Our Christmas present has bloomed beautifully and given a first-class
show, but now the blossoms are starting to age and fall and we only have
about six flowers left on the two spikes.
I've never had one of these plants before so I'm at a loss what to do
now regarding after care.
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

p.pleater.

"p. pleater" typed


Our Christmas present has bloomed beautifully and given a first-class
show, but now the blossoms are starting to age and fall and we only have
about six flowers left on the two spikes.
I've never had one of these plants before so I'm at a loss what to do
now regarding after care.
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

p.pleater.


I was given one 4 years ago, by colleagues at work.

It has a few flowers on it and has survived the flower spikes being
pulled off.

I water it every Monday but have done little else. It was repotted ages ago.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

p. pleater wrote:

Our Christmas present has bloomed beautifully and given a first-class
show, but now the blossoms are starting to age and fall and we only have
about six flowers left on the two spikes.
I've never had one of these plants before so I'm at a loss what to do
now regarding after care.
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

[sorry, late answer!]

In general keep doing what you've been doing all along, since the plant
seems to like it.

I'm just a newbie with orchids but there are a few things you can do to
help: keep them lightly moist. Watering is fine, even though misting
isn't a bad idea.
If you want to repot it, wait until all the flowers have died and only
use a very light soil, chunky and that drains quickly (i.e. one that's
specifically labelled for orchids, but you can make your own): remember
that many orchids simply grow on tree bark, where soil is rather scarce.


It's basically your choice to cut the spikes or not once the flowers are
gone: I don't and sometimes new flowers sprout up, some people do I
think to force new stems to grow. In any case the plant will tell you:
some stems will stay alive and something nice will happen, or the stem
will simply dry down.

As for summer, it's a good idea to take it outside in a place sheltered
from wind and direct sunshine, provided it doesn't get too cold where
you are. I was amased at how much the plant seemed to like it.



Greg
--

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