This beautiful Phalaenopsis Orchid is our newest plant and the first plant we have purchased since moving into our new home. We bought it last weekend at Ikea for about ten dollars, which seemed like an acceptable price for such a pretty plant.
It is our first orchid so we are unfamiliar with the type of care necessary to keep it alive, so hopefully we will be able to learn how. It is currently growing on a plant stand next to a south facing window in our bedroom which has thus far stayed rather warm and has maintained somewhere around 45 to 65 percent humidity. We have not yet watered it, since it is still moist since we purchased it. The instructions on the plant said to water it by placing the plant in a bowl of water and then allow the orchid and soil to take up the water. I'm not sure if this is correct or not, so if any of you readers have any suggestions as to house to properly water this plant we would greatly appreciate your help!
Annah's grandparents have been able to keep their orchids alive, so at least we knew it was possible to keep them alive before we purchased them! We will also be contacting them to see what advice they have! We will be posting again in the future with an update regarding this orchid!
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I hear Phalaenopsis is a good orchid for beginners to grow. I have never tried but check out
http://waywardhawaiian.blogspot.com/ as this guy is an orchis genius! I am sure he will be more than thrilled to answer any questions you have about watering.
Chow for now.
Hi,
I grow a lot of orchids. There are hothouses full of them here in Santa Barbara, so I have had the benefit of speaking with many, many orchid experts. I'm just an amateur. But- I've found that care is simple: use the time-released Osmokote fertilizer; put your plant in a shallow dish with pebbles - this will keep their "feet" out of the water. I have lost more than a few to overwatering, as their roots rot easily. But, residing on a tray of pebbles, with an inch or so of water will provide them with constant humidity from the evaporation. That is one of the most important issues with orchids. They do well in total shade - their leaves burn easily in almost any sunlight at all. The don't like the temperature to fall below about 65 degrees.
$10 for an orchid of that size, with two bloom spikes was a GREAT deal. It is a beauty. There are many sites devoted to phaleonopsis.
You have been so successful with all your other plants, I bet you can do it!
Anyway, wishing you luck with your new "baby", and I'll keep checking your blog -it's great!