zxcvbob wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
zxcvbob wrote:
I bought a blooming orchid for $10 at Home Depot, of all places, a
couple of months ago. It has one flower left; the others have dropped
off. I assume the last one will fall off pretty soon. Is the plant
spent after it blooms, or can I keep it going and expect it to bloom
again in my lifetime? I don't know what kind of orchid it is, but I'd
call it a moth orchid rather than a slipper orchid. It has 5 or 6
strap-like leaves.

It is planted in what looks like a roll of half-rotten tree bark
instead of chopped bark and/or orchid mix, so I'm not sure how I'd
replant it other than set it a little deeper in a bigger pot. If I
try to remove the old "soil" I'll destroy most the the roots.

I've been watering it by soaking the root ball for about 5 minutes and
then draining it, and letting it dry out completely before watering
again. (I think it lost a few blooms when I let it dry out too much.)
I haven't given it any food yet. Should I be using distilled water
(or deionized, or rain water) so salts don't build up?

Thanks,
Bob
Rainwater would be best. I always watered my orchids by letting them dry
out and then setting the plant in a bucket of rainwater with a little
orchid fertilizer in it. When they're blooming just soak the aerial
roots a bit and the medium upon which it is blooming. Of course back
then I had a half dozen books on orchids, etc. HD sold you an orchid
with no ID tag on it? Generally they have a tag with the ID on one side
and feeding and watering info on the other side.


It does have a tag. The tag says, "DEN. JAQ-ARUNSRI" in big letters, and
"WK-08-06 TB.1335" in tiny letters. That's all it says.

I looked up the picture on the Internet and it seems to be a Phalaenopsis.

Best regards,
Bob

The tag might mean its a Dendrobium and not a Phalaenopsis. The care
for these two is different (according to Sunset). I only have
experience with Phalaenopsis.

--

David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Concerned about someone (e.g., Pres. Bush) snooping
into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my http://www.rossde.com/PGP/