Orchid help please

MoaningMyrtle

I have a couple of orchids which are the bog standard supermarket £10.00 ones, they have finished flowering, can anyone tell me the best way to get them to flower again? I have cut the stem back to a bud.

The ones I have had in the past ended up in the bin as the bare stick was not a good look.

westiea

from Orchid.org.uk

How to make a phalaenopsis flower again quickly. When flowering has finished, or ideally has one or two flowers left, you can trim off the spike to around 1 inch from just above the first node on the main spike stem, that will be somewhere below where the first flower appeared, and is a little bump covered by a small leaflet,.
The plant may re spike and flower early from there, or if the spike has died fully and gone brown, trim off the flower spikes to within 1 inch from where they appeared out of the side of the plant, and look after it, it should re bloom on new spikes next year.

My MIL, who grows them, tends to put them to the rear of the rest of her conservatory plants and then brings them out again when they flower the following year

shelly

I have 3 Orchids on my kitchen windowsill and at this time of year when all the flowers have gone I let the stem die off fully then I cut the stem completely off leaving about 1 inch of dead stem poking out of the main plant (as Westieas' info says) all I am left with is the large leaves of the main plant.
I keep watering them every 2 weeks and next year they will all flower again.

Strapped

http://www.orchids.uk.com/beginnersthree.htm

Some info here from the top person in orchids.

angelavdavis

I assume the orchids you have are in a clear pot? Cutting the flowering stem back to a bud is the way to go - another flowering spear will start to grow from here.

You only need to cut the flowering stem off altogether if the orchid you have has the long strap like leaves and an opaque pot.

cubegame

We have over 50 orchids at home and normally get 4 months of flowering out of a phalaenopsis.
All the advice about cutting back is spot on but I would consider a repot as most supermarket orchids are in rubbish growing medium.

Transfer your orchid to a bark from an orchid specialist. Don't buy orchid compost from companies like Levington etc. There should be no soil at all in a good growing medium.

Give it a two month break in a cooler room after it's finished flowering and be really mean on water (we often go for a month with a phalaenopsis as they are nearly unkillable). Then bring back in to the warmth, start to feed and wait.

My other hint would be to either use rain water or deionised water for watering. Tap water will limit the life of an orchid to 3 or 4 blooms.

MoaningMyrtle

Thank you very much everyone, I will try and nurture them to get them to flower again.

shelly

Strapped wrote: »

http://www.orchids.uk.com/beginnersthree.htm

Some info here from the top person in orchids.

Thanks for this info. As per my previous post I usually just let it all die off then trim back but after looking at the link you posted I have just trimmed the stems of 2 of my 3 orchids in the hope they just might reflower!

zee_2

have 'ALDI' one 3years old , just removes from container basket that was in pot [breaking some tangled roots in process] potted up with same compost I use for fuchias [forget name] put back in pot wit a little water /tomato feed...thats all ..grows away on shaded kitchen sill.