Phalaenopsis orchids are such popular houseplants, but to keep them blooming repeatedly can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge.
Last week, I met a lady who suggested that I shared tips on Flowerona on how to make the most out of these beautiful plants.
She said that whilst she seems to be able to make them flourish, her friends struggle to keep theirs blooming again and again.
So, here are my six top tips kindly given to me by Marks & Spencer:
Tip 1:
Water your orchid when the bark is dry to the touch. In the summer, this will be about once a week. Reduce this is in the winter.
Tip 2:
Make sure excess water doesn’t gather on the leaves. Gently dab away any water with a tissue.
Tip 3:
When the flowers drop (after about eight weeks), cut the stem down to just above a node ( a small bump on the stem). This will stimulate new growth.
Tip 4:
Keep your orchid on a north facing window sill while you wait for it to re-flower. You need to be patient at this stage as it can take a few months.
Tip 5:
To check if your plant is healthy, the roots in the pot should be bright green. Never cut off the aerial roots.
Tip 6:
As it’s a shade plant, never place your orchid in direct sunlight.
Phalaenopsis orchids come in a range of colours including white, red, yellow and pink.
Below is one of Marks & Spencer’s Single Phalaenopsis Orchids which you can buy via their website and they also have a large selection in-store.
So, if you’re looking for a long-lasting houseplant for your home or a gift for a friend, you may like to consider a phalaenopsis orchid. You’ll find lots of retailers now stock them, including florists and garden centres.
I hope you find the tips useful. Do let me know if you have any more…
P.S. The links in today’s blog post are part of my affiliate scheme.
(Images : Rona Wheeldon for Flowerona, Marks & Spencer)
All these years I have been banishing my flowerless orchids to the North facing dining room and they have then flowered – I did’t realise I was doing the right thing.
I cut my orchids back as the ends of the stems were drying out and after a few months it bloomed again double as beautiful as before! I wasn’t sure if it was the cutting, but now I know!
I love orchids and I keep them for years! One little thing I do which they seem to like, is that I always keep little cups filled water around my pots (I collect beautiful Japanese tea cups, so they also make nice decorations!). That ensures the atmosphere is nice and humid for them – I trick them into thinking they live in an exotic forest you see..
I have the strangest tale!!
I moved house 2 years ago and my 3 orchids were really struggling. One was in the old kitchen window (west facing) and was doing ok-ish, flowering 1-2 per year. The other 2 lived in the bathroom window (north facing) and never did anything. I thought about throwing them out when we moved, but didn’t.
When we got to the new house I put them (temporarily) in the kitchen windows – three small south facing windows. It gets very hot with direct sunlight in those windows, but I thought I’ll find a good spot for them soon.
Those 3 orchids have never stopped flowering since then and often have 2-3 stalks of flowers at the same time.
It goes against everything that they are suppose to like, but they obviously love that spot! 😉
Many thanks Daniela, Lila, Liezl and Mum for all your comments about orchids :-).
Great tips! The only thing I would add is that orchids need to be fed. Many types of orchid media are nutritionally poor and while orchids are typically not heavy feeders, they need to be fertilized during the growing season to be healthy (make more leaves roots and to prepare for flowering). Any fertilizer will do (but use 1/4 strength) or you can get orchid fertilizers. Most people don’t think much about fertilizing other houseplants because most current potting mixes have some fertilizer in them but the same is usually not true for orchids.
Thank you very much David :-).
Thanks for the great advice on the phalaenopsis Orchid. I am new to Orchids and have found so much on the internet. I am confused about where I should cut the spike, I have read that you can cut it after the third node on the spike is that right? Why cut at the bottom versus the third node on the spike? Thanks for your blog I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Hi there. There seem to be a lot of differing opinions about where exactly on the stem to cut…some people recommend second and some above the third node :-).
To add to the above –
I find watering orchids once a week with warm water and added orchid food produces an abundance of healthy flowers.
For an experiment (as I own several orchids) I cut some orchids back after flowering and left others. I found that cutting the orchids back produced less visually “pleasing” plants, with good flowers. Personally as the orchids which I left produced the same amount of flowers I
am not going to cut back the orchids again.
I was given an orchid for Mothrs Day but the recent hot weather has seriously affected it – the stalks have dried out flowers are dead and leaves are sticky on underside – is this terminal?!
Hi Shirley.
It doesn’t sound too good…and it may be terminal, I’m afraid :-(.
Best wishes
Rona