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.