On 2/18/2016 7:39 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
I received 3 Trader Joe-type orchids for my
birthday party, and would like to combine
them in one container for a sort of orchid "forest".

Have never dealt with orchids before,
so wonder if my plan is even feasible.

Would like to remove them from their original
(small) pots and transplant them together in one large,
handsome, SHALLOW pot.

Questions:

1. Can this kind of TJ orchid take transplanting?

2. If so, how far apart must 3 plants be?

3. How deep must soil/orchid mix be? Ideally, the
look I want is shallow, but would this work?

4. Should I add (good) garden dirt to the orchid
mix from original pots?

Any wisdom, links, etc. gratefully accepted.

HB


It all depends on the variety of orchid. While many of Trade Joe's
orchids are Phalaenopsis, they also sell other varieties.

Phalaenopsis are generally house plants, even in mild southern
California areas. They need strong, indirect sunlight. I have my two in
a north-facing greenhouse window, which is open to my breakfast room. If
the leaves are dark green, they are not getting enough light.

I have my Phalaenopsis growing in bark chips, which are available at
most nurseries and some hardware and lumber stores. Because the plant
will grow with leaves stretching out a foot or more, you should plant
each in its own pot. Be sure the pot has a drainage hole in the bottom,
covered with a broken piece of another pot. Soak the bark chips in
water for just a few minutes. Remove the orchids from their small pots,
and gently shake loose any potting medium that remains with the plant.
(No, you do not have to remove all of the existing medium.) Plant
upright with the lowest leaf just at the top of the bark chips. Set the
pot on a saucer that contains pea gravel or small stones. Keep water in
the saucer to the top of the gravel or stones.

Once each week -- NOT more often -- hold the pot over a sink with one
hand blocking the drainage hole and carefully pour water into the pot
until the water reaches the top of the bark chips. Then let the water
drain from the hole in the bottom. In alternating weeks, the water
should contain orchid fertilizer, measured per the instructions on the
container. I do this with the pot in a large bowl, letting the
fertilizer mix drain immediately into the bowl while pouring all around
the orchid. Capturing the runoff in the bowl, I can thus feed more than
one orchid pot.

NOTE WELL: When watering or feeding a Phalaenopsis, do not allow even a
drop of water into the center of the newest leaf. That can cause the
plant to rot and die.

I also have a Cymbidium orchid, for which the culture is quite different
from a Phalaenopsis. Mine is potted in a mix of peat moss and compost.
In making the mix, I added a generous amount of bone meal and a small
amount of blood meal. Cymbidiums are outdoor plants in southern
California; mine sits on a small table in my back yard. I leave it
there even when a light frost is expected, bringing it into my house
when a serious freeze is expected (rarely) or when it is in bloom
(merely to show it off). It is watered whenever my garden sprinklers
run or when it rains. Cymbidiums require much more nitrogen than
Phalaenopsis. I occasionally give it a pinch of ammonium sulfate.
Although Cymbidiums will actually grow in the ground, they are
especially attractive to snails, which can totally destroy them. Thus,
they should be kept in pots that do not sit on the ground.

I have seen other varieties of orchids at Trader Joe's. While they make
a nice display while in bloom, many of them require much more care than
Phalaenopsis or Cymbidiums; some require greenhouses with controlled
temperatures and humidity. Such plant are often purchased for display
and then discarded.

--
David E. Ross

While many tributes to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice
Antonin Scalia now fill the news media, his legacy was not
necessarily positive. See my "What Price Order, Mr. Justice Scalia?"
at http://www.rossde.com/editorials/edtl_scalia_wrong.html.