[journorchid]

Hi, all! I'm writing to introduce myself to the crew here. I am a young journalist living on Long Island, and I've never really had a green thumb -- but I've been having slightly better luck with plants in the last few months.

What brought me here was serious concern about the one orchid plant I currently own. It's a ph. (moth) -- purple with yellow in the center of the blooms.

The plant means a lot to me for a couple of reasons:

First, I bought it for $.99 from a big box store that had given up on it because its single stalk had nothing but a single bud on the top. I brought it home and promptly lifted it too high, shearing off the bud with my ceiling fan. But I stuck it in the window anyway, and in a couple of days, a new arm sprouted off the side, and from that arm grew six beautiful buds.

Then, my boyfriend of 2.5 years (long for a 25-year-old) visited me just as they were about to burst, and was here to watch with me as the first of the blooms unfurled into the sunlight. By the time he left, it was in full bloom. Ol' dude dumped me a couple of weeks ago, but I've enjoyed having this plant and its impressive flowers to remind me of him.

Then, last night, disaster strikes: Three of the most recent blooms are severely wilted, while the first one to open is still relatively intact -- though its top petal is dried-out-looking. And one of them just fell off. Now, I still have a tiny, new bud on the side-stalk, but the whole bloom situation is going to hell very quickly. Could this have to do with my having lit a fire for the first time last night, and the smoke getting into the house?

I am at a lost -- i know there's misting involved, and light-but-not-too-much-light... but I just don't understand how all of a sudden the thing could go from perfect to depressing. Anyway, if anyone wants to PM me with some first aid tips, that would be dandy, but I know I should go read all the FAQ and newbie stuff before I bug anyone directly or start a thread.

Anyway, I look forward to making y'all's acquaintance, and to many successful orchids in the future.

Dan