confused by orchids

[lindsaylist]

I am a new orchid owner. I am not even sure what the name of my orchid is.(Large white flowers with a little pink in the middle, basic "starter" orchid.) I just need some basic tips. When to water, where to put it, fertilizer, how long to get another flower stem, and especially, if there are any especially good reads or websites to look into.

[ceratog]

Hi - Welcome to the forum.
It's hard to guide you on the care of your orchid without knowing what genus it is. But based on how you described it, I'll take a wild guess and say that you probably have some hybrid of Phalaenopsis orchid, since they are the most commonly found on the market. A quick Google image search may help you decide what genus it is.

For a good read, I would suggest the Complete Guide to Orchids published by Ortho Books. It's a great book to get you started. In the mean time, a Google search of "Phalaenopsis care" will turn up tons of information on fertilizing, light requirements, etc.

For watering, I've found that the wooden skewer method works best for me. Get a pack of wooden shishkabob skewers; gently work one of the skewers (about halfway between the plant and the pot's edge) a couple of inches into your compost (potting material) and leave it there for 10 to 15 minutes. Pull it out and touch it to your lip. If it feels moist then do not water. If it feels dry then it is time to water. Overwatering is the most common cause of dead Phals and the skewer method takes all the guesswork out of it.

I hope this gets you started in the right direction. Feel free to ask any question you may run into.

Best of Luck
-Brady

[jerrymeola]

Your plant is probably a Phalaenopsis as mentioned. You can identify it by thick wide leaves growing out of a center stem. Occasionally dealers put two plants in a pot, but otherwise there is generally only one growing point in a Phalaenopsis.

They do not like to dry out for any length of time. The recommendation is to water just before it dries out completely. It takes a little time to realize exactly what this means. The skewer method works for beginners.

All orchids are recommended to be fertilized 'weakly weekly' Weakly refers to the fact that instruction for tropical plants use too much fertilizer for orchids. Reduce the recommended amount of one tablespoon per gallon to a teaspoon per gallon and use this mix in place of your regular watering. If you bought a fertilizer package that was for "orchids" the only difference is the instructions, which already say a teaspoon or sometime even less. Use a balanced fertilizer i.e. where the numbers are about the same 10-10-10- or 20-20-20 are common.

They flower once a year. The flowers are initiated by a 20 degree drop in day to night temperatures for about a month. So flowering is almost always late winter early spring for hobbyist (growers heat and then cool the plants to flower in different months.) If you are growing it inside (it is a low light level plant and will flower with indoor light levels) you need to put it outside or a cellar or hall that has a temperature drop. some people do well with the temperature drop near a window.

Keep reading the threads on this forum. A lot are about Phalaenopsis.

[janet_a]

check out this thread and see if anything looks similar.

Orchid Photo Identification Guide