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Moon orchid

12 years ago

I'm new to orchids. A friend gave me one its blooming and the moss etc seems very moist. How do you know when to water it? I need more care info on it. There are 4 blooms with another on its way. How much light etc does it need? Should you still water it even if its moist. what is the best container to put under the pot??

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Comments (8)

richardol
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
{{gwi:181288}}Before I get specific, is this how the flower looks? If so, you have Phalaenopsis amabilis from northern Australia, Indonesia, Papua & New Guinea and the Philippines.
User
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yes that's it. One flower is drooping the others look fine. I do not know how long they have bloomed as it was just given to me. On the east coast in CT. The spagum moss is quite moist? should I let it dry out? Why is one bud out of 4 of them drooping? I did buy rocks to set the container in. Its a very special plant to me and I want to make sure it lives.
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Hi "chig". Your bromeliad is a guzmania. You did the right thing by cutting off the finished, brown flower stalk. The vast majority of bromeliads only flower once from their centre vase of leaves. Guzmanias' flower stalks last for a long time with good colour (several months), but not forever. If you look closely at the green leaves, you might notice new young leaves starting to grow from its outer base. These offsets, or "pups" as many call them, will continue to grow. When approx. the same size as their mother plant, they too will send up an identical flower spike which will look good for several months. You could add some general slow-release fertiliser, at half the recommended dose, to the soil mix in the pot. Your orchid will also benefit from that. You could remove the pups when they are over one third the size of the original plant, and pot them individually, or you could leave them there and eventually have a flowering clump. Each plant will usually be smaller than the original, if left to clump. If your plants still look healthy, stick with the same growing conditions they are used to eg. light and moisture. In your area, you will probably need to keep them indoors during winter. I hope this helps. Good luck. Cheers, Kerry
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whitecat8
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Congratulations on your new orchid. Lovely flower.

A picture of the pot and the entire plant would be helpful.

A good starting place is the paperback, "Complete Guide to Orchids," by Ortho Books. Amazon's one option. Your Home Depot may carry it, too. Not sure about Lowe's.

Until you get a copy, yes, let the "sphag" dry till it's almost dry to the touch. Don't water till then. If your water is softened, get a gallon of drinking water or distilled water from the grocery store for that next watering. The salts in softened water will kill your orchid.

Once you've read the orchid guide, you'll know better what you want to do for water in the future.

What kind of pot is it in? Plastic? Clay? If it's clay, is it glazed? Just a "regular," porous orange clay pot?

Does the pot have several drainage holes in the bottom? Just one?

Is there a decorative outside pot or decorative paper or foil covering the actual pot the orchid's in? If so, remove anything that prevents drainage. The bottom of the pot shouldn't sit in water.

Keep your new orchid inside the house in this weather. If you have a window that gets East light till about noon or 1 PM, that would be ideal for your lovely Phalaenopsis, or Phal for short - rhymes with "fail" for one pronunciation and "gal" for another.

Another option for light is South. The ends of the orchid leaves nearest the window will need to be several inches back from the glass. No matter what exposure you have, feel the leaves in mid-day when the sun's on them. If they're quite warm or hot, move the plant farther back from the light source.

There's no way to tell why one bud is drooping. Perhaps something happened before your friend bought it - staff watered too little or too much. Maybe it was the transition from the place where your friend got it to your place, esp. if any severe weather conditions were involved.

As for what to set the pot in - rocks in a saucer or tray are fine. The big deal is that the bottom of an orchid pot shouldn't touch water. In the wild, your orchid might grow on the branch of a tree. Instead of the leaves being vertical, as they are usually in the pot, they'd be more horizontal, anchored to the branch by the roots. (You might be able to see many roots, too.)

{{gwi:181289}}

Any dew, mist, or rain that landed on the leaves would roll off. With your Phal upright in a pot, the thing to be careful about is that no water collects in the creases of the leaves: it may well cause "crown rot," which can be fatal. If water does collect, you can soak it up with a bit of toilet paper.

This hits on some of the right-away considerations. Let us know how it goes for your special plant. Whitecat8

Here is a link that might be useful: Complete Guide to Orchids, Amazon
User
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you for the wonderful info. Its in a plastic green pot with holes at the bottom I assume that's how it came so do not want to disrupt it. I have it now sitting on top of 2 inches of rocks in a plastic saucer. I will invest in the book but till then should it be watered from the top only and how much?
whitecat8
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Buddy, you're welcome. Your pot sounds like an orchid pot, so that's good. The rocks and saucer are fine, too.

There's no "one right way" to grow orchids: lots of variations on a theme work. Double-edged sword. Others here use different methods. My first post and this one describe the method that has worked for me in my indoor culture in Minneapolis. My suggestion is you stick to this method till you get the Ortho book, unless someone lets us know I've omitted something or my directions are confusing.

Ås for watering - more orchids die from OVER-watering than anything else. Doesn't matter which method you're using - this one's written in concrete. If the roots stay wet, they turn to mush, and the plant dies.

If you've had houseplants, or lived around them or gardens for vegetables and flowers, you may know they need to get watered long before the soil gets dry.

With your Phal, it's exactly the opposite. In the picture of those Phals in a tree, check out the roots. Most of them are in the air. (The brown stick-like thing hanging down is a dried-up spike [orchid word for "stem"] that had flowers on it.)

When rain falls on the roots, you can see it would run right off. Those Phals live in high humidity, so leaves and roots get moisture from the air constantly.

In the house, we can't provide that amount of humidity. One alternative is to put the orchid's roots in a potting medium that has air pockets. Sphagnum moss, or "sphag," provides those pockets because it's much lighter and fluffier than soil mixes for houseplants or garden soil.

If the sphag stays wet around the roots all the time, the roots will rot, and the orchid will die. Also, sphag is always wetter toward the bottom of the pot than at the top - air drying it out and all.

Before you water, the sphag on top needs to be almost crispy crunchy dry. Really, truly. :) Take a small amount of sphag out of the pot sometime today, if it's feasible, and set it to one side till it dries completely. If you kinda roll it between your fingers, that's crispy, crunchy dry. When my Phals aren't spiking (sending up a flower stem) or flowering, I water once the sphag on top is that dry. Really. Because I tend to under-water, they've all been that dry for 2-3 days before I watered - no ill effects.

Because your orchid is flowering, you should water *just before* the sphag on top gets that dry.

This is good for the orchid because, once the spag's almost crispy on top, it's still moist farther down in the pot.

As for the watering method, the sphag will get completely soaked - a good thing :) - if you put it in a bowl of lukewarm water.

Then stick the pot in the empty bowl and fill with water slowly to see if the sphag stays in the pot. :) If it starts rising up, don't put any more water in the bowl till it's back down again. Eventually, the water level should be a little below the top of the sphag, and the sphag should be all the way down in the pot, the way it usually is.

Let the pot soak for 30-60 minutes. Then take it out of the bowl and let the water drain out the bottom before you return it to the saucer w/ rocks in it. (Mine drain in the dish drain in the kitchen.)

While the pot's draining, check in all "joints" of the leaves (where they come out from the main part of the Phal) to make sure there's no water in those. Also check the two leaves at the very top down in the little "V." If there's even one drop of water anywhere, soak it up gently with a corner of toilet paper, which usually is more absorbant than Kleenex.

Hang in there. This is a lot of info all at once. The routines will get automatic pretty soon.

And check out that book. It's a lot more succinct than I am!
User
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
THank YOU. Perfect explanations.
burtonr
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
whitecat8 you are very kind and generous to give such brilliant instructions. Useful to all, not just the original poster. Many thanks for sparing your time and expertise.
whitecat8
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Y'all are certainly welcome. When I was brand new to orchids, more experienced growers were generous with me, including many folks here. They & others continue to share their info and wisdom.

So, if you stick around the orchid world, one day you'll get a chance to pass along what you've learned from others and from your own experience.

My suggestions above were just to get you through the first 10 days or so, so please check more comprehensive resources. Longterm, my methods may not work in your culture, or I could have gotten something wrong - everything except letting the medium dry before watering. :)

Buddy, keep us posted on your orchid's progress.

Burton, if you're growing orchids, I hope it's going well.

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