phalaenopsis Orchids. A healthy Dendrobium Orchid will bloom again in 6 months to a year depending on how prolific the variety is.

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Phalaenopsis Rare Vintage ‘Private Reserve’ AM/AOS.

I’m not saying you need to go out and buy this one particular novelty Orchid… but you can learn from this Orchid. When you are out shopping for pink, yellow and white spotted and striped Phalaenopsis Orchids, yes, often you will get less flowers. But, you get a wonderful compact plant with individual flowers that will often last a long time! You can see this plant has a number of small buds right behind the open flowers that are weeks to months away. So, when these flowers are done blooming in 1-3 months, you’ll have more flowers open. That means this Orchid can be in bloom for 5-6 months or more!

One more important item about novelty Phals. Many have Doritaenopsis, or Dtps. in cross breeding. If they do, this is a good thing! I’ve had some amazing plants that are seedlings, from to parents like this:

Phalaenopsis Ruby Star x Doritaenopsis Emerald. You can often get an improved plant by choosing one of these. Or, the name tag may have abbreviations, and look like this: Phal. Green Beauty x Dtps. Diamond Blue.

So, yes, the names I just mentioned in the previous paragraph are sample names, but the part in bold is what I’m focusing on. Any questions, add comments to this blog and I’ll answer them.

And, please remember, the most important Orchid care tip to keep long lasting Phalaenopsis flowers is to have a humidity tray! Here is a good humidity tray from Amazon.com.

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This photo has a good representation of the colors of Phalaenopsis Orchids you will find for sale. Interestingly, I find the longest blooming types, on one flower stem, are the spotted pink and yellow Phalaenopsis Orchids.

The pink and white flower Phalaenopsis Orchids with long flower spikes can bloom for a long time, but it usually is necessary, after flowering is done, to cut the flower spike just below the top node.

Some of my favorite Phalaenopsis Orchids are those with very thick, waxy substance, as I’ve found those individual flowers to be the longest blooming. More coming tomorrow evening about Phalaenopsis Orchids…

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We’re now featuring the easiest Orchids to grow. We will be posting at least every evening or two great information for you focusing on, in order of importance:

1. Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium Orchid plants
2. Other Phalaenopsis Orchid plant varieties
3. Other Dendrobium Orchid plants varieties
4. Oncidium Orchids
5. Oncidium relatives
6. other easy to care for Orchids

Above are various Phalaenopsis Orchids. There are many colors of Phalaenopsis Orchids, including pink, white, yellow, striped, spotted, red, purple, and anything in between blending these colors. Phalaenopsis Orchids are the easiest Orchids to care for, and also are one of the longest blooming, 2-3 months on average.

Phalaenopsis Orchids prefer shade, with some indirect bright light at times, and are to be watered roughly every week. If your environment has dry air, and the plant is drying out fast, water more often. And, if you notice the plant is not drying out at all, water less often. The best way to know when to water is to pick up the pot and feel how heavy the plant is before and then after watering. Then, when you are ready to water, lift the plant to be able to tell if your Orchid needs watering the next time. We will be writing more about Phalaenopsis Orchids in coming days.

These are Dendrobium Orchids. These in the photo above are the most common Dendrobiums - Phalaenopsis type Dendrobiums. Blooms overall last about 2-3 months, and each stem lasts about 1-2 months. The reason they last 2-3 months overall is usually there are a number of flower stems.

Dendrobium Orchids are very easy to care for, liking to have their mix dry out briefly in between waterings.

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This is a Phalaenopsis Orchid that has seen better days. If this had been my Orchid, steps I’d take are below to bring this plant back to good times.

Problems seen here:

1. the humidity tray below this Orchid has no water and has fertilizer salts built up
2. the plant is in a pot that is slightly too big as the plant has actually gotten smaller over time!
3. the plant is in mix that has no water content whatsoever
General fixes:
1. clean out the humidity tray, fill with water
2. soak the plant well in water by watering over the sink or humidity tray so the bark gets saturated with water
3. Repot

To repot this plant:

1. get new pot that will just slightly constrain the roots when potted
2. get medium size Orchid bark at local garden store, soak just a bit more bark than you will need in water for a few hours
3. soak / water the plant
4. 1/2 hr later carefully remove the plant
5. confine roots with hand very carefully as roots will be brittle, and make them aim down in the new pot, touching pot bottom
6. while holding plant level in pot, sprinkle bark between roots from top, until pot is full
7. carefully push bark down so plan is firmly held in pot, without squishing roots
8. the way you know if the plant is anchored enough in new pot is if you very carefully lift the plant from base, it will hold bark and pot as one unit

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post below and I’ll answer in comments field of the Blog entry.

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