torge conrad maguar wrote:

Hi, on a sudden impulse today the wife bought a beautiful yellow orchid
from B&Q. I 'm a complete novice, but always believed that orchids like a
high humidity. We have a small terraced house with central heating,
consequently the air gets very dry over the winter. At the moment the
orchid is on a south facing window. Please can you advise on what steps to
take to keep the poor thing going.

Firstly, do NOT put it in a pot holder, the pot it is in should be
transparent if it is the type I suspect, the ROOTS need light as well,
water it sparingly, do NOT let it stand in water, you can feed it, but
use either a specific orchid feed, or a very dilute, about 1/4 strength
normal plant feed. When the flowers die off DO NOT cut the stem at all,
leave it, it's very possible that new short flower stems will appear
from the main flower stem, may be a week or two. Leave the original
flower spike till it dies back itself. Then just cut it right down.
Once all risk of frost is past, you can put it out for the summer, make
sure it gets plenty of sun, then, as the days get shorter and cooler in
September, and BEFORE any chance of a frost it should throw up a new
flower spike, but in any case bring it indoors for the winter. If you
haven't a garden to put it out keep it in a sunny spot, but away from
the window so it doesn't get too hot. Mine spent the summer in the open
here in Spain, and the outdoor temperature reached 40 degrees C, and I
had no problems, I've just brought mine in as they all have new flower
spikes, but then again, we do not get frosts here, so I can afford to
leave them out this late.