[Lippy]

We bought a potted phalaenopsis orchid at the New York Botanical Garden as a souvenir of last week's vacation in NYC. It's Ranitidine's responsibility, since I have the proverbial black thumb. Does anyone have any experience in growing orchids? Any tips? What can I expect? There are three flowers on the stem and one bud.

[Tamar G]

Keep it moist and when it's done flowering (1-3 months, depending on how lucky you get), throw it out and buy a new one.

Seriously. It's hard to kill your orchid, but it's really hard to get it to re-flower.

[Daisy]

Give it ample but not direct light. Water once a week by really soaking it--the terra cotta on the outside of the pot should feel moist. I water mine in the bathtub and then leave them there overnight. I have one right now that is still looking good after three months, and I have had them for as long as six months, including the $10 ones you sometimes can pick up at K-Mart.

[Cathy]

I was given some good advice here.

The plant died anyway, but I bet my thumb is blacker than yours.

[Lippy]

The plant in question

[omnivorette]

One of my sisters has those exact ones in her house all the time, in a bay window. They don't last forever, and they toss 'em and get new ones.

[Lippy]

They will bloom again and again, under the right conditions.

[omnivorette]

I guess, but my sister just told me that a lot of them "expire."

[Tamar G]

Lippy, on Mar 21 2006, 05:51 PM, said:

They will bloom again and again, under the right conditions.

Yes they will, but those conditions are not easy to recreate. Orchids are tropical plants. People who grow them keep them in greenhouses with misters that regularly mist the plant and keep it moist. My mother loves plants and has had many for years and years and she has a hard time with orchids. She has had some successes, but rarely. She can keep them alive without a problem but they rarely flower again. For a while she was sending them to an orchid "motel" which would take care of them until they started to flower and then send them back, until she realized it was cheaper to throw them out and start over.

I'm not saying don't try, I'm just saying that you should not get your hopes up that it will reflower. Luckily they flower for a long time, so regardless you should be able to enjoy the one you have for a couple of months.

[guajolote]

Tamar G, on Mar 21 2006, 01:05 PM, said:

Orchids are tropical plants.

orchids grow everywhere except deserts and antarctica.

most household orchids probably are tropical though.

[omnivorette]

Heh - my bro-in-law just responded to my orchid email...he said they have one that seems to bloom again and again, and they have no idea why. Dumb luck.

[jpr54_]

your orchid plant looks beautiful-
enjoy the flowers-
read the dummies guide to orchids-it has a lot of useful info for the beginner-
The show at the Bronx Botanical Gardens was amazing-imho

[Robert Schonfeld]

Phalaenopsis is one of the easiest orchids to grow and reflower in an apartment. Ours are in a north facing window, potted in small wood chips. They are soaked thoroughly once a week by leaving them in a tub all day, as Daisy says, although Mazal says that plastic pots are actually better than terracotta because they will hold the absorbed moisture longer than terracotta. Fed once a month. One of them has been blooming continuously for more than 15 years now. We take discarded orchids out of the garbage and off the curb whenever we find them. The people of Lichtenstein once left us a couple of nice ones outside their UN mission.

"The Orchid Thief" is a fun read on the subject of the mania for orchids.

[Lippy]

Do they bloom more than once a year?

Our plant is in a plastic pot set in a terra cotta pot for aesthetics.

I loved that book.

I agree that the NY Botanical Garden's orchid show was a stunner.

[Cathy]

I liked the New Yorker story better.