I AM PROUD TO SAY that I have rebloomed my first orchid, no big deal to many of you out there but something I had always stashed in my mind as “difficult” or “impossible.” In fact, it was really easy.
I confess to having harbored longtime anti-orchid feelings, frankly, and hadn’t even owned an orchid, unless you count the occasional cut Cymbidium I buy from a nearby greenhouse in winter. That is, I hadn’t owned a plant until I moved to my former weekend home way outside the city last winter and got a little lonely for company.
I brought a Phalaenopsis home from the local garden center around the holidays on total impulse, and it flowered for four months in my dining room, which astonished even me. The $30 price seemed steep at first, but month after month, that orchid paid me back for my indulgence. After such a performance, I just couldn’t compost it. I’d grown attached.
I knew the basics of orchid care, having written on the subject many times. The highlights:
Overwatering is the best way to kill an orchid, which wants a really thorough soaking but on an infrequent basis, only when needed. Adding half-strength orchid fertilizer to the water every couple of weeks is all the food that’s required. I add the indicated amount of fertilizer to a big bowl of water and simply plunge the pot into it every week or 10 days, depending on how the bark medium around the roots feels to my finger when I poke around in it each week. Conditions vary, and watering can be more frequent or less; the finger test is the only way to know the right moment, just before they get dry.
I am sure to let the excess liquid drain from the orchids potting medium, especially if the pot will be slipped inside a cache pot or sit in a saucer of some kind where water could collect. These are epiphytic plants, and don’t ever want to stand in water.
The Phalaenopsis’ other minimal requirements: cutting off the flower spikes when bloom is finished, and repotting when the planting medium (whether bark or moss) gets depleted. In other words: so simple.
Phalaenopsis, perhaps the easiest orchid to grow in average home conditions, requires relatively low light, such as an east window or a shaded west or southern one. Phalaenopsis are happy in temperatures we can tolerate: around 60 at night, warmer during the day. Just now I’ve moved my plants (yes, plural, because I am now addicted) to the mudroom, where they’ll get a little cooler, to the mid-50s, for a few weeks each evening to help induce their flower spikes. Then they’ll come back into 60-plus.
Winter-into-spring is peak Phalaenopsis bloom time, but my first rebloomer (pictured up top) began its resurrection in September, a little early. It had summered outdoors with its new sisters and brothers in the high shade of a tree, getting indirect light and enjoying the humidity, and I’d kept up the regular feedings.
Now that the plants are indoors, and the heat is coming on, I’ll place them on some pebble trays of water (not standing in it, but raised above it) to create a slightly moister microclimate, and group them among my many other houseplants to add to the effect.
The Greater New York Orchid Society homepage offers PDF downloads of all the American Orchid Society’s cultural how-to’s, including Phalaenopsis (the links are in the lower right-hand column). Have you had an orchid success (or failure) using these or other tricks? I’d love to hear, now that I’m an orchid grower.
I am bookmarking this post. I have an orchid that bloomed for so long and I’ve been wondering how to get it to bloom again. You make it sound so simple and easy!
Welcome, BelleEnchanted. I was surprised at how cooperative they are, if you don’t waterlog them or otherwise deal out any torture. Keep us posted how you do…and definitely read the two linked factsheets for further tricks.
Aww, I love this post! I’m a full blown orchid nut and I remember shrieking through the house the first time I got one to rebloom. I still remember it…a yellow onc.
@Rachel: Glad to have someone validate my childlike excitement. I have grown so many plants…but this always scared me. How silly that I was daunted for so long. Thanks.
Wow, that’s awesome! I am indeed impressed, as I have a black thumb when it comes to house plants and I know orchids are notoriously fussy.
I have a co-worker who is always trying to nurture plants on his desk, and they always die, even philodendrons. One day he brought in an orchid. “Maybe this one will grow!”
I didn’t have the heart to to say anything but “Good luck!”
And yes, he killed that, too.
Ahhh. Welcome to the fold! I got into growing orchids years and years ago as a natural extension of my gardening hobby. I now have almost 80 different orchids in my collection. They spend the summer outdoors, are brought indoors early fall, and reward me with blooms during the bleak winter months. I now garden all year ’round.
It’s really a myth that orchids are fussy plants to grow. They’re not. It’s all a matter of knowing your conditions and selecting those orchids that will thrive in those conditions. Just as in perennial gardening, you wouldn’t want to put a plant that requires full sun into full shade. It wouldn’t survive. The key is education.
Congratulations! It is so beautiful. :-)
I’ve always thought them way out of my league. You make me want to try one.
Oh, it’s beautiful! I’ve never had any luck with them.
In July 2007, I received a Phalaenopsis as a gift. It bloomed like a champ for months. Then, one by one each of the blooms wilted and faded dead away. I was left with just an ugly dried-out stick in a terra cotta pot. Ugh! I was so annoyed! I decided to do what I always do with unpleasant things…I just ignored it. Sometimes I watered it, sometimes I didn’t. Tough love. Lo and behold, one day last spring I spied a small GREEN (not brown) stalk. I had to look twice. Sure enough, the stalk grew longer and greener and then another one poked through…with tiny buds. The tiny buds grew enormous and looked like they would surely explode. And explode they did with many beautiful blooms that lasted until just a few weeks ago. Sadly, now I’m back to the dead brown stick. My fingers are crossed, though, for another miracle. Crazy flowers, these orchids!
You story sounds “just like me” – I also was hooked on Phalaenopsis after I decided that one amazingly long-blooming individual deserved better than be thrown into the compost. Since then, I’ve been rotating my orchids; the over flowered ones go into the almost unheated guestroom to be pampered (we’ll, just as you say, you don’t need to do much), and the ones with buds come out to be admired again. Another thing that I’ve learned is to grow Phalaenopsis in glass containers, and never in ceramic or other pots. They are as you day, epiphytic plants, so their roots want to get some light too.
A couple years ago a friend told me not to remove the stalk once the flowers had faded..unless it was absolutely dead. And she emphasized…brown, dried up…DEAD.
She explained that the plant expends a lot of nutrients and energy building that stalk. But once it’s there…it just keeps sending out new flower scapes from the original. One of the best houseplant tips I’ve ever received! Now my phalaenopsis barely rests between reblooming.
I have never managed to get the damned things to bloom again. This is my Achilles heel, utter lack of a green thumb. I continue to try, however, and the orchids continue to tank. However I continue to try.
So glad to hear this is a topic close to many of us. Good not to be alone w/orchidophobia. Intercontinental Gardener and Bobster have some good tips…both the roots and the flower stem are important parts of the plant to think about. Thanks.
This post made me think about the onc that has been sulking on my windowsill for the 11 months since my partner gave it to me. I pulled it out to water it, and lo and behold, it had 4 (!) bright new shoots, my first reblooms-in-the-making! Benign neglect conquers yet again! Thanks for your lovely photos, yet again.
Welcome, Dogrivervt. I am humbled by your report of four shoots; I was gloating from just a single over here. Do come again soon, and thanks for the Oncidium report, which I fear will get me trying them too. Egads. :/
Welcome, Julie. The Cymbidium link up top (and here) is a good place to start (Westerlay Orchids). Nice to see you and hope to hear from you again soon.
I have been reading your posts for a few months with pleasure, but now I must chime in with joy. In the past, in love with orchids, I created a basement room with grow lights and much trouble but could never get any re-bloom (not enough red spectrum light I think). Then we moved to the country, I hung a coir lined wire basket stuffed with phalenopsis and dendrobiums in a north and east facing window of the shower where light is ever-present but low and it is humid and wham: dozens (yes dozens!) of phalenopsis re-booms and even two little “keikis” off the depleted stalk of the dendrobium, one of which is now in bloom. Now…. if only I can get my cymbidium which has been outdoors in the semi shade of a banana tree (Pacific Northwest USDA zone 8) to bloom! Any ideas?
Margaret…You will definitely enjoy reading my post about an orchid! Yours are beautiful.
http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/2008/08/orchid-portrait.html
I also stopped cutting of the finished flower spikes on my phanlaenopsis. They just send out new small braches and seem much quicker to rebloom.
An orchid expert at Brooklyn Botanic Garden told me years ago that the white Phals in particular will often spike again off the old flower spike, and just to cut it back partway. I just recalled that reading your comment, Ted, and Bobster’s.
I have been buying and re-blooming orchids for a few years now – but no matter how many times I am successful I am always flabbergasted when it works!!
I have even been successful at re-potting lately, having failed many times before!
Welcome, Callie. Glad to hear the “wow” feeling won’t wear off. I await cooperation from my other subjects. I repotted in bark once with the ones that seemed to need it…all still alive. Fingers crossed.
Welcome, M. Brooks. Great to hear your revival story. You can post a jpg on my Forums by starting a new topic under houseplants (near the bottom of the forum home page) and I will connect the dots. Can’t upload photos here in comments on the blog, but on the Forums you can.
UPDATE: M. Brooks’ orchid success photo is posted on the Forums here.
My phal. too just finished its first reblooming. I was so psyched. I did not do half of what you did, never fertilized it – just let it sit in some water in my tiny half sink for an hour or less once a week. I must say I “watered” a stick for nearly a year, but it came back this Sept. and looks just like yours in the photo. I have a photo but don’t know how to post it. I am afraid to buy another one though, until I am sure this one will live on. Mine was from Home Depot and cost about $20 I think.
My daughter gave me my first orchid for Mother’s Day 2008. Thought it would never stop blooming….lasted for 3 months. Now that I have read how to rebloom it there are 12 new buds on it. I am so excited. I had to call her and tell her right away and even picked it up and showed it to my husband (who could really care less). I just love getting a flower to rebloom.
Welcome, Frances. Victory is yours! I laughed out loud about the reaction you got (didn’t get?) when showing it to your spouse. Adorable. Come again soon.
Margaret,
Happened upon your blog while reading a gardening blog of a friend of mine (Defining Your Home). I’ve loved reading all your entries.
The Orchid topic caught my eye as I’m the recent ‘parent’ of a Phalaenopsis.
About 8 weeks ago while perusing the ‘scratch & dent’ shelves in the garden section at my local Lowes I spotted an orchid in full bloom. It was in a clear plastic 8oz cup that had holes in it and was missing over half of the bark planting medium. It was reduced from $25.00 to $1.50!!!
Like you I “…harbored longtime anti-orchid feelings…” but at $1.50 how could I not adopt this orchid? I put the plant in my cart and went searching for a suitable container. I soon realized why my orchid was reduced so drastically. The regulary priced orchids were also in a plastic cup but the plastic cup was inside a terra cotta pot.
I found a pot I liked ($15.00) and picked up a bag of orchid ‘bark’ for repotting ($3.00). Okay, I know, the $1.50 orchid actually costs me $19.50. I just can’t pass up a deal!
My orchid bloomed for about 3 weeks and within a week I saw a new shoot emerging from the base. Woo Hoo. I’ve recently cut the old flower stem off. The new shoot is coming along nicely.
I was happy to see that soaking my orchid in a bowl of water, about once every 10 days, was the right thing to do. I didn’t even think about fertilizer, duh! I’ll be sure to start feeding my baby immediately.
Thanks for all the great orchid growing information. I anxiously await the new blooms on my orchid.
Welcome to Vikki, fellow accidental parent to an orchid. Congratulations on your success. Love your story, and hope you’ll share others with us in the weeks and months to come.
This site is delightful and I am pleased to share my recent experience in caring for orchids. The Palaeonopsis I bought from a grower in Dallas a year ago (to celebrate my retirement) has begun sending out a budstem and I am thrilled. My Chocolate Orchid plant is also full of buds and though I had seen one in bloom my daugher gave me this one when it was not in bloom so for a novice orchid enthusiast,this is one exciting time. I also rescued 3 small orchid plants from Home Depot for $1 each and two are sending up bud stems. I use the advice from the grower to let the orchids sit in a weak water/fertilizer mix once a week or so and they seem to love the exposure next to a large glass blocks window on the northeast side of the house. I’m looking forward to trying to keep them in indirect light on my patio in Oklahoma and will be challenged to deep them from getting too dry.
Wow, I am not alone. For our wedding in October we bought 26 in full bloom. We gave away most and now we are left with 12. They were watered once in 4 months (ignored). I kept them outside in the lanai during the neglect period. We live in FL, so it wasn’t too cold. Finally this weekend I decided to remove all the dried out shoots and leaves, bought some orchid food, and one by one started watering and manicuring. In the process 2 of them had shot out new branches from the old ones that had snapped during transportation. One of them had a new 7in branch shooting out as well. So they are ready to explode with more to come. I feel lucky, I have been down for the past few months, but the orchids have brought me new joy and energy, I think everything will be fine. So my advice is don’t do too much and keep them in the shade. They are resilient creatures.
Welcome, Ethiopian. I am jealous at your favorable conditions for reblooming orchids. Wow. They are definitely happier there than in the Northeast. I hope we see you here again soon.
Margaret
I have a wonderful big, old magnolia that became infested with some sort of insect that a woodpecker is systematically, and rapidly excavating the tree leaving huge holes all along the main branch. I am sad to lose this beautiful tree after a winter where ice storms took so much of my Hudson Valley best.
Please advise.
Wicki
Welcome Wicki. I think that you are being visited by a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Have a look at what one did to my lacebark pine tree last year and see if it looks like that.
I’m back, Margaret! I see I have the first comment on this post – and I just wanted to pop by and tell you that my orchid has five huge buds and one teeny tiny one right now! I followed your instructions about watering, and I also cut the old flower spikes. This was back in October, when I first read your post. And now I have beautiful orchid blooms to look forward to. I am terribly excited, and am already thinking about buying more orchids now. I don’t exactly live in a tropical or even temperate climate, so I wasn’t sure how well my orchid would do. Thank you so much!
Nice to see you again, Belle, and I am *so* glad to hear about your orchid success. I never thought I could do it, either. Great to master it together. :)
Have 2 orchid plants that have been blossoming for the past 2 months–one my mother enjoyed at the nursing home and one I had on my dining room table. Now they are almost ready to go outside here in Western New York. Thanks for all the tips–I will not cut back on the stems. Wish me luck.
Welcome, Cathy-by-the-river. I cut back my stems and others don’t so I may vary and do some of my plants each way next time. Once plant I have had in bloom has been going since Thanksgiving. Insane. Look forward to seeing you again.
I cut my orchid back too far with almost no stalk left. Will it ever re-bloom or should I just abandon waiting. I have another one that has a stalk with a branch off near the top of the stalk. I have not cut anything on this one. What should I do with this one.
Welcome, Pat. Cutting it all the way down is fine; it’s the foliage you need to grow for awhile (often most of a year) to get another flower spike. I cut mine all the way down and it did fine. Some can branch as you say, but I have not has as plentiful flowers from those upper side shoots ever; so I am not sure. I just cut them down after flowering is done.
Thank you Margaret for your advice. After reading all the posts I have bought some orchid medium and am preparing to re-pot that orchid. It has done nothing for a very long time so this may give it some new life. I have read some other instructions for re-potting and sterilizing everything. I have the new medium soaking for overnight and I will attempt this tomorrow. Wish me luck.
I bought 6 orchid plants from a “big box” store, all in bloom. That was last winter. I have been trying to rebloom and will try the advice in this column, but I have a question about leaves. If a plant begins to lose its leaves, is it dying? Can it be saved? I had a problem with “burned” leaves and moved my plants to a northern window (I am in the North East). Also, one of my plants has a white cottony substance on the leaves – any advice on this?
Welcome, Nancy. It is normal for plants to drop some leaves (the oldest bottom ones), which will gradually yellow and fade…but you should also see new leaves being produced in a healthy plant. Often orchids are potted in sphagnum moss to make it easy to keep them watered in the greenhouses and in retail sales like where you purchased yours, but the roots actually hate sphagnum (it stays too wet and they don’t get the air they need). Have you repotted your plants into an orchid mix (like bark)? Too-wet roots will decay and the foliage will also decline in turn as the plant weakens. Since I can’t see the plant, I am just mentioning possible issues.
Do you perhaps have some mealy bug on that one plant with the white cottony problem? I tried to find a photo on the American Orchid Society site for you. There is another fact sheet about pests here.
I mist the 2 phaleanopsis orchids in my bathroom twice a day, and they really seem to like it. The white one, in flower mid-November, is still blooming…!
Welcome, Stephanie. Good point; humidity is a big help. I also have them in the bathroom and I think they like the occasional steamy conditions. :) See you soon again, I hope.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful picture! It’s showing that how you love your orchid. I think I need to learn a lot. I started to grow orchids recently. the leaves of Bulbophyllum pardalotum are changing into yellow color. Any solution?
Hello. My phal has a growth.. possibly a new stalk, that is about an inch long. But half of it is turning white.. a glossy white. The tip end is still bright green. Is that normal? Is that a new stalk growing? It looks to be much larger in diameter than the old stalk that I cut off recently.
Welcome, Justin. Sounds like a root, not a flower-to-be. They seem to start bright green and then get a whitish or grayish coating (usually the bright green then shows just near the tip). So it all sounds fine. But not a flower spike, or at least does not sound like one.
I bought a flowering orchid in 2008. It did very little in the past few years. I repotted into a bark orchid mix and have had it in a east facing window. I thought to was only going to put out leaves, but to my excitement I now have a 8-10in flower spike. Not flowering yet but hopefully soon. It is mid December in Phoenix. I have been already been watering as its been stated in previous posts. All your suggestions have been working for me. Thank you for re-afirming that I was doing something right. Great post, thanks for the wisdom.
Welcome, Keepingthefaith. Two of mine just shot up spikes, too…so exciting. Glad we are both having success!
As always, your posts are so timely. I too bought an orchid at the home improvement store last winter and enjoyed its bloom for 4 months. This was my first orchid since we moved to Zone 5 Kansas 17 years ago – after growing them for years and years in Hawaii. I just knew I couldn’t grow them here.
And just two weeks ago I was rewarded with new, huge white blooms and have two more spikes on the stubs of stalks I left on. I’m thrilled and always so proud when I’m doing something that my favorite garden guru is doing!