Hello everyone, I am knew and Orchid illiterate. HELP!!!

[nisepooh]

I have purchased two phals and one oncidium. I have the two Phals in a very bright location and water them each week. They are full of blooms and seem very happy. I had one several years ago and cut the stem off after blooming and it never bloomed again. I am going to try again. I think that I prefer not to cut it, or should I? I read in the forums that it is okay to cut it off. And should I repot them from the plastic pots that they came in? They seem to be in a very light medium.

I also purchased a Dancing Ldy Orchid that I know nothing about. It is beautiful. It has these very LONG stems with small blooms. All of the blooms have dried up and fallen off of one stem and the other stem is in full bloom. What do I do about the long stem? Will it keep grown and flower more? Is it normal for it to lose blooms on one stem and not theother? I have it in a location that receives indirect light all day long and them evening sun almost directly. I water it once a week as well. When I water, I water the leaves as well. Every four weeks, I have been watering with food.

How in the world do I care for these beautiful flowers and keep them happy. I plan to go to Lowe's tonight and purchase the book mentioned in one of the forums.

[Ray]

Cutting the inflorescence of a phalaenopsis to force reblooming can be a matter of choice, but it can have pitfalls as well (blooming is quite energy-consumiing, and it is possible for a plant to bloom itself to death), so i prefer to leave it alone and let the plant decide for itself. If it starts to yellow, chop it off completely.

The "dancing lady" is an oncidium, and they only bloom once from a flower spike, so when the blossoms drop, cut it off.

The oncidium needs a lot more light than does the phalaenopsis, but both plants need to be fed more frequently. In my opinion, feeding more dilutely at every watering is better than feeding them a stronger solution less frequently.

[nisepooh]

I appreciate the help, because on the tags that came with the orchids, it said that the Phal needed more sunlight and the Dancing Lady needed more indirect sunlight. I had moved them, so I guess I will try another spot. I will feed them more often in a diluted solution.

The tag for the Dancing Lady said not to keep the roots wet. To let it dry out before watering. On the Phals, it said to keep them moist.

I also read in the other forums that it is good to mist the blooms each morning. Is this correct and if so, do you put any food in the misting water?

I went to the Lowes here and they did not have the Ortho book. I will keep looking.

[nisepooh]

I would like to know if I need to cut it off down to the leaves? Please help.

[Oscarman]

Originally Posted by nisepooh

I would like to know if I need to cut it off down to the leaves? Please help.

I am with Ray on cutting Phalaenopsis flower stems. Unless the plant is not doing very well, I leave flower stems intact and let the plant decide what it has the energy to do.........branch and rebloom or dry up.

Once the flower stem has completely dried up, I cut it off as close to the base as possible.

Of course, I always use flame sterilized tools for all cuts on my plants.

[Ray]

If you are removing the spike, cut it as close to the plant as you can without damging any leaves or other tissue.