Phalaenopsis

I was asked last weekend about how to care for these gorgeous orchids. We currently have six of them and while I do most of the gardening, these plants are under my wife's care. They are pretty well constantly in bloom. All of the literature says that these are amongst the easiest of the orchids to care for.

Ours are kept in a north facing bay window in the kitchen where they get little direct light, which is good given that they are said to prefer low light levels. Temperatures in the house are no more than 20 deg C thoughout the day and lower at night, conditions that again are preferred by the Phalaenopsis. Located in the kitchen, they are in an area that has a higher humidity than the rest of the house which again is preferred by these orchids. The plants are watered regularly in the morning, fertilized weakly and do not sit in water.

We never cut spikes until the spikes are truly dead. At other times, when the last flower has fallen on a spike, we prune back to the topmost node on the spike.

The orchids all came in clear plastic containers and we left them in the same containers as the roots seem to like getting some light. The plastic pots also allow water to drain quicly and unlike terra cotta pots do not accumulate hard water salts. All our orchids came in a bark potting mixture which we have maintained.

Our orchids seem to like the conditions they are kept in as they are almost always in bloom.