Hello all,

I'm fairly new to orchids and have a few questions

I currently have two (maybe three, but i'll get into that in a moment)
phalaenopsis. The first I acquired has been in bloom for about 3-4 months
and is finally starting to drop it's blooms. I've read that I can encourage
it to rebloom, if the plant is healthy enough, by trimming the main stem
below where the first bud developed. My question is how far down on the
spike to I cut and does anyone have a link to a good tutorial on repotting
as i'm told the best time to repot is after the buds have dropped?

Additionally, I bought another orchid (these things are addictive) from
Sam's Club a few weeks ago. It seemed to be in very good condition with
medium green leaves, large sized blooms, and virtually no marks on it. There
are what I thought to be two large spikes growing out of the moss with the
second of the two spikes' buds not yet open. A few days ago the first of
those buds opened to reveal lips of a different color than on the other
spike in the same pot. My question here is: Have I gotten to phals in one
pot? If so, should I risk repotting during a blooming stage or should I
leave them alone? If I should leave them alone, should I water or fertilize
any differently?

Thanks so much in advance.

Keefer Milton

Keefer,

First of all, welcome, both to rgo and to orchid growing.

As to your first question/plant:

1) Are you sure that the plant is healthy enough to encourage it to rebloom?
How many leaves does it have? How many of them look healthy? Has it lost any
old leaves while in your care? Has it grown any new leaves? If it has plenty
of healthy leaves and has recently grown a new leaf and has not lost more
than one old leaf, then encouraging the orchid to rebloom may be a good
idea.
2) Does the Phal have a tag identifying its name as more than a
Phalaenopsis? If not, can you describe the flowers of this Phal? Are they
white, pink, or yellow? Waxy or silky in substance? The reason I ask is that
for some Phals it is not a good idea to cut their spikes since they will
rebloom from the same spike. One rule of thumb that I have heard: never cut
the spike of a yellow phal as long as the spike is green, since it may just
go on blooming.
3) A lot of Phals (whether yellow or not) will continue blooming from the
same spike, just continuing to prolong their spike with additional flowers,
so if the spike remains green, you could just opt to not cut it at all and
wait and see.
4) If you would like to try to cut it part-way (do this only if the plant is
healthy enough, and only if the flower color is not yellow), the easiest
thing is to cut the spike right beneath where its lowest flower used to be
or right above the next node (that knuckle like division in the spike). If
the spike is very long and not aesthetically pleasing, you could cut lower
than that, leaving 3 or 4 nodes from the bottom up. The idea behind cutting
a spike part-way is to try to fool the orchid into reacting like it would if
it's spike was damaged before it had a chance to have a full blooming
season, and to grow a branch from one of the nodes.

As for your second orchid:

Phals are monopodial, this means that the leaves of one plant will grow
around one central crown, like this: one 1st leaf to one side, the 2nd leaf
to the other side, the 4th leaf above leaf one, the 5th leaf above leaf 2,
and so on ... with all leaves of one plant stacked together around one crown
in sets of two.
Given that, does your pot have only one Phal plant or more than one? Is
there more than one crown/center from which the leaves grow?

If there is only one set of leaves, then one possible explanation for a
different color or at least a different shade of color is that your Phal
could have a fading color that is less vibrant when the flowers have been
open for a long time. This is especially the case with yellow and orange
phals. Another explanation is that the blooms on the second spike may have
opened in very different light conditions from the blooms on the second
spike. Again the difference would mostly be a difference in shade of color,
not actually different color.

Hope this helps.
Best,
Joanna

"Keefer Milton" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

I'm fairly new to orchids and have a few questions

I currently have two (maybe three, but i'll get into that in a moment)
phalaenopsis. The first I acquired has been in bloom for about 3-4 months
and is finally starting to drop it's blooms. I've read that I can
encourage
it to rebloom, if the plant is healthy enough, by trimming the main stem
below where the first bud developed. My question is how far down on the
spike to I cut and does anyone have a link to a good tutorial on repotting
as i'm told the best time to repot is after the buds have dropped?

Additionally, I bought another orchid (these things are addictive) from
Sam's Club a few weeks ago. It seemed to be in very good condition with
medium green leaves, large sized blooms, and virtually no marks on it.
There
are what I thought to be two large spikes growing out of the moss with the
second of the two spikes' buds not yet open. A few days ago the first of
those buds opened to reveal lips of a different color than on the other
spike in the same pot. My question here is: Have I gotten to phals in one
pot? If so, should I risk repotting during a blooming stage or should I
leave them alone? If I should leave them alone, should I water or
fertilize
any differently?

Thanks so much in advance.

Keefer Milton

P.S.: I forgot to answer you question on whether to repot. Unless the plant
or plants are not healthy, you should wait until the orchid stopped blooming
and only then repot it. Also unless the moss or bark or whatever medium the
orchid came in is no longer fresh and is starting to decompose, as long as
the orchid is healthy, and as long as it's not outgrown the pot it is in (to
the point of tipping over from its weight for example), you may wish to wait
with repotting otherwise.

The two plants in one pot, if they are indeed two, will probably be better
off in separate pots, but if they are both healthy, wait until they stop
blooming. Get pots that are only just big enough to hold the root ball of
each plant -- do not repot the two orchids into two separate pots that are
the size of the original pot, since a pot that is too big for the orchid
makes it more likely that it will get root rot.

The best way to learn how to repot in my opinion is to watch someone else do
it, and ask them to explain the process. Do you know whether there is an
orchid society in your area, which you could contact? If you tell us, where
you live, someone could tell you which society to contact, and they could
show you how to repot. Otherwise, if you have a plant nursery near you, some
plant nurseries will provide repotting services for a fee, and if you watch
them do it, you can learn how to much better than from a tutorial. It really
helped me learn how to do it. A tutorial will give you the basics, but
unless you have observed and learned from someone else, it's really hard to
learn to differentiate healthy roots from ones that should be cut off.

Best,
Joanna

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:W7Vee.399$hb1.165@trnddc05...
Keefer,

First of all, welcome, both to rgo and to orchid growing.

As to your first question/plant:

1) Are you sure that the plant is healthy enough to encourage it to
rebloom?
How many leaves does it have? How many of them look healthy? Has it lost
any
old leaves while in your care? Has it grown any new leaves? If it has
plenty
of healthy leaves and has recently grown a new leaf and has not lost more
than one old leaf, then encouraging the orchid to rebloom may be a good
idea.
2) Does the Phal have a tag identifying its name as more than a
Phalaenopsis? If not, can you describe the flowers of this Phal? Are they
white, pink, or yellow? Waxy or silky in substance? The reason I ask is
that
for some Phals it is not a good idea to cut their spikes since they will
rebloom from the same spike. One rule of thumb that I have heard: never
cut
the spike of a yellow phal as long as the spike is green, since it may
just
go on blooming.
3) A lot of Phals (whether yellow or not) will continue blooming from the
same spike, just continuing to prolong their spike with additional
flowers,
so if the spike remains green, you could just opt to not cut it at all and
wait and see.
4) If you would like to try to cut it part-way (do this only if the plant
is
healthy enough, and only if the flower color is not yellow), the easiest
thing is to cut the spike right beneath where its lowest flower used to be
or right above the next node (that knuckle like division in the spike). If
the spike is very long and not aesthetically pleasing, you could cut lower
than that, leaving 3 or 4 nodes from the bottom up. The idea behind
cutting
a spike part-way is to try to fool the orchid into reacting like it would
if
it's spike was damaged before it had a chance to have a full blooming
season, and to grow a branch from one of the nodes.

As for your second orchid:

Phals are monopodial, this means that the leaves of one plant will grow
around one central crown, like this: one 1st leaf to one side, the 2nd
leaf
to the other side, the 4th leaf above leaf one, the 5th leaf above leaf 2,
and so on ... with all leaves of one plant stacked together around one
crown
in sets of two.
Given that, does your pot have only one Phal plant or more than one? Is
there more than one crown/center from which the leaves grow?

If there is only one set of leaves, then one possible explanation for a
different color or at least a different shade of color is that your Phal
could have a fading color that is less vibrant when the flowers have been
open for a long time. This is especially the case with yellow and orange
phals. Another explanation is that the blooms on the second spike may have
opened in very different light conditions from the blooms on the second
spike. Again the difference would mostly be a difference in shade of
color,
not actually different color.

Hope this helps.
Best,
Joanna

"Keefer Milton" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

I'm fairly new to orchids and have a few questions

I currently have two (maybe three, but i'll get into that in a moment)
phalaenopsis. The first I acquired has been in bloom for about 3-4
months
and is finally starting to drop it's blooms. I've read that I can
encourage
it to rebloom, if the plant is healthy enough, by trimming the main stem
below where the first bud developed. My question is how far down on the
spike to I cut and does anyone have a link to a good tutorial on
repotting
as i'm told the best time to repot is after the buds have dropped?

Additionally, I bought another orchid (these things are addictive) from
Sam's Club a few weeks ago. It seemed to be in very good condition with
medium green leaves, large sized blooms, and virtually no marks on it.
There
are what I thought to be two large spikes growing out of the moss with
the
second of the two spikes' buds not yet open. A few days ago the first of
those buds opened to reveal lips of a different color than on the other
spike in the same pot. My question here is: Have I gotten to phals in
one
pot? If so, should I risk repotting during a blooming stage or should I
leave them alone? If I should leave them alone, should I water or
fertilize
any differently?

Thanks so much in advance.

Keefer Milton

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:W7Vee.399$hb1.165@trnddc05...
Keefer,

First of all, welcome, both to rgo and to orchid growing.

As to your first question/plant:

1) Are you sure that the plant is healthy enough to encourage it to
rebloom?
How many leaves does it have? How many of them look healthy? Has it lost
any
old leaves while in your care? Has it grown any new leaves? If it has
plenty
of healthy leaves and has recently grown a new leaf and has not lost more
than one old leaf, then encouraging the orchid to rebloom may be a good
idea.

The leaves, although smaller in comparison to my newest addition seem to be
very healthy. They are five in number, feel very firm, are a medium green,
and two of them have nearly doubled their length since being in my care.


2) Does the Phal have a tag identifying its name as more than a
Phalaenopsis? If not, can you describe the flowers of this Phal? Are they
white, pink, or yellow? Waxy or silky in substance? The reason I ask is
that
for some Phals it is not a good idea to cut their spikes since they will
rebloom from the same spike. One rule of thumb that I have heard: never
cut
the spike of a yellow phal as long as the spike is green, since it may
just
go on blooming.

It looks very much like this:
http://orchids.com/shop/shopCatPop.a...s&itemNo=MC729
And the petals are silky as opposed to waxy


3) A lot of Phals (whether yellow or not) will continue blooming from the
same spike, just continuing to prolong their spike with additional
flowers,
so if the spike remains green, you could just opt to not cut it at all and
wait and see.
4) If you would like to try to cut it part-way (do this only if the plant
is
healthy enough, and only if the flower color is not yellow), the easiest
thing is to cut the spike right beneath where its lowest flower used to be
or right above the next node (that knuckle like division in the spike). If
the spike is very long and not aesthetically pleasing, you could cut lower
than that, leaving 3 or 4 nodes from the bottom up. The idea behind
cutting
a spike part-way is to try to fool the orchid into reacting like it would
if
it's spike was damaged before it had a chance to have a full blooming
season, and to grow a branch from one of the nodes.


I wonder of something else. Should the spike be able to support it's own
weight? I ask this because both my Phals were bought with a bamboo stake.


As for your second orchid:

Phals are monopodial, this means that the leaves of one plant will grow
around one central crown, like this: one 1st leaf to one side, the 2nd
leaf
to the other side, the 4th leaf above leaf one, the 5th leaf above leaf 2,
and so on ... with all leaves of one plant stacked together around one
crown
in sets of two.
Given that, does your pot have only one Phal plant or more than one? Is
there more than one crown/center from which the leaves grow?

I believe that there are two crowns here. The plant came potted in moss and
I believe that some small roots have twisted around the moss which makes me
hesitant to dig down deep enough to tell for sure. What I can say is that
there are definately two spikes. There are seven leaves total. One of it's
previous leaves was slightly yellowish when it was purchased and has since
turned more yellow and detached from the crown. Is this the normal mannor in
which phals lose their leaves?


If there is only one set of leaves, then one possible explanation for a
different color or at least a different shade of color is that your Phal
could have a fading color that is less vibrant when the flowers have been
open for a long time. This is especially the case with yellow and orange
phals. Another explanation is that the blooms on the second spike may have
opened in very different light conditions from the blooms on the second
spike. Again the difference would mostly be a difference in shade of
color,
not actually different color.

There is no pink evident on the lips of the flowers of one spike while there
is prominent pink shown on the lips of the flowers on the other spike.
Assuming these are two different plants and that their root structures are
entangled, would it be best to not seperate them at all?


Hope this helps.
Best,
Joanna

"Keefer Milton" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

I'm fairly new to orchids and have a few questions

I currently have two (maybe three, but i'll get into that in a moment)
phalaenopsis. The first I acquired has been in bloom for about 3-4 months
and is finally starting to drop it's blooms. I've read that I can
encourage
it to rebloom, if the plant is healthy enough, by trimming the main stem
below where the first bud developed. My question is how far down on the
spike to I cut and does anyone have a link to a good tutorial on
repotting
as i'm told the best time to repot is after the buds have dropped?

Additionally, I bought another orchid (these things are addictive) from
Sam's Club a few weeks ago. It seemed to be in very good condition with
medium green leaves, large sized blooms, and virtually no marks on it.
There
are what I thought to be two large spikes growing out of the moss with
the
second of the two spikes' buds not yet open. A few days ago the first of
those buds opened to reveal lips of a different color than on the other
spike in the same pot. My question here is: Have I gotten to phals in one
pot? If so, should I risk repotting during a blooming stage or should I
leave them alone? If I should leave them alone, should I water or
fertilize
any differently?

Thanks so much in advance.

Keefer Milton

"Keefer Milton" wrote in message
. ..
The leaves, although smaller in comparison to my newest addition seem to
be
very healthy. They are five in number, feel very firm, are a medium green,
and two of them have nearly doubled their length since being in my care.

Sounds healthy indeed. The size of the leaves may just be due to this Phal
being a hybrid of smaller-leaved Phals. The fact that two of the leaves have
doubled in size is good. Growing its leaves is indeed a sign of health.

It looks very much like this:
http://orchids.com/shop/shopCatPop.a...s&itemNo=MC729
And the petals are silky as opposed to waxy

Hmm, the photo in the linked page is a branching multi-floral. Those tend to
create new branches with no need to cut off the spike part-way to induce
them to do so. So if yours is really like this, I would just leave the spike
as is without cutting, and it may continue to grow a branch and reflower
from that or it may not. But I don't think that with a multi-floral the
cutting of the spike partway will help. My understanding (from what I have
read about this) is that in the Phals where one cuts the spike partway, the
reason why this works is since the final bud of the spike produces some sort
of hormone that prevents the dormant growths from forming into branches,
while the tip of the spike is still in tact. However, with a multifloral
Phal, it already has the tendency to develop lot of branches, and thus I
don't think this applies.

I wonder of something else. Should the spike be able to support it's own
weight? I ask this because both my Phals were bought with a bamboo stake.

Very few Phals can support the spikes weight and hold the flower spikes
upright without a stake of some sort. Some of them can, but most need to be
staked both to make the arangement more aesthetically pleasing to us humans,
and to reduce the chances of the spike accidentally breaking while you move
the plant, etc. A piece of Phal trivia: in nature Phals grow on trees, the
leaves and the spikes hang downward. So the way we grow them as houseplants
is really upside down from their natural way of growing. And thus Phals are
not really naturally inclined to hold their spikes weight.

I believe that there are two crowns here. The plant came potted in moss
and
I believe that some small roots have twisted around the moss which makes
me
hesitant to dig down deep enough to tell for sure. What I can say is that
there are definately two spikes.

The two crowns, if there indeed are two, should be visible above the moss:
do all leaves meet in one central point or not. If you think you would need
to dig underneath the moss to find out whether there are two plants here,
that does not sound like there are likely two plants of flowering size. Hmm.
Curious that. Could you take some pictures of the plant and either post a
link to this group (no picture posting here) or post a picture to
alt.binaries.pictures.orchids?

There are seven leaves total. One of it's
previous leaves was slightly yellowish when it was purchased and has since
turned more yellow and detached from the crown. Is this the normal mannor
in
which phals lose their leaves?

Was this one of the bottom leaves? If so, then yes, that is exactly how an
old leave falls off naturally. If it was an upper leaf, that may be a sign
of stress of not so good health. Phals grow new leaves from the top and
loose them from the bottom, and exceptions to that are usually a sign that
something may be wrong. I tend to watch my Phals after I observe an old leaf
falling off. If the same Phal looses another leaf or two without growing a
new leaf on the top, I tend to cut off any spikes it may have all the way
down, no matter whether they are in flower or not. I will then put the
flower spike in a vase of water, just in case it decides to continue as a
cut flower. Flowering takes energy from the plant, and thus if the plant
needs to concentrate energy on new leaf-growth, then it's better to cut off
the spike. Unless of course one cares more about its current flowering
season than about the plant's longevity.

There is no pink evident on the lips of the flowers of one spike while
there
is prominent pink shown on the lips of the flowers on the other spike.
Assuming these are two different plants and that their root structures are
entangled, would it be best to not seperate them at all?

While I have never seen a Phal with two spikes that produced flowers as
different as that, I am not sure whether it is impossible. As for whether to
keep the plants together, as long as both remain healthy, there is no rush
to separate them. The next time you repot, if indeed there are two plants,
see whether or not you can separate them with minimal damage to the roots.
But as long as all remain healthy, there is no rush.

Best,
Joanna

Hi, Keefer,

To add to Joanna's information, it is entirely possible for a Phal to
develop multiple crowns. Given the fact that the flowers on the two spikes
are different, I tend to doubt that's the case here, however. Once the
blooming has finished, it will be time to repot anyway, so if there are two
plants in there you can separate them at that time. It should be pretty
clear whether it's one plant or two, even if the roots are somewhat
entangled. Phal roots are the easiest to unravel, in my opinion, so you
shouldn't have a problem.

As far as branching spikes are concerned, I treat them the same as those
that do not branch. It's easy to see if a spike is throwing off branches;
you'll notice small growths at the nodes. The main thing to remember, I
think, is to let the spike go on its own, as many will put out new buds at
the tip after the first flowers have fallen off or are in the process of
doing so. Don't be too quick to cut back a Phal spike. Let it tell you what
it wants to do. As far as flower color is concerned, I have not heard
anything about yellow Phals as opposed to other colors, but none of us knows
everything, after all. One thing I do know about the yellows is that they
seem to be a bit more prone to attracting insects. Please don't ask me why!
I imagine that they are a bit more genetically fragile than some others, but
that's a guess.

Having said all that, I urge new growers to be cautious about encouraging
that second bloom on Phals. Your aim is a healthy plant that will bloom for
years to come, and the energy needed for an extra few flowers, which will
probably not be as spectacular as the first batch, will detract from the
plant's ability to produce new leaves and healthy roots. My advice: go get
another orchid! If you pick up just one blooming orchid each month (taking
care to add plants that like your environment), you are pretty much
guaranteed to have something in bloom all the time. That is also a wonderful
way to feed the beast!

Diana

Depends on the plant. I do know of plants (eg Dtps. I-Hsin Chocolate =
P. Ever-Spring King x Dtps. Leopard Prince), from which will emerge
multiple spikes, each with completely different flowers. The separate
flowers on each spike resemble each other, however. It's really quite
fascinating and interesting to see. Trace the flower spikes on your
plant until they meet up with the leaves, ands see if they emerge from
the same stem.

Check out Dtps. I-Hsin Chocolate
http://bigleaforchids.com/newsletter/may2005.htm

Cheers,
Xi