On Mar 17, 1:02*pm, zxcvbob wrote:
I have a Phalaenopsis (?) that I bought 3 months ago at Home Depot on
my desk near a window. *I haven't killed it yet, and it's still
blooming :-)

The humidity is low, and the water is hard. *I take the plant out of
its cachepot every Friday and douse the bark with warm tapwater. *Then
let it drip while I carry it back to the office, and put it back in
its cache. *That's all I've been giving it; hard water once a week.

It's starting to send up a new leaf (so I assume the flowers will be
gone soon), so should I start fertilizing it? *What do I use? *I see
conflicting information on the Internet about how much nitrogen (some
say to use low N, some say high N because it has to compete with the
decomposing bark)

Thanks,
Bob

Sounds like you've been doing very well with your Phalaenopsis, Bob.
You can use just about any plant fertilizer for the orchid. Just use
it at half strength. On Friday water like you usually do, then about
an hour later water again with the half strength fertilizer. Yes
you'll have to change your habits a little, but that shouldn't be too
troublesome. In fact its better if you have a bit more time between
the watering and the feeding, so lets say you water it at lunch or
when you first get in the office, then feed over lunchtime or before
your leave the office for the weekend. The point is to have the
plant's roots somewhat moist so they'll take up the fertilizer and not
burn. You'll see conflicting information on the internet about this
method too, but its really pretty standard advice.

Your Phal can flower for months, so don't give up on it. The spike
may send out a side shoot and reflower, too. Pretty cool.

As for the hard water once you add fertilizer to the water the acidity
changes so the plant can take up some of the Calcium thats now
available from the hard water. It comes back into solution.

If the orchid bug bites you then worry about proper N levels. Proper
N levels can depend of the medium you use. For your Phal's situation
you don't have to go so crazy, LOL!

K Barrett