Orchid phaleanopsis, the most common orchid in most homes. It is now orchid time. All my six orchid phaleanopis are either blooming or on their way to start blooming. They all bloom about twice a year. They live in the area of my kitchen windows, one south facing, one west facing.
Three of my orchids were replanted, roots trimmed, bark exchanged and leca added recently. Three still need to be taken care of, even though they have meanwhile started to bloom. The above orchid is my oldest, the very first I got years ago. It blooms about twice a year every year.
My orchids have been around for quite some time. The three I replanted recently I set in glass vases without a hole in the bottom. Leca balls at the bottom, som bark in between the plentiful roots. They get water very seldom and those three I have replanted I check carefully after watering so the water is not drowning them.
Phaleanopsis orchids are really easy to care for and very seldom need watering. Mine get water only about every second week or so.
To know if an orchid need water, just check its leafs. If they are solid and shiny, it doesn’t need water at that stage. Don’t give it more water then. If leafs feel soft somehow, it needs water.
You can also shower them regularly, on leafs and flowers and flower buds. They love that. They take in a lot of what they need of humidity from the air around it. The drier their surroundings, the more they need to be showered now and then.
The above orchid is my newest (just a couple of years) one. It will get yellow flowers. This year it has two stems for the first time. Those yellow flowers use to stand for a couple of months every time it blooms.
The yellow one is one of the three I recently replanted. It has a dying leaf that looks a bit boring. But, dying leafs should never be removed until they have dried away completely and are easy to remove. Let the nourishing from it go back into the plant before you remove that ugly leaf.
You can also check the health of an orchid by looking at is roots. Are they thick and green (or sometimes white-ish depending on how much light they have got) the plant is fine. Are shrivelled and dry and brown? Plant may still be fine, but those roots can be removed/cut off as they have no purpose any more.
Watch out for its leafs if it stands close to a window. The leafs can get burn-damage both from cold windows and too much sun and hot windows. It is fairly common and looks like a large dry spot on the leaf. It won’t harm the plant, but it doesn’t look nice. Windows can get really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. Move those plants so they do not touch the windows.
I have always been fascinated by the orchids flowers. Take a close look at them. Sometimes they look butterflies, sometimes their insides looks like small leopards are residing inside the flower.
My orchids do not use sticks to hold them up. That is not how they grow in the wild. They hang.
I use one of Ikeas hanging planters for the three orchids that haven’t been re-planted yet. I will probably not be able to use that after they’ve been re-planted.
When the flowers are done and finished you end up with an empty flowerstem. It might be tempting to cut that off. Do NOT do that. Keep it as long as it is alive. You might get new flowers on it at a later stager. If the flowerstem dries and dies, then you can cut it off. It is then yellow and dry. If not, let it remain.
I love orchids. But I only have one kind, the phaleanopsis in various colors. Maybe I will get some new color and/or new kind one day, but presently six (6) orchids are enough.
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