What you don't want to do is pot the plant where the level of the media is too high to the crown of the plant. The crown of the plant must remain above the potting media, whichever potting media you choose. (If growing in moss, I would grow in a clay pot, by the way. For bark, I prefer the plastic pot.) Never allow water to collect in the crown of the plant: you'll get crown rot. Up the humidity for the plant if the plant has few roots. Don't overpot the plant either. If there are few roots on the plant, then keep to somewhat small diameter pot.

it's a bit diffacult to give you an answer that will cover all your Orchids untill you tell us what all of them are. The one thing I can say that should help with all of them is more light. Light is so important to orchids. they can grow just fine with less than ideal light but they rarely bloom with out enough light. Also some Orchids require changes in day length, some it's temperature drops,and for most its's a matter of waiting for a new growth to mature as well. If you have low light Orchids you might be giving them enough with your exposure but for the medium to high light orchids you need to supplament the light they are getting with a man-made light source. I suggest getting some Compact Florescents and adding them to your growing area. If you will look back through older posts you will find many posts about light for Orchids. With out getting into too much repeat detail It is very diffacult to get enough light from a window unless you have perfect windows with no obstructions and you only grow low light plants. Look back through the posts and pay very close attention to posts and replies by a man named Howard. Howard is the Light GURU and what he says is worth reading.

Should I cut the spike off my Phalaenopsis or Doritaenopsis Orchid now that the flowers are nearly all spent?This question has been asked numerous times on many forums, and the answer you will mostly get is No! "The plant may grow a new spike from a node on the old spike ". "I never cut flower stalks off unless they turn brown" and "No one cuts the flower spikes plants growing in nature".Not bad advice really, especially if you are a new grower and want to see flowers and gain experience. BUT, If you ask this question of long time orchid growers, you will get a different answer. There are other orchids apart from Phalaenopsis that flower again from the original spike or form keikis on the flower spike. Some species orchids also bloom sequentially. Some specific examples: Doritis pulcherrima x Phal. decumbens. This is a miniature that blooms sequentially and will also form side branches. Plant started flowering in December and was then benched at three Society meetings. Still flowering at the end of March but flowers were getting smaller and there was a long naked spike with many flower scars. So I chopped the spike off at the base and the new leaf that is growing is larger than the existing leaves, so perhaps the next flowering will be even better. Large Standard Pink or White Phalaenopsis. Once the flowers are spent cut the spike off at the base so that the plant can use resources into growing new leaves and produce a better flowering next time. Species Phalaenopsis orchids. Depends on the species. Some flower for years from the same spike and should not be cut. Hybrid Equitant Oncidiums. Cut the spike off. Sure they may throw a side branch but the flowers are always smaller and few in number. Epicattleya Nebo. I left some of the flowering heads on last season. Keikis have grown there that if left will bloom and there will be flower spikes on growths from the top and bottom of the plant. My object is to put this plant in a show so I will cut those top flowering heads off. This advice applies to all reed stem Epidendrums, but if you want the plant as a garden subject the plant should be left to do its thing. Anonymous Long Time orchid Grower The Phal shown in the picture is Phal. Nancy Gordon "Dave's" (Phal. Deventeriana x Phal. venosa), an evergreen spike showing several years of growth. The photo is provided by Charles D. Moulton Image by: Charles D. Moulton Phal. Nancy Gordon "Daves"

Polina, Volumes have been written to answer your last paragraph. ;Arthurm, you think they will give me enough room here to try? It used to be that there were two types of really expensive orchids. One group was rare, very hard to find plants that were brought out of the wild and only a very few of them were in cultivation any where in the world. The others were those plants that had been hybridized by man over sometimes many generations to create exceptionally shaped blooms, or blooms with exceptional color, or both. These plants had been shown to highly trained judges who were accredited by recognized organizations such as the Royal Horticultural Society of England, or the American Orchid Society, and granted awards recognizing their superiority. When two orchids are crossed (pollen from one applied to the stigma of the other) a seed pod may be formed that can contain nearly a million almost microscopic seeds. If these seeds are planted on a nutrient material (agar, something near the consistency of Jell-O) in a sterile environment (to prevent mold contamination), each seed can produce a baby plant. Each of these little plants are unique...some will resemble mom, some dad, and most will be somewhere in between. Some may inherit and exhibit a trait from some ancestor many generations back. After about 7 years these plants will begin to bloom, and experienced growers pick the finest ones out of the multitude of first blooming seedlings. These plants are usually allowed to bloom once or twice more to confirm their characteristics before they are entered in shows or taken to judgings. Once the plants begin to bloom, the cross can be named. The process looks like this...Cattleya Plant A X (crossed by) Laelia Plant B = Laeliocattleya John Doe. (Lc. John Doe must never have been registered before) Now all these little plants that came out of that seed pod have the same name. If, in America one of those selected little plants is taken to a show, and the American Orchid Society judges there agree that it is exceptional, they can award it. Lets say they give it an Award of Merit. Now, the owner has the right to give that individual plant a "clonal name"...It now might become Laeliocattleya John Doe Variety 'My Best' AM/AOS. Now, that one particular plant has been singled out as better than its siblings, and has a name that defines it from all its siblings. Before Cloning was perfected, the only way you could obtain a plant of LC John Doe Var. "My Best" AM/AOS would be to purchase it from the owner. That usually would not happen, but the owner might consent to selling you a division or part of the plant once it grew large enough to be divided. I have personally seen divisions sold for as high as $3,000.00. Once cloning was perfected, a piece of our pant in question could be taken into the lab, and multiplied many hundreds of times, producing exact genetic copies of the original plant, and now, blooming sized plants of this plant can be purchased for $15 - $20.00. If you wanted to, you could purchase at very reasonable prices two plants with excellent breeding records, cross them, wait for them (7 yrs.) to begin to bloom, and if your cross had not been registered previously, you could name the cross, and take the best of the bunch to shows and see if you could get them awarded, clone (could probably begin to sell plants in flasks in about 2 years) them and make your fortune selling them. Kinda changes a fun hobby into lots of hard work, doesn't it. Bill