Good to know! Thanks guys.

Thanks everyone.

I will have to repot if how I interpret the information on the tag is correct. It has a date of 17.5.2017 and I assume that is the date which it was potted up a the nursery. If my reading is correct then its due particularly since its in moss.

Another reason is last night when I turned the lights on I discovered a different unwanted free-loader which hitched a ride home with me in the pot. A slug which very quickly become an ex-slug. I have a vain hope that the little vermin didn't lay eggs in the pot but I won't hold my breath on that one. This little darling is going to be in isolation for at least 4 weeks to make sure it doesn't share the wealth.

So I received my first Phal orchid in mid February and it stopped blooming about a month later. I kept it because the leaves still looked healthy. However, I still thought it was done blooming for good, so I left it there for several weeks before I found out that they can rebloom if you care for it properly. So I researched quite a bit and decided to trim the stems back to one of the nodes so that the stem would regrow. However it has been a couple weeks and it looks like the stems aren't regrowing from the nodes. I'm wondering if I cut it too short or something. I can't tell for sure but it does look like there is a new stem budding from the base of the plant tho, and there is a new leaf growing, which is very reassuring to my watering habits. I live in northern USA and she sits in a south facing room, not directly next to the window but still getting plenty of indirect light. Not sure if that will affect any advice I'm given.

Yes, you can get them to rebloom BUT YOU need to know what you are doing. Making them rebloom is a selfous thing to do. You are trying to make the orchid "perform" for you.
If you are not getting new leaf growth at the same time, you might end up you blooming your orchid to death.
Please read the sticky here in our forums, "Growing Supermarket Orchids- Phalaenopsis." It is full of just the kind of information you are looking for.
Are those leaves in the top picture really yellow? Or is it light from a lamp? Phalaenopsis do not need any sun, just a bright spot.
People have grown the same Phalaenopsis for 10, 15 or even 20 years. If you look through our Orchid Forums, look back in June of 2018. I posted a thread on "How BigBill Repots Phalaenopsis". This may be of some assistance to you because they should be repotted once a year and yours looks like it needs it.
to the Orchid Forums!!

Hello moonspout, yes it will rebloom, but before it does that, it will rest for awhile. How long depends on its growing area. As already mentioned it does not like direct sun. Filtered bright light is okay. Your Phal needs a repot if you have not repotted ever since you got it. Need to see the actual condition of the roots. At times, the Phals sold are wrapped in tight sphagnum moss in the middle part to help maintain moisture during transport and merchant selling time. But this is suffocating the roots in the long run that eventually kills the plant.

So you would need to help that Phal, remove the old media, allow the roots to breathe, remove any of the dessicated roots already. Read the threads or if you are not confident yet to do repot, watch many tutorials online. Good luck with your plant. At most Phals will do its bloomstalk when it starts cooling down again, towards Fall.

Okay so I've only had the orchid for two months, I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to be repotted yet. It is not planted in sphagnum moss at all, it's in a more bark-like medium. I have done hours of YouTube research on watering and stuff and how to make sure it is healthy and all that. The leaves aren't yellow, they are a uniform rich green. The warm ceiling light is reflecting off the leaves in the pic. There doesn't seem to be any major imperfections on the leaves. I keep her out of direct sunlight, that is something I've know since I first got her. It may be my first orchid but I am not that stupid.
I am not trying to rush it a ton, I am just hoping to have it eventually regrow from the same stem (which I trimmed back about halfway down) as opposed to growing a whole new stem. (Because IMO having a bunch of short, dead stems from trimming them all the way down after every bloom just doesn't look good. My sister does this but honestly I don't want to do this every single time if I don't need to.) If this is going to rush the blooming that wasn't my intent, I want her to be healthy of course.

Moonspout, feel free to do what you like. Orchid growing is such a fun and interesting experience. Personally, I will repot that plant at this point, perfect time since it is done with its blooms, plus I am concerned not just with root rot but with collar rot. But it is your choice and decision. We all have varying growing areas, and just want to contribute what we have known as well. Good luck on your plant.

Moonspout you will get more flowers and bigger flowers if you cut the old bloom stems ALL the way back! You may not prefer to do that but that is just the facts.
It is totally your decision. A bright, new bloom stem, spike or inflorescence, just produces more flowers. Reblooming on the same stem produces roughly half the number of blooms at two-thirds the size.

I got this Phaleanopsis from Ikea.







It wasn't too healthy to begin with, but I tried to keep it alive. I had it for about a year now, and I watered it about once every two weeks. It appears to be root rot, but I haven't been watering at all. It looks to be under really bad condition right now and I think I should repot it? It appears to be tightly stuck with the moss, though.
I kept it mostly in bright places away from direct sunlight, and sometimes in shade as well. The photo was taken in sunlight to show the roots.
It's also growing flower buds right now, and the buds look healthy but the leaves are beginning to look really unhealthy.

Please Tatille, read our sticky in the Orchids section of the NGA Forum section. It is the one on Supermarket Phalaenopsis and how to grow them. It is full of useful information!
It needs to be repotted ASAP. If you water it thoroughly, the old sphagnum moss will free itself from the roots much better.
The wrinkled leaves are from a lack of water. They should be watered once every five days or so, very little fertilizer and they respond very well to repotting!
No direct sunlight, just a bright spot in the home. Temperature range 60-85 degrees.
When you repot, remove dead roots. In the States, big box stores sell an orchid potting mix. Or you can use fresh, long fibered sphagnum moss. It MUST be long fibered, not the "milled" stuff that looks like gray dust.
Use as small of a pot as possible. You repot orchids according to the mass of live roots, not to give extra room to grow more roots. It is best if you repot once a year.
But I must be honest, you should remove the developing bloom spike. As it grows, it is using all the available moisture. If you let it bloom, you could enjoy the flowers but have the plant die in the process!
If we/I can be of further sssistance, please let us know. In the meantime browse all the items or threads, they may be of value! Good luck.

hi all, I've been absent from the forum gor awhile - health problems and moving. I picked up a Vanda from the almost free pile at Home Depot and I'm trying to get it to form roots. It's been 2 weeks with no change. Because of the heat and humidity - it's in a net covered space in my bathroom so no AC. I spray it a couple times a day with RO water, not the leaves just the base and what seems like dead roots.

The leaves sre still green and growing, it's the roots that mske me think it is going to die.

Here's a picture of what will be my orchid room as soon as I get some good dirt and plant the bottom and suspend the orchids. They are mostly all jumbled around in there now.



ugh, bad picture.

Here is a closer look at the Vanda





I soaked it for a half hour in weak orchid fertilizer but nothing is happening.

Any help appreciated. Should I give up since it has no roots?

Thanks, Jonna

Those three or four stringy gray looking things are roots. They may not be the best but they look pretty good to me Jonna! Honestly.
Are they firm to the touch?
When you water them do they turn green and go back to gray as they dry out? If they do in either instance, then they are alive.
And for new roots to develop, you need a little more patience. Give it 2-3 months or so.
You can try soaking the whole root mass in a 5 gallon bucket for 15-20 minutes every other day. That might help. From what I can see, I think the plant will grow and bloom for you!

Thanks Bill, that's encouraging. I just went and sprayed it again and while outside roots are dry and brittle and didn't change color, there are some in the middle that went to a greyish green when wet. I hadn't noticed them before. I'm used to the fat really green roots of Phals, I've rescued a few of them. The other orchids I have had been living on trees at my previous house and I haven't done more than soak them and try and spray them every couple days. This is the hottest and most uncomfortable tine of the year here, its been up to 109* this week with high humidity. Once the daily rains start it will be more comfortable for the plants - and people.

I love the vandas but they are very expensive here. I got this one for $200 pesos, about $10 US dollars. I really want to get it healthy.

thx, Jonna

Your are very welcome!

Good to see you back, Jonna! I wish I could find Vandas that cheap here! They should thrive where you are.

Hi Carol I always thought they would do well here from seeing so many in those pictures of Florida rooms filled with them.

I have to admit though that a couple years ago I was in Mexico City and I had a long list of great nurseries. There were so many things I wanted but limited by the carry on rules I finally bought just 1 Vanda for a couple thousand pesos and I managed to kill it in less than a year. My best friend at the time, now deceased, bought one too and his thrived in a large tree in his garden, it even bloomed. You can imagine the teasing and bad jokes I got from that. When he died I really wanted to ask his partner if I could have or buy that Vanda but my friend had been a collector and so many people were bugging his partner for his things that I just couldn't fo it. Hopefully it is still thriving on neglect in that tree.

Hi Jonna, from what I have seen with Vandaceous orchids when they were grown in my homeland, they are just outside staked on a bamboo pole, receiving as much heat and sun. The temps and humidity you have is similar to what my homeland has.

I would douse that Vanda thoroughly, the leaves and roots with your RO water, . May have to do it frequently like doing it daily and maybe twice a day, if your temps does go into that triple digit mark. But maybe position in part sun for now too while you are still encouraging regrowth of its roots then to more sun. As long as there is good air flow too in that growing area you plan to use, it should acclimate better..

Tatille said:I got this Phaleanopsis from Ikea.







It wasn't too healthy to begin with, but I tried to keep it alive. I had it for about a year now, and I watered it about once every two weeks. It appears to be root rot, but I haven't been watering at all. It looks to be under really bad condition right now and I think I should repot it? It appears to be tightly stuck with the moss, though.
I kept it mostly in bright places away from direct sunlight, and sometimes in shade as well. The photo was taken in sunlight to show the roots.
It's also growing flower buds right now, and the buds look healthy but the leaves are beginning to look really unhealthy.

Hi Tatille, just repot your plant, remove all that moss. Roots really want better air flow, and are so choked up in that current set-up. As mentioned already read through the stickies. Your plant has still good potential of recovery. Do not apply fertilizers after repot, Just be patient after you repot, It will take a bit of time to adjust to changes. Next to watering is the plant's need for good airflow at root zone, so got to help that plant and free those roots.

Does this look like a flower spike forming? Just curious if I might see some flowers eventually.

Looks like happy roots to me.