Moth orchids
 

Bought my first moth orchid and am slightly confused by its growth. it
only has one long stem where the flowers are and large bottom leaves.
From the look of things i do not see how another bud would emerge on
that 12" inch stem. There does not seem to have any nodes. Does another
pop up from the base? If so, how long does it take? its in a 4" inch
plastic pot. HAve no idea when to water or fertilize, because it has no
nutrients as far as I can see and of course no soil to see if it dries
out. i do have it on a large saucer with pebbles and water for humidity
and bright light. BTW, i heard that the blooms are long lasting. Not
on this one...maybe a few days and then they wither just like pansy's
or petunias.

In article .com,
"Boothbay" wrote:

The blooms should last a long time, like three months.
It should be watered when it gets dry -- like once a week. feel the
weight of the pot to estimate moisture content.
Fertilize lightly. Get an orchid fertilizer.
Sometimes a stem will produce additional blooms, More often the first
stem will die back and a new one will come from the base. An orchid
grows slowly.
The 4" plastic pot is a reasonable pot. It may be necessary to repot
the orchid if it is not prospering. Pot it in similar medium.

Dick

Bought my first moth orchid and am slightly confused by its growth. it
only has one long stem where the flowers are and large bottom leaves.
From the look of things i do not see how another bud would emerge on
that 12" inch stem. There does not seem to have any nodes. Does another
pop up from the base? If so, how long does it take? its in a 4" inch
plastic pot. HAve no idea when to water or fertilize, because it has no
nutrients as far as I can see and of course no soil to see if it dries
out. i do have it on a large saucer with pebbles and water for humidity
and bright light. BTW, i heard that the blooms are long lasting. Not
on this one...maybe a few days and then they wither just like pansy's
or petunias.

Boothbay wrote:
Bought my first moth orchid and am slightly confused by its growth.
it
only has one long stem where the flowers are and large bottom leaves.
From the look of things i do not see how another bud would emerge on
that 12" inch stem. There does not seem to have any nodes. Does
another
pop up from the base? If so, how long does it take?

1. Usually, Phalaenopsis produces a new inflorescence once a year. The
inflorescence emerges from between the leaves.

2. An information sheet on Phalaenopsis produced by the American
Orchid Society can be found he
http://aos.org/aos/uploadedfiles/docs/culturephals.pdf
An older, html version is he
http://www.taygeta.com/phalaenopsis.html
They should answer most questions about fertilizing and watering.

3. You may have more luck with orchid questions at rec.gardens.orchids
rather than rec.gardens


4. You might also consider purchasing an introductory book on orchids
form your local bookshop. Despite massive cloning, most orchids are
still expensive enough that the cost of a book is less than killing
plants by trial and error.

Hope this helps

Try this question on rec.gardens.orchids. And "Moth Orchid" is the common
name. It is properly a Phalenopsis.
Murri

"Boothbay" wrote in message
oups.com...
Bought my first moth orchid and am slightly confused by its growth. it
only has one long stem where the flowers are and large bottom leaves.
From the look of things i do not see how another bud would emerge on
that 12" inch stem. There does not seem to have any nodes. Does another
pop up from the base? If so, how long does it take? its in a 4" inch
plastic pot. HAve no idea when to water or fertilize, because it has no
nutrients as far as I can see and of course no soil to see if it dries
out. i do have it on a large saucer with pebbles and water for humidity
and bright light. BTW, i heard that the blooms are long lasting. Not
on this one...maybe a few days and then they wither just like pansy's
or petunias.