Is it ok to pinch off blooms?
 

Some of the blooms are spent on the spike. Is it ok to pinch off the blooms with your hand like you would any other flower?

Plus I watered my orchids last monday. The skewer is still wet and the roots still green. Its new bark so I didn't figure it would retain water this long. The skewer felt cold and moist on my cheek. Is it possible for them not to need water?

Also my orchids (the phals only) with the most roots are losing some leaves from the bottom. They turn yellow and fall off but my orchid with only one, yes one healthy root is keeping its big floppy leaves. I don't get it. :blushing:.

They are in an east facing window and I fertilize once every two weeks. Bark/perlite/charcoal mix. My husband says I should wait until January to get a new orchid but I want one now. He doesn't feel its wise to get anymore until I know if I can manage these. They are already like kids to me so Im stressing a little I suppose.

The pictures that follow are the floppy and an example of a leaf that is about to turn yellow. I think Ive lost 3 leaves 2 from one plant and one from another. TIA!

They should just fall off right into your hand when you touch them if they are done.

Well one was crunchy but it didn't fall right off. The rest that I pinched were very limp and sad.

You will not hurt the plant by pinching off the flowers, if that's what you want to do.

It is normal for phals to loose their lower leaves, especially if they are newer. They are getting adjusted to new environment. If the skewer is still moist/cold, then don't water, don't even mist. If you pre-soaked the bark before potting then that might explain why new bark is retaining more water then you thought. How is air movement in that room? Is there an overhead fan to move the air around? That may help dry them out a little bit, if they are wet for too long then that may bring in rot. So just keep the skewer and don't water until it is completely dry. Other than that you seem to be doing things just fine.

Where do you live? I live in Colorado and I noticed that my phals did not dry out after a whole week of not misting and with a ceiling fan on when they were in plastic containers. I personally prefer the clay pots, even the ones with holes in them because they dry out more thoroughly in a week. With phals that have less roots you may want to consider inverting a small plastic pot with holes and then putting the bark on top of that...it creates air flow in the center of the pot where roots may be taking up space yet. You can also poke more holes in the sides of the plastic containers. It may take MONTHS before you see any progress, this is where patience is necessary for orchids.

You can tell your husband that these are just practice ones, now you know what you're doing and could use a new orchid with blooms :-)

I live in south central Texas. San Antonio to be exact. Nope I did not presoak the bark. The only phal that was dry was the one with the single root. All I have to do is remove a little bark and I saw that the one root was silver :rofl:

Yeah the leaves they lost were newer. I figured that was worse since they were new. Good to know thats not completely abnormal. Im not sure about the air movement. We run central a/c its about 73 in here. I don't have a fan near the orchids though.

Clay pots seem like a nice idea. At least they have a little weight to them. When my plastic pots are out of their decorative pots one or two of them tip over. I even put rocks in them to weigh them down and still they tip.

I love the idea of telling him they are practice orchids. Thanks!

I am still new at orchids, but I noticed on one of mine, that if I pinched a spent flower, the next one would shrivel very shortly after, but if I left a wilty on, the next flowers would last longer.

However- I had another one bloom blast most of its flowers and those all fell of within a couple days and the 4 that are left (2 each spike) are beautiful and staying strong.

And basically, I haven't help you at all. I'm sorry!
Thought I'd share my observations tho.