Phalenopsis Orchid Care

Hi all,
I've been entrusted with the care of 2 phalenopsis orchids belonging to my sister-in-law. She's moved to Spain for three years. Additionally, I was given two mini phalenopsises for Christmas.

Can anyone advise me about their care? The first 2 are the minis



The next two belong to my SIL



Specifically how did i know when they need to be repotted?

 

Hello Cayuga. I also have a few of these, and they are not difficult.
They like light to get to their roots, so best sitting in those transparent pots without covering.
They don't like being in the sunshine, and mine do best by far on a kitchen sill facing North, giving plenty of light but not too much heat. In the winter they don't want much water and should always be able to drain through - they will rot if left wet. As long as there is a bit of green on the roots they don't need water or feed until the spring.
If you count two leaves up that's where the flower stems will grow from, and so on after each two leaves. After flowering, cut dead stem off as close to the base as possible.
Most of the time they will look after themselves. Their worst enemy is too much attention I think. You've heard the expression ''Killed by kindness''
Good luck with them, they're beautiful things!!
PS those don't need repotting and probably won't for ages, they are epiphytes.

 

Thanks Tetters. That's helpful.

 

On closer inspection, I notice white spots on those leaves. It is also clear they have been watered on the leaves. The spots may be the effect of the camera on the water droplets, but if they are in fact little furry lumps, they could be mealy bugs???

 

Hi Tetters,

I had just watered them under a gentle spray. There are a couple of white spots ( you have good eyes) but they are not mealy bugs. They are little scars from... Who knows what?

I will take to heart your comments about killing them with kindness.... Specifically too much water. I live in the NE US & our house is very dry in winter. I'll just keep an eye on them.

 

Beautiful orchid.

 

I just inherited this orchid from a friend. Another phalenopsis, but this one had been mutilated: multiple roots were cut off!


Looks awful, doesn't it?

Here are some close ups.



Lots of dead roots. I knocked out out of the pot & repotted it. All the roots down below had rotted. The pot had no drainage.

Next photo is the repotted orchid:



Fingers crossed for this guy. I tend to anthropomorphize plants, so I was disturbed by all those hacked off roots.

 

Thanks Eileen. There really aren't many roots left & the foliage is not shiny like my other orchids. We'll see.