Mark,phals drop bottom leaves when they begin to put out new one,its a cycle.the only time you should worry is if they drop more than one or two and if the leaf starts to yellow at the base where its attached to the stem,this would indicate a fungal or bacterial infection.your plant from what I can see looks healthy and has a few green root tips,which shows it is growing,so its perfectly healthy.just continue with the care your giving and watch that you don't over water this will rot the roots also you can give it a bit of fertilizer about once or twice per month and you should be fine.your doing great already.Velleta

Just got your first orchid and the first thing you are going to do is repot it. Why? How does it look at the moment? As for the Miracle Orchid Mix, i am very suspicious of anything with the word "miracle" on the label. Your growing conditions are much more important than the mix and if the plant is healthy you can have 12 months of grace before you have to repot. As for how often to water? describe the position where you intend to grow the orchid and one of the local growers should be able to give good advice.

Thanks Stitz! Yes I live in Alberta, Canada. The weather here is totally unpredictable...right now we're working on (if we haven't already) set a new all time temperature record high since 1881 I think they said. However in July is was so cold with rain for weeks on end. And not really lucky me all too much...it's hard finding new and interesting plants here. I keep a close eye on all my plants, so if I notice either of my orchids start to decline, I'll switch mediums. Now another question...what's the difference between sphagnum moss and spanish moss? Is there a difference? I found spanish moss at my garden centre, but not sphagnum... Thanks so much!

It might be a good thing it froze. If there were any critters inside, they might be toast now. I bought some bark mix from a local grower and stored it in the basement. I couldn't figure out where all the yellow jackets were coming from inside my house. Then I discovered they were inside the bag of bark and slowly working their way out. Kevin