How do I go about caring for this orchid?

[Chelsea]

I love rescuing plants. My room is filled with plants I have recieved or picked up. Just this morning I drove past a sign that said "Free Plants" and couldn't resist stopping to have a look. There, I found a myriad of spider plants and one lonely orchid. I scooped up the orchid and brought it home with me. One problem, I have never owned an orchid and don't know how to go about caring for it.

The tag in it's pot says: "Hybrid Phalaenopsis Orchid Phal. (Taisuco Windian x Tinny Diamond) x Jenco Artic Mass ". It has three green leaves and one brown leaf. It is potted in bark chunklets in a 6" pot with four drainage holes on the sides. Many of it's long roots are out of the potting medium and are hanging over the side of the pot and into the drainage tray.

Is this a healthy orchid? How do I care for it? How much should I water it? How much, if any, fertilizer should I give it? What sort of lighting does it need? Do I need to repot it?

[jerrymeola]

The plant is in reasonable health.

The one brown leaf is dying but leaves do not live forever. If the others stay healthy there will be no problem.

Phalaenopsis are indoor orchids or if grown outside they should be in almost total shade. They like low light levels about 1500 foot candles. Noon summer sun is usually around 10,000 so you can see it is not a lot.
Near a window indoors where it gets indirect light is the most popular place.

They bloom once a year usually in early spring. They need a 20 degree drop in temperature from day to night in order to set buds. I recommend putting it outdoors to cool when the temperatures are around 75 day and 50-55 night. It should get this temperature drop for about a month.

They are a very popular orchid for a beginners first orchid. You will find a lot of questions and answers on this forum regarding Phals. Keep coming back.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Water by drenching the pot, then don't water again until the plant is very close to being dry, something between dry and damp, never moist. Search on 'skewer' for a method of determining when the inside of the pot is nearly dry. Fertilize using all purpose fetilizer at half strength. Make up a cup of fert, then after watering, dump the cup into the pot. Do this every other watering. For Orchid fertilizer, follow directions on the package, as the instructions will already have the quantity reduced. The only difference between general purpose fert and orchid fert is the instructions. Cynthia

[Chelsea]

Thank you very much for all of your help, Jerry and Cynthia! My Orchid started developing a flower spike awhile ago and just today the first but burst out into bloom. It is now doing quite well with one full flower, two other buds and more on the way. I know this pic isn't very good, but it's the best I have for now

Thank you so very much for taking the time to help me along.