Allrighty,

New gardener here and I'm going to try my hand at a Phalaenopsis again.

Purchased one for my wife last Mother's Day and it died (probably crown rot).

Since then I have watched and read up a ton on them.

I've been scoping out Phals at my local grocery store and last week they went on sale for $7.50.

I purchased a good looking one! Posting picutres here and will use this thread to take advice, ask questions, and document my journey with this one.

Anyone know what variety this is?

Thanks!

Verac, you are asking a very common yet very difficult question. Do you know about meristemming or mericloning. That is the process by which baby orchids are cloned from genetic tissue from the parent. One famous mericloning is Phalaenopsis Baldan's Kaleidoscope. It is yellow with red stripes and when an orchid hobbiest sees it, through experience we immediately recognize it. In your case, your beautiful plant may or may not be a mericlone. If it is perhaps somebody will recognize it. Otherwise it may be impossible to give you a complete and accurate identification. The markings can be variable in terms of size, location on flowers and intensity.
Further adding to the difficulty with your question, if we were to grow 1,000 seedlings from a hybrid to their first blooming, we might see several dozen different flowers result. Some plain, some medium spotted, some heavily spotted while other may be pink. If you saw these seedlings in bloom it could be hard for you to imagine that they are all children of the same parents or cross.
Lastly, to confuse you even more, species identification is easy compared to hybrids. Why? Because species have a very limited number of genes controlling their appearance. With hybrids, having three, four or six generations of parents behind them, the number of genes controlling flower appearance become impossible to predict or research.
I have been growing orchids for over 40 years and I make a practice of never buying an orchid without a name tag. Now a name tag is NOT a 100% guarantee to be correct but it's close. You ask a very simple question but it is like you saw someone on line in a store and you asked a geneticist what that persons great-great- great grandparents looked like.
Welcome to the forums! Good luck with your plant. Give it any name you would like too.

Hi Verac, That is a beautiful Phal, hard to name it though if it has no tag, so many Phal hybrids around.

Good bark mix it is growing in, just be mindful of watering since I do not see side holes on the container, those roots really like lots of airflow at root zone. I love Phals, their blooms last 4 to 6 months.

BigBill, Thanks! Yeah that makes sense. Understanding exactly what this is isn't so big with me at the moment so not knowing for sure is fine. I'm thinking about it as practice to make sure I can keep this alive and allow it to prosper. If I have success with this, I may be a bit choosier with my next purchase!

tarev, Thanks! I was debating heating up a nail and poking holes in the side of the pot for more airflow. I'm just a big apprehensive about doing it as I don't want to accidentally scorch a root in the process.

Verac, just wait a bit, till the blooms are over, before you tackle the root zone. I would be more eager to unpot it if it was sold growing in sphagnum moss, but it is already in bark mix, so there is airflow in it.

Later on, you can improve it some more. When I water, I tilt the container sideways, left and right to make sure all the excess water flows out, since the holes are at the bottom and sometimes it pools down there. I also run our ceiling fan briefly after each watering to simulate more air around or if by the window, open up the window to allow some more air.
Water early in the day, not at night to avoid fungal issues.

Verac, you'll do just fine!
You may not believe me right now but orchids have a reputation of being difficult to grow. Right now you would probably agree.
But honestly Phalaenopsis respond well to repotting, grow new roots easily. The key is water. If it is a 4" pot, water it every four days too start. 6" pot, once every 6 days and then we can guide you from there.
Bright light but NO direct sunshine.

Ah, we have such varying growing environments, learning what it needs later on helps. Don't worry Verac, I have killed my fair share of Phals, and finally understood what needs to be done in my area. So enjoy your blooming show for now! Eventually you will get the hang of it.

I can't grow my Phals outdoors here either, it will get dry roasted, so it is always indoors year round by our west facing windows. The windows are tinted, and there is shade further from the canopy of city trees and I pull the white curtain to further shelter it from intense afternoon sun.