When I got my first orchid, many years ago now, I killed it within the first couple of weeks. It was a beautiful purple Phalaenopsis from the grocery store and my experience and failure with it left me convinced orchids were just fancy plants meant for people who had real gardening skills. But where I …
Orchids are stubborn about telling you what they need. A lot of plants will make a big deal about showing you how they’re feeling. Peace lilies are the classic example of a plant that reacts very dramatically when it’s unhappy. Orchids though will sit in the same pot looking perfectly fine for years. That is …
A few years ago I nearly threw out a perfectly good orchid. The leaves had gone all wrinkled so I assumed it needing more water and so kept watering it. Unfortunately the leaves got worse. When I finally tipped it out of the pot the roots were brown and mushy. The plant hadn’t needed more …
There are few things more frustrating when you’re growing and caring for an orchid than watching a spike get loads of buds, become excited about the bloom that’s coming and then watching those buds shrivel up and drop off before any of them open. This is called bud blast and if your orchid buds are …
Fertilizing orchids is trickier than you might think. Orchids in general can be difficult and when it comes to fertilizing it’s mostly justified. If you use the wrong fertilizer you can damage the roots. Feed at the wrong concentration and you burn a plant that was otherwise perfectly healthy. Feed at the wrong time and …
Its always exciting when you notice some new growth on your orchid. When you see something coming from the base of the plant, or from a node on the stem or just pushing up through the bark it’s a real thrill. And of course you want to know what it is. Is it a flower …
Pruning an orchid makes a lot of people nervous. Orchids feel delicate and like you could make a costly mistake. Plus the advice available online is usually not that helpful, even contradicting itself at times – cut the spike back, do not cut the spike back, cut to a node, cut to the base, leave …
You know that feeling when you look at your orchid and it’s doing well – green leaves, strong roots, everything looking perfect – but it hasn’t given you a single bloom? Yeah, that’s no fun. And I know how you’re feeling. My first Phalaenopsis sat on my kitchen windowsill for eighteen months without flowering. I …
Orchids can make you want to tear your hair out. You give them the perfect light, water them on schedule, maybe even talk to them (no judgement here) and yet they still take ages to give you any new growth. I’ve stood around in my kitchen staring at my Phalaenopsis orchid just thinking to myself …
Your orchids stem turning yellow can be worrying. It certainly doesn’t look healthy! And isn’t a good sign. There are a fair few reasons an orchid stem can start to turn yellow. Thankfully very few of them are likely to kill your orchid. And if you changed things up a bit there’s a good chance …