I second to Kevin's about orchids like sun. I just visited a friend of mine and noticed one of Sharry Baby I gave to him couple years ago was blooming . The bulb is huuuge and plumped , much larger than mine. I don't have a lot of issue growing orchids, or have orchids bloom, just following what it needs mostly of time. But I have never grown orchids that good comparing to my friend. He said he put the orchids outside in the summer under his large Bradford pear tree. The orchids got morning sun and later afternoon sum directly but got filtered sun in most of day time. He said his other orchids collection seems grow better this way too . I kept my orchids on the dry side and don't water my orchids very often. But I do spray /mist my orchids, the potting medium, and outside of the pot( clay) twice a day with water. And spray/mist the leaves especially the back side of the leaves with low strength fertilizer every day. This works well for me so far. I have all my orchids bloomed as they are supposed to be, and have my orchids grow new braches as they are supposed to be... But I will move my orchids outside this summer to see if I can make them grow bigger and better.

All living things have bacteria and virus in and on them. Many are innocuous, actually most are. Plants and animals that are healthy have systemic processes (immune systems) to prevent the 'germs' from taking over and killing them. In humans, we get a fever that raises the body temperature high enough to kill the bacteria. Antibodies are produced to tackle the virus. In plants, if a bug or a dirty blade punctures the cuticle of the tissue, the plant will induce a protective death of the cells surrounding the wound, thus sealing it off and preventing the spread. If that doesn't work, the plant will often drop the affected leaf. It saddens me to think about all the poor plants that have been thrown away due to this paranoia about virus. Obviously if you're a breeder, there are certain viri that are worth worrying about. But for most casual hobbyists, there are MUCH bigger problems. Squirrels, for instance... or scale/mealies/crown rot. Hydrogen peroxide is your friend. Besides, how often do people really have to cut into their plants??? I can think of maybe two or three times I have in the past five years. If you're doing surgery on your plants more often than that, perhaps you should be growing roses. :) -MB

Thanks for the good background info, Jerry. AZ, welcome. Also, Dens like to be under-potted. If yours has a chance to make it, it'll be lots happier in a smaller pot. What some do is get a pot about half to 3/4 as large as the one you have. If you have to compress the roots a bit so they'll fit, that's fine. Because you have very dry conditions, you can use sphagnum moss - it will retain moisture longer than bark. Bark is fine, too. The 1st 2 weeks or so, you may need to water new bark daily - maybe twice daily - till it seasons enough to hold moisture longer. Plastic pots hold moisture longer than clay. If the Den is tipsy in the smaller pot, you can put the pot in a slightly larger unglazed clay pot for stability. If it doesn't have a hole in the bottom, be sure the original pot drains well before it goes back in the clay pot, or you can put some stones in the bottom of the clay pot. As for your other 2 orchids, they'll be happy in pots just a bit larger than their roots. If there's about 1/2" between the roots and the side of the pot, that's good. (You can "ooch" them around so they fit.) Otherwise, the additional medium will dry out too slowly, and the roots may rot. Caveat - this is a general potting guideline for orchids. With your low humidity and high temps, you might be able to get away w/ larger pots. I don't have enough info to know. All the best with your first orchids. Let us know how it goes. Whitecat8

The "Blue" tint is caused by the injection of blue dye. The plant will probably re-bloom white. The bit chopped off was probably marked or damaged and was removed to assist in the selling process. Do nothing, especially do not repot or fiddle in any way. The plant should recover and you should be able to defer repotting for a year. They are better pot-bound. Find some complete cultivation notes that relate to zone 9 wherever you are in the USA. Find the spot where it will be happy and observe what happens.