Viewing post #1912850 by tarev

Elizabethmary1 said:My fiancé gave me an orchid (2nd time he's done this) I put the first one in the window years ago and watered it like a regular plant, it died. 5 years later he got me another, as I've got a few house plants now I guess he thought I could handle it. He bought a pot and orchid mulch, and followed the instructions the salesperson gave him and repotted it before he gave it to me. I am reading now, this may jeopardize the plant. I have no idea what kind of orchid this is, and it's roots are sticking up above the mulch!! I can still see the dirt from previous pot, & I'm not sure if there's enough mulch/soil/potting mix covering it. I'm afraid to touch it since they are so sensitive. Should I try to repot him and stick those roots back down in there? He's already appearing to wilt and close up on me and I don't want to kill a second one. I understand it may not be my fault since he was trying to be nice and put it in a pretty pot for me and not give me "more work to do" by giving me an unpotted plant (lol), but I want to do what I can to help keep this one alive, it's so pretty! I will attach pictures. Please help me! It makes me super sad when I kill a plant due to lack of knowledge, and I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of info. On orchids when I try to research it myself. Thank you so much!

Hello there If it were mine, I would just cut off that bloom stalk, it is already done blooming. Or if the bloomstalk is staying green you can just wait and see if it can rebloom some more, or cut off a bit of the stalk, and it may try to branch a new spike. But honestly I rather remove the entire stalk, to allow the plant to refocus its energies to growing new roots and leaves. You can certainly repot in a new chunky orchid mix. I usually soak the new mix first overnight then I remove excess water and then repot. It will be good opportunity to inspect the condition of its entire root system too. Do understand, the plant will naturally rest for awhile. So while at rest, be mindful of watering. Do not overwater, observe intervals. It will show you again it is ready for active growing when it grows newer roots and leaves. Roots of Phals are quite thick, so it hates sitting in too wet media. Your container is good, lots of side air holes. The new flower spikes will come again more towards Fall.