P.S.: Make sure that the Phal does not stand around in standing water. If
after watering you have water in the saucer, purr it out. Use a lot of water
when watering though, just be sure to let the orchid drip above the sink or
pour out the water from the saucer. This is to avoid root rot.

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:iXgqf.674$2B5.139@trnddc01...
Helen,

Welcome!

The most important piece of advice on growing Phals: do not water them too
often -- many more orchids are killed from overwatering than from
underwatering. They can withstand a lot more benign neglect than constant
care. Do you know how to tell when to water your orchid? If not, please
tell us what it is potted in (is it in moss or in bark? is it in a
transparent pot?) and we can give you additional advice based on that.

Try to water in the mornings so that the plant will have time to dry out
before night. And ideally do not get water inside the leaves in the top
center (that's called the crown), or if you do then remove the water from
there with a paper towel of something. The reason for this is that you
want to make it less likely that the orchid get a fungal infection, and
fungi thrive in wet cold environment. Also if the crown were to rot that
would be the end of this orchid, so keeping the crown alive is important.

The general advice on fertilizing is to do it with a small amount of plant
food (at most the minimum dosage suggested on the label) but do it
regularly -- either "weakly weekly" or every other watering (however often
that is). However, I have been growing orchids for 4.5 years, I must admit
that I am terrible about remembering to fertilize regularly, and yet most
of my Phals are thriving, so don't worry if you forget -- it's just that
if you are good about doing it regularly, your orchid will do better, have
more and better blooms, etc.

Make sure that it gets enough light but not too much. If you have any
questions about how much is too much or too little, please ask here.
Mostly in the northern hemisphere a north facing window is too little and
a south facing window is too much -- though one can use grow lights in a
northern window, or move the orchid away from a southern window. An
eastern window should be just right unless it is heavily shaded by trees
or a balcony (as in the case of my condo).

Now in the winter it is important to ensure that the orchid does not get
too cold if it is very close to a window. However most Phals are sturdy
enough so that temperatures in the 50s Fahrenheit should still be fine.

A fan is a good thing, especially if the humidity is high. In the winter
if the humidity is low due to heating consider getting a humidifier --
both for the orchid and for your own sake. However, both of these (fan and
humidifier) while nice to have are not necessities -- most Phal hybrids
are quite adaptable to non-ideal conditions, and they should do well in
any home with some basic care.

Watch your Phal's leaves over time. If more than one leaf (two or three
leaves) go yellow and it has not grown a new leaf recently, consider
cutting off the flower spike and putting it in a flower vase, then repot
the orchid to look at its roots' health. It is normal for the Phal to
loose a leaf occasionally especially from the bottom (that's where the
oldest leaves are), but a healthy plant should be replacing leaves from
the top every few months. You might want to find out if a local plant
nursery offers repotting services when you can watch what they do and
learn how to do it yourself, or find a local orchid society and learn from
them -- I think it is not easy for a beginner to figure out without
someone's guidance which roots to trim and which to leave alone when
repotting an orchid. However generally you won't need to repot it unless
either the plant seems stressed (and thus you need to check it's roots) or
the medium that it is growing in is disintegrating or it is falling over
because the plant is too big for its current pot.

Another piece of advice that is not essential but nice to know: undiluted
lemon juice can be used to clean leaves that have waterstains and dust.

Last but not least, make sure to get another Phal or two soon, perhaps
when this one stops flowering would be the best time to do so. Two or
three Phals are not any more difficult to take care of than one, and with
more than one Phal you are likely to be more patient with each one, so
that if one of them does not reflower for you (do not expect it to
reflower sooner than a year later), you can wait for it and enjoy the
blooms of another instead. Be careful though: orchids are very addictive.
After 4.5 years I have 47 orchids now, and I am fairly conservative in my
orchid acquisition rate as compared to many others in this group. :-)

Feel free to ask here if you have any more questions.

Best,
Joanna

"smailzy" wrote in message
...

Hello,
I am a fairly novice gardener hoping for some help or advice. I have
always loved orchids, they are my favourite flower, but have also been
worried about looking after them.
However, my boyfriend bought me a beatiful Phalaenopsis and I was
hoping that I could get some advice on how to take care of it?
I have looked on the internet which has some standard advice but was
wondering if there was anything else i needed to know...
Thank you!
Helen


--
smailzy