Trying to learn about orchids so they don't keep dying!

[Ashley9586]

Hey everyone! I'm definitely new to orchids, but it's something that I've become very interested in. I think they are beautiful, and I would love to keep my current one alive. I feel like they are kind of hard to take care of, but I'm looking at it as a challenge. I bought a mini one at the store about a year ago, but it died (or, rather, I gave up on it and just threw it away). Now, I have a big one that my fiance bought me from the store, and it's doing much better than the other one. I'm pretty sure it's a Phalaenopsis orchid (from what I've read on a couple of forums). It is a "just add ice" orchid, but I've decided that I don't like that method because I don't think it was getting enough water. I just bought some orchid fertilizer from the store and soaked the roots in the solution. I'm going to water it once a week that way from now on, and let it dry out in between waterings. I'm not sure if it's getting enough light or not, though. I have it in an east facing window, but sometimes I forget to open the blinds. The leaves are not dark or light, they are just green, so I'm hoping it's okay. The last bloom is getting ready to fall off (I got it for Valentine's Day, so it's been blooming for about 4 months), so I'm trying to figure out whether I should cut it somewhere, or what to do from there. Any advice on watering or pruning would be helpful!