Despite my enthusiasm for plants I've never had luck with orchids. Well, let's clarify that a little. I bought two orchids from swedishmegastore a few years ago, didn't have a good indirect sun location for them, didn't repot them after purchase, and then left them in the care of a boyfriend for two weeks in winter.
They died.
Maybe it wasn't so much "bad luck" as not knowing anything about orchid preferences, probably overwatering them, and then neglecting them.
Lucky for me the freestyle karma wheel has turned by some degree and I found this pot with two orchids in September. I believe them to be Phalaenopsis.
As you can see they had just passed flowering. I'm assuming the owner was moving out and didn't want to take just dirt and leaves, so thank you mystery donor for leaving this on the loading dock instead of throwing it in the trash.
I am determined to keep these orchids alive, and hopefully to coax them into flowering... within a year.
After a little research and an excellent tutorial video from the Chicago Botanic Garden & Illinois Orchid Society I was ready to repot the orchids. It didn't seem like full coverage with potting soil in a plastic pot with no drainage would be the happiest long-term situation for the orchid and its velamen (spongy tissue covering the roots that looks green/gray on healthy orchids). Velamen is like a sponge around the orchid's roots, and you've all seen what happens to sponges when they never get a chance to dry out.
After a little research and an excellent tutorial video from the Chicago Botanic Garden & Illinois Orchid Society I was ready to repot the orchids. It didn't seem like full coverage with potting soil in a plastic pot with no drainage would be the happiest long-term situation for the orchid and its velamen (spongy tissue covering the roots that looks green/gray on healthy orchids). Velamen is like a sponge around the orchid's roots, and you've all seen what happens to sponges when they never get a chance to dry out.
While repotting I had to remove a lot of sphagnum moss and rotted velamen, it felt good. I decided to give each orchid its own pot so I could put them in two places within the house to see which had more suitable light. I also varied the pot size, so it's not a perfectly clean sing-variable experiment, and I have no control, but c'est la vie.... well, maybe, if the orchids live. Otherwise c'est la mort.
Here they are in their new homes. The orchid mix seemed less bark-y and more fine-grained than what she used on the video, so that's another thing to consider.
Exercising proper orchid care seems to mean rarely watering, and keeping things temperature controlled. I will attempt to do both.
Happy freestyle gardening!
Happy freestyle gardening!