Home and Gardens Guide

How Do You Take Care of a Phalaenopsis Orchid?

It is generally considered to very difficult to keep a moth orchid alive because they can be extremely temperamental house plants if you do not take care of them just right. Due to the fact that these plants flourish in humid climates it is hard for an indoor home to become humid, so you have to make sure they are getting enough water.

However, they do not like too much water, so it is important that you do not drown your phalaenopsis by over watering it. A good rule of thumb is to water it about once a week to once every other week depending on the climate of where you live and how warm or dry you keep your home.

It is also very important to keep your plant away from direct sunlight. They easily dry up and shrivel under the sun’s strong rays and especially indoors because a window will create a greenhouse affect, causing even more heat to dry out the plant.

They are not like other indoor plants that do not like any direct sunlight; so it is best to keep them in a room where there is plenty of indirect sunlight. They work best in a South-East facing room where there is plenty of sunlight throughout the day, yet the plant will not be over exposed to direct rays.

What Should I do if my Orchid is Dying?

Hopefully if you water your plant often enough and keep it out of direct sunlight it should not die. However, this is not the common case with phalaenopsis orchids because for some reason they are very difficult to keep alive. Luckily, they are very resilient, so it may be possible to save yours if it is dying. The first thing to do is water the orchid.

Try to water vertically from the top down to the bottom of the plant, rather than at the base of the plant where it meets the dirt, roots, or rocks. This is the way to water it because of the shape of the leaves create a funnel to the interior of the plan where moisture is held.

Next, when growing orchids, it is important to cut off any of the dead leaves or branches where flowers once grew. That way the plant will not think it needs to exert energy into those dead leaves to try and keep them alive; it can just save its energy for new leaves and branches to grow.

Another way to keep your orchid alive is by giving it orchid food or fertilizer. You can find this at an local garden or hardware store.

Thanks to container gardening, you can change color designs in your garden without any trouble. After each plant has blossomed, you can just add a new one in its place. Make sure your plants come in all lengths and sizes, whether you decide to complement or contrast the colors. It’s important to consider the contour and texture of the leaves as well.

High, band-like foliage provides nice vertical backdrops for low-growing, broad-leaved foliage. Select plants with extended blooming seasons or have some other kinds of plants on hand to replace your old ones when they finish flowering. Feel free to try out some imaginative pots for your plants. Maybe you have some old items around the house such as old porcelain bowls or copper urns that can be utilized as containers. You could even use tiles or timber to assemble something really innovative.

Plastic containers are less expensive and can be covered with water-based paint on the exterior to create a nice appearance. Terracotta pots are lovely if you opt to purchase containers off the rack. However, terracotta has a propensity to soak up water. Paint these pots on the inside with a special sealer to prevent the plants from dehydrating. The sealer can be purchased from any hardware store. Remember to purchase corresponding saucers to go along with your pots. The saucers will catch dripping water and prevent cement floors from staining and timber floors from decaying. To assure optimal plant growth, you should utilize premium potting mixes at all times.

Plan how you wish to arrange the pots beforehand and then purchase your plants according to that arrangement. For instance, purchasing sun lovers for a shaded spot would be foolish because they’ll grow poorly under those conditions. Furthermore, some plants have very large roots so planting them in an open and exposed area would be ideal. If there’s ample space by the front door, placing a collection of potted vegetable plants on one side will be more attractive than placing a similar plant on each side. Unless the plants are truly stunning, this arrangement will look extremely dull. Instead of grouping the pots in even numbers, try an odd-numbered arrangement.

Make sure to vary them by type and height. Add some big rocks that look alike but are somewhat different in size to connect the group. Having three or five pots that are close in style and hue, but diverse in size also creates a great appearance.