Gardening with Mary

CARING FOR ORCHIDS

Some of us received a beautiful orchid for the holidays.  The orchid sold most commonly in nearby stores of all types is the Phalaenopsis, or Moth Orchid. These lovely plants will usually hold their blooms/flowers for about 2-3 months.  Many people are afraid of orchids, when actually they are quite easy to grow once you learn and follow some basic steps. 

Moth orchids prefer warm, humid settings, but they really do adjust well to house.  They endure the dry indoor air, survive the change of indoor temps especially from day to night, and forgive imperfect watering, unless they are over watered, which will cause the roots to die.  They tolerate the low light, but bright light of winter as well. 

When most people receive their orchid, they are in bud.  The buds will open up gradually, and hold for many months.  When all the flowers dry and drop off you can help them to bloom again on the same stalk.

Recently I watched a presentation from Kingwood Center on the Mansfield TV station.  The head gardener there showed the moth orchid, and stated that when the last flower drops off, it's time to prune back the stalk to a node.  Cut it off on the slant, just above the node, and there is a good chance the orchid will send out a new bud stem there.  Because this was new information to me, I decided to try it on 7 of my orchids who had just stopped flowering.  Two weeks later, I saw a swelling on 5 of the orchid stems, which turned out to be the beginning of a new bud stem. Try this with your own moth orchids; you won't lose anything, but you may gain another 2-3 months of blooms.