Help- total beginner

[gizmomo]

My mother got very sick and had to be taken to a hospice. While there, my boyfriend bought me an orchid from the local Whole Foods. This was in March.
I know nothing about growing plants, I usually kill everything, but this plant is important to me. It's become my mother's memorial and I really do not want it to die.

We repotted it pretty much straight away. I had read they needed to breath so we got an orchid pot (with the slits in the sides) a tray with rocks (for humidity) and a mixture of bark/soil that drains/and Styrofoam balls. Again, I'm not really that sure what I'm doing.
She went into the kitchen where we have an East-facing window. We don't have space to have her on the counter directly by the window, so she's quite a few feet back. I think in the colder months (it only recently got warmer here) she did well because the light was pretty intense in the morning, now I feel as though sunlight is pretty obscured from all of the trees in bloom.

Anyway, at one point I accidentally knocked her off her perch and some of her stake (?) broke off. She developed new growth rather quickly, though. Soon she had new buds, but they all dropped off and died. Recently she had a bunch of new buds, but those also dropped off and now some leaves are turning yellow/breaking off.
I'm not sure what I'm doing right/wrong. It's really humid in our house now (even with AC going) regularly around 60-70% humidity. Also, I notice a lot of tiny bugs crawling around on her, and I'm worried about bug infestations. We live in a really lush area and in the summer, we just have tons of bugs (I really wish that was different).

Here are some pictures:

[Emma Grey]

I'm no expert, but I'll point you to a culture sheet that has helped me in the last couple months since I started growing orchids more seriously. Here it is: AOS Culture Sheet.

Aside from that, I've learned that leaves may yellow naturally as they get older, or it may be because water got into the crown of the plant and caused some rot. When you water, is it possible that water is sitting in the crown of the plant?

As for the bugs, check in the "Pests and Diseases" section of the forum for the "best stuff ever". It really works.

I'm sure more experienced people will be along shortly to give you more help.

[gizmomo]

Thanks so much for the post and info.
My mom had such a green thumb, I still have her huge book of gardening somewhere. Alas, I don't think I inherited that gene.

The crown is the place where everything buds from I'm so without knowledge! What do you do if there is rot there? I did recently water and then the leaves are yellow all of a sudden, I was thinking that it had to do with too much water?

[dounoharm]

when you water, you want to flood the medium for a while....without getting water in the crown of the plant....if water gets in the crown, dab it out with a paper towel...the plant must be dry by nitefall.....i would water your plant every week to ten days....since you have so much humidity in your house it might take longer to dry out....you want it to dry pretty well completely before watering it again.....hope this helps....oh for the bugs you can try the 'best stuff ever' or get some insecticidal soap and use that....gl

[Orchidchick]

Hi and welcome Gizmomo, I'm sorry about your mom. If you went to the AOS culture sheet link you know that Phals like good light, humidity, and don't like to dry out between waterings. Overwatering can lead to rot in Phals. Underwatering causes the older leaves to slowly shrivel and die. If The tiny bugs crawling on the orchid are barely visable and webbing is present you may have spidermites. If the tiny bugs are found in the soil, they may be springtails or wood lice and eat decaying vegetation. Some will eat plant roots. A soap spray will kill both. Sprayed on leaves kills mites. Dunking the pot in soapy water will kill springtails and lice. Poor air circulation and low humidity can also cause the leaves to yellow. Your general humidity may be at 60-70% but every home has micro climates where temps and humidity vary. The orchid in the picture looks close to a toaster oven/microwave which gives off a lot of heat causing the air around it to be much drier.This probably caused your buds to drop. But put the same orchid in the window over the sink grouped with other plants on a large humidity tray and the temps, humidity and light would be closer to what is ideal for this species.

[Greybeard]

We will keep your mom in our prayers Do you know the type of Orchid it is? I'm not good at ID by leaves. The flower spike showed no blooms or buds, if so it is my understanding that it should be cut off as close to the plant as possible without cutting the main plant. Check with others here about that as I am no expert either. It may or may not be done flowering for now. Don't allow the pot to actually sit in water in the humidity tray, keep the water in it a little shallow. Don't know when last fertilized may need feed Double check with others here, as I said I'm no expert We will help

[syndywindy]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. sorry about your mom, I went through this last spring with my mother so know what you are going through. yOur orchid is a phalaenopsis, these can get by with fairly low light levels. When you repotted, did you happen to notice the roots? Were they healthy looking;ie nice and green or greyish green, and plump, or were they brown and mushy? If healthy then you should be ok. If they were rotted, then you need to cut away any that are rotted and pot in the smallest pot to fit your plant.Also, orchid roots need air around them, so if your mix has soil, you need to get it out of there and put it in a nice chunky bark mix. As for the yellowing leaves, this might just be the natural progession for your orchid. They can and do lose bottom leaves and new ones come in. You can either let them fall off naturally or cut them off and sprinkle the cut ends with cinnamon which is a natural fungacide. As for watering you live in a pretty hot and humid area so you do need to monitor how your plant requires watering. I have mine outside and in this high heat and humidity I am watering my phals everyother day. It has been extremely windy along with the heat so things dry out a lot faster. Even my few plants that I keep indoors dry out faster. Search the threads here for the skewer method and you will find a great way to gage when your orchid needs watering. I use it for almost all my orchids and it's a great way to check moisture. As for the spike, I tend to cut mine all the way down once the blooms are gone. This allows the plant to put all it's energy back into growth for the next bloom cycle. Some people like to cut the spike just above a node to get a subspike and get more blooms. If your plant is healthy, thats fine, but if it's even remotely unhealthy, then I'd forsake a subspike for the overall health of the plant. Keep us posted on your progress.

[jessicalee]

hi there and welcome you have already gotten some great advice, good luck with you Phal... i sure hope she turns around.

[kiwiloniwi]

This phalaenopsis you have now is probably infested with the same kind of bug that
troubles my phalaenopsis.It's probably a kind of little grey bug that looks like (or is)
an ant and it bites orchid roots,just keep on watering it and if they still don't go away
you can just throw any open packs of snacks in your house away and use a clay pot with big holes,it works for me!

[syndywindy]

Originally Posted by kiwiloniwi

This phalaenopsis you have now is probably infested with the same kind of bug that
troubles my phalaenopsis.It's probably a kind of little grey bug that looks like (or is)
an ant and it bites orchid roots,just keep on watering it and if they still don't go away
you can just throw any open packs of snacks in your house away and use a clay pot with big holes,it works for me!

I don't think you can generalize given the geographic location between where you live and gizmomo lives. Your bugs are not neccessarily her bugs. If she can give a description of the bugs she has, then we can help her more on how to deal with them.

[devilishblueyes]

It's taken me quite a bit to get the hang of watering and light. But I've found a few tricks that work. Orchids actually like a descent amount of light for inside a house. It's good to set them by a window, but not directly in the window. I set mine about a foot or two back from the window. The reason is that windows have large temperature changes and orchids don't like that. By putting them in front of a window but setting them back a little bit they get the light they need and the temperature doesn't vary nearly as much. Your plant also looks pretty dry. You might notice that orchids you find at the store are surrounded by a ton of moss in pot. It helps retain moisture longer, keeping them always moist. But too much moisture can rot the roots. I tend to like a wide shallow pot with drainage holes in the bottom. I line the bottom with moss so the roots are attracted down towards the water source and so there is water even if I get a little lazy and let them go a little long before watering them. Then the rest I fill with the wood chip mix, then I top that off with sheet moss. The sheet moss on top helps keep the soil moist a little longer, and if you dunk the pot, it helps keep the wood chips from floating out. Orchid pots, with all of the holes in the bottom I've found to be great pots. But they dry out faster than regular pots. Your orchid looks a little dry in the picture. I can tell by looking at the soil and the color of the pot. And as one person said, when they get too dry the bottom leaves often start dying off like yours have. I water mine about once a week. I've found two methods to work pretty good. You can douse it under water for a minute or two under the kitchen faucet. Turn the faucet on low and soak the plant really good. Let all the water drain out of the bottom. After you've doused it really good, let the water drain out until it just drips. Then place the pot on the plate you set it in. Make sure to dab up any water that gets into the center of the orchid so the center doesn't rot out. Sometimes I just angle my plant for a few seconds to the side and blow on it. Or a paper towel will do. Another way you can do it, is by getting a 3-5 gallon bucket and fill it about half full or a little more. Use a watering can or the faucet to get the moss on the top wet and to lightly wet the wood chips. Then dunk the pot in bucket all the way up to the rim. Don't get the water too high so the chips float out. Hold the pot in the water for a minute or two. You should feel or see bubbles coming out of the pot. Once the bubbles start to subside it's time to pull the pot out and let it drain until it drips then place the pot in the base plate. I like this method a little better because it helps also ensure the pot is moist so the potting mix doesn't dry out as fast. It also helps prevent the water from getting down into the center of the orchid leaves. Lastly, I spray the air roots with a hair water spray bottle. You can spray the roots once a day or every couple of days or so. Like I said, the orchid pots dry out faster. So I tend to water them more often than orchids in normal pots. I tend to watch the color of the pot. When the terra cotta turns light in color or feels dry to the touch I water the orchid again. Another thing I found out is that orchid fertilizers aren't always the best. If you start seeing a white crust on the outside of your pot, that means your orchid is getting too much minerals in the water or you're over fertilizing it, which will hurt it more than do good. Orchids take very little fertilizer. Mine did better once I stopped fertilizing them. But if you do fertilize them, I'd cut the amount you use to about half what the package says.

It looks to me like your plant needs to be kept a little more moist and kept a little closer to the window for more light. An orchid breeder at Hoosier Orchids once told me that you can use a toothpick just like with baking to help determine if the orchid needs water or not. If you stick it in the soil and the wet particles stick to it. It's ok. If nothing is stuck to it when you pull it out it needs water.

You also never want water standing in the pot either. I've seen people do that with pots that don't have drain holes and that can cause the roots to drown for lack of oxygen. Then the roots rot. That's why I always let mine fully drain.