Orchid Care

Orchids are temperamental and finicky and a lot of people love them but shy away from them because they think when the blooms fall off it has died and they did something wrong. That is the furthest thing from the truth. Our orchid expert DJ Newhart wrote an article on the The Art of Growing Phalaenopsis Orchids Successfully, but can be applied to most orchids. I will attach a copy of the article so that a link to it can be made for anyone who is interested in a more detailed description on the care of orchids. But the page as a whole we can have bullet points or steps to caring for orchids.

Step 1: Successfully identify the species and type of orchid. (I always recommend to our customers to use the google lens on their phones and take a picture of what they are trying to identify, we use it for plants as well as orchids, especially when DJ is not in the shop to tell us the name of everything)

Step 2: Most orchids like indirect bright light with around 60 to 70% humidity, too much direct sunlight will burn them and kill them.

Step 3: NEVER water an orchid with ice cubes. They're tropical plants and ice shocks their roots and kills them. Room temp distilled water or rain collected water is the desired type of water for any orchid but room temp tap water will work as well. Water til roots turn green and DO NOT LET ORCHID SIT IN WATER, it will rot the roots and kill the orchid. Let the orchid dry out between its next watering. During spring and summer months orchids should be watered weekly and in the fall and winter months orchids should be watered every other week.

Step 4: When the blooms fall off, the orchid is not dead, this just means the life cycle of that stem has run its course and is now paving the way for new blooms. Once the blooms fall off or the stem(s) turn brown it should be cut as close to the leaves as possible. If left uncut the plant will think it needs to put its energy into that stem and stunt the growth of new stems and blooms.

Step 5: Fertilizing and feeding your orchid. Stay away from fertilizer or orchid food that has urea nitrogen in its mixture. Orchids should be fed in the summer and spring months weekly. A general rule of thumb is to apply fertilizer with regular waterings and every 4th watering skip fertilizing to flush the potting medium. Follow the directions of mixture on your fertilizer. Most fertilizers recommend to mix 1 tablespoon of fertilizer per gallon of water during spring and summer, reduce to 2 tsp fertilizer per gallon of water during fall and winter months.