Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Orchids

36 replies

HmmmmmmInteresting · 13/06/2021 22:27

Please help me. I don't know how to care for orchids that you buy from supermarkets in little plastic pots. I love them so much as they are so beautiful but I don't know what I need to do to keep them alive. My current one looks like the picture attached. I have previously repotted them into compost but they still don't live. What should I do with this one?

OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 13/06/2021 22:27

Picture

Orchids
OP posts:
Whitney168 · 13/06/2021 22:30

That looks fine to me?

They definitely shouldn’t be in compost, they are epiphytes.

Whitney168 · 13/06/2021 22:32

If anything for yours, the air root look a bit dry. Put it in a bowl of water (preferably rainwater, if you have a water butt) to soak for a couple of hours then leave it to drain for another couple of hours before you put it back in its outer pot.

(Not if it’s in compost though … needs to be in orchid bark.)

teenmumandsowhat · 13/06/2021 22:35

I’m not at all green fingered, but my orchids (both from supermarkets) are thriving. What I’ve found works for me is putting them on a south facing windowsill that gets indirect sunlight. And only watering them
Every couple of weeks. Honestly I think they thrive on neglect!

MustardRose · 13/06/2021 22:36

The ones in the supermarkets etc are a type of moth orchid called 'phalaenopsis'.

They need to be in a clear pot with chopped bark so the roots can photosynthesise. They are aerial roots and need light. In the wild, they live in trees in the tropics, they don't grow in the ground.

Thefirsttime · 13/06/2021 22:36

  1. put it in a bigger cover pot or take it out of the white cover pot completely-the roots like light.

  2. put it somewhere with good light, but not too much direct sunlight and not somewhere too hot

  3. DO NOT OVERWATER IT- you will kill it. Do not leave the roots standing in water. They do better with too little water than too much.

  4. I have concluded after years of orchid keeping (and killing several) the trick to keeping them alive is largely down to putting them in the right place in the house which is basically somewhere with the right amount of light- mine seem to particularly like a west facing windowsill in the summer and a south facing windowsill in the winter.

Thefirsttime · 13/06/2021 22:40

And as the others have said, they need to be in special orchid compost although they only need repotting when they either get too big for the pot or when the bark has rotten down so that there isn’t much light getting to the roots.

Your orchid currently looks good though.

ErrolTheDragon · 13/06/2021 23:19

Honestly I think they thrive on neglect!

Yup. I've got some that are several years old, I just water them (rainwater when possible) and from time to time they throw out a flower spike. Some are on a NNE window ledge, and usually there's a blind down on that window, the others are SSW though they do get moved between the two positions. Although they're in their clear pots they're in cache pots so the roots can't be getting much light but they seem ok.

MilduraS · 13/06/2021 23:55

Mine have thrived in a sunny west facing window but hate everywhere else in the house. I soak them in water for an hour every 2-3 weeks during summer. In winter I soak in water every 3-5 weeks depending on how sunny it's been. I usually add a little fertiliser to the water but skip it every once in a while. I also repot them in fresh orchid bark every 2 or 3 years. I've killed quite a few orchids with kindness and have learned that it's better to neglect them than give them root rot from overwatering.

Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 01:25

I am alarmed about the roots being so visible and thought everybody would comment on that, but everyone has said it looks good. The flowers have been great for weeks but they are suddenly withering, hence me posting here. It is in my kitchen, which is South West facing. I try not to water to often and have orchid mist, which I spray every so often on the leaves and stem.

I will try and collect some rainwater

They are aerial roots and need light. In the wild, they live in trees in the tropics, they don't grow in the ground.

Does this mean the exposed roots are ok? But someone said they need re-potting when they get too big for the pot...how do you know when this is?

OP posts:
Beebumble2 · 14/06/2021 07:57

The exposed, air roots are fine as long as they are fleshy looking. If they look frazzled then it needs some water.
During the first lockdown two orchids were left in my second home, for months. I was amazed to see them in flower when I eventually got there.
As someone said they thrive on neglect.

SoupDragon · 14/06/2021 08:04

To a certain extent they survive better with benign neglect as over watering is bad for them. Once you realise they grow on the outside of trees then you change your views of how they should be grown I think.

I used to have to look after an entire greenhouse of mixed orchids when my parents went away. All I had to do was soak them once a week, let them drain and make sure there was no water pooling in the sort of vase bit where the leaves meet the stem. I think they preferred rain water but just water was fine.

Some were grown on big chunks of bark rather than in a pot! I'm sure all were in bark rather than compost.

macshoto · 14/06/2021 09:40

The flowers will die back after a time - that's natural. When they do, Chop the flower spike off near the base.

You may want to invest in some orchid food - usually mixed into the water when you water them. That can help to promote growth and future flowing.

Benign neglect is the best way to go. One of my plants that was left without water for 90 days during lockdown #1 has just started flowing again. It has one flower spoke with multiple branches and at least 30 flower buds to open. All I do is water about every two weeks (dunk for an hour or two and then drain) and feed every second watering.

I grow mine without any fancy pot which means the roots can photosynthesise.

MustardRose · 14/06/2021 09:50

They only need repotting when they have either literally climbed right out of the pot, or the bark has rotted down. And then you need to repot them in a bigger clear pot with some more orchid bark. Garden centres sell it.

When the flowers fade, look closely at the stem below the flowers, follow it down until you find a bump. It is a bud. Cut above that and it will grow new flowers from there.

Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 12:27

Thanks so much everyone....so interesting! I didn't know ANY of this! Hoping for lovely healthy orchids now I'm armed with this knowledge.

OP posts:
larkstar · 14/06/2021 13:03

I would agree that you have had all the right advice you need in this thread - I have kept orchids since 2005 - the first oine I bought is still magnificent. I now have 8 orchids of different soizes and colours and there is hardly a day in the year when oneor more of them aren't in flower. My key advice would be:-

  • never give up on an orchid - I've been given several that the owners were giving up on - all survived - I gave some of them back to their original owners. I honestly believe that they trigger each other in to flowering contuously so having 5-6 on the North windwsill helps - they do not like being in really sunny spots, i.e. no south d=facing windows - I have 2 more on a West facing window and they do fine. Where you put them matters a lot.

  • use rainwater - I have a 4 pint plastic jug that I fill with rainwater collected in a water butt - I leave it to reach room temperature before pouring it into the sink - I leave my plants to soak for several hours then let them drain for several hours - all are in transparent pots. My daughter put her transparent pot (with holes in the base) in to a ceramic pot - when she watered it the water sat around the roots and they rotted - I manged to rescue it - roots should not sit around in water. I water about every 1-2 weeks.

  • You can spray the aerial roots with a mister - orchids are oftenfound in the hollows between branches in trees in tropical or humid places to the aerial roots spread out in search of tiny amounts of moisture - I mist them when I remember to but it's not essential and don't cut them off as a friend did as she thought they looked unsightly, unhealthy and untidy - they are part of the mystery of the whole plant - some people only like to see the flowers.

Orchids
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 18:13

never give up on an orchid - I've been given several that the owners were giving up on - all survived - I gave some of them back to their original owners. I honestly believe that they trigger each other in to flowering contuously so having 5-6 on the North windwsill helps - they do not like being in really sunny spots, i.e. no south d=facing windows - I have 2 more on a West facing window and they do fine. Where you put them matters a lot.

I feel so guilty of all the ones I've killed over the years. I gave up on them all Sad

I've just fished one out of the bin Blush( not the one in the picture- the one that prompted me to make the OP because I was worried a similar fate was soon going to happen to this one)

Fingers crossed using all of you guys' tips I can rescue the little guy. I won't post a pic as I'm embarrassed.

OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 18:49

Another quick question if I may. What is the normal growth cycle of an orchid? That is, which/ how many months of the year should I expect to see flowers? I hate it when all the flowers drop off 😭

And how long should flowers stay once they're open?

OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 19:22

Sorry to be so needy 😂

How do you soak them? I'm currently soaking the 'dead' one in the sink but it's floating so it's not properly soaking iyswim

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 14/06/2021 19:55

If you leave it it will sink. Then it's done.

ErrolTheDragon · 14/06/2021 20:13

Fingers crossed using all of you guys' tips I can rescue the little guy. I won't post a pic as I'm embarrassed.

Take a photo, then if he's resurrected you can do a before and after.Grin

Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 20:15

I honestly think this one is beyond redemption, but we will see 🙈

I think where I have gone wrong is where I have placed them and not realising they need the roots to photosynthesise. I knew about not over-watering. I didn't know they grew on the barks of trees. This is game-changing information

OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 20:19

@ErrolTheDragon

Fingers crossed using all of you guys' tips I can rescue the little guy. I won't post a pic as I'm embarrassed.

Take a photo, then if he's resurrected you can do a before and after.Grin

I will do. But I will only post if it is a success because I feel so ashamed. Poor orchids. My teen teases me for being a plant killer. He is currently growing raspberries and is so cute how lovingly he tends them. He is so good with plants and said the other day that if he retired he would become a gardener and would love that. I would wonder if he was switched at birth but he looked so like my first child at birth that I don't think so.
OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 23:15

Ok, so @larkstarsaid never give up on an orchid but I have one that was in a room that I never go into and I'm ashamed to admit I forgot about. Believe me when I say that the other orchids have always been tended to and this is not usual. Seems hard to believe when I am here saying my orchids usually die. Tbh, this one was already dying and from my previous experience I thought it was a gonna. I moved it into a back room when I put my house up for sale then forgot about it ☹️😭 What I want to know is does this one have any chance or is it dead?

OP posts:
Original poster
HmmmmmmInteresting · 14/06/2021 23:16

I'm so sorry to you green-fingered people. I know this is awful, but I want to redeem myself 😭

OP posts: