Thank you for describing “indirect light” in a way that FINALLY makes sense to my brain. “The orchid should see the Sun, the Sun should not see the orchid.” 🤯
Another way is to look at how much sky the plant has access too, when looking for indirect light i try to find an area that gets no sun, but a large access to the sky.
@@DeezNuts-hf2xm not gonna lie I was a little worried when I saw who responded to me but my fears were unfounded this time. Thank you for the further clarification, it helps tremendously.
Thank you so much, I’m glad that’ll now be able to take care of the orchids correctly cause my moms just been watering it with both pots and it’s honestly a wonder that it’s still alive. Question though, what do I do if one of the leaves is split down the middle?
It's a sign of water stress. If the plant goes too long without water the leaves shrink, and then you flood it and the fast swelling of water causes the leaf to burst. So keep your watering consistent and moderate. Water only when the roots are silvery and wrinkled, and add only enough water to rehydrate those roots. You want the orchid medium to be damp, but not soggy. Orchids are actually very drought tolerant. They're used to pulling most of their moisture from the air, so they don't need a lot of water. Just be sure you're only watering the roots and soil. Try not to get water on the leaves. That can lead to crown rot and fungus.
It’s from a tropical environment that is high in humidity but low in rainfall. I found my orchids responded well to a single tbs of water twice a week. But our climate is rather humid. So if yours is not. Mist it to compensate.
It can be natural,it it’s the lowest leaf Then it will continue to spit as it peels off and goes yellow 👍 If it’s higher up 🤨 tape it But look closely at watering
Thanks for your thoughts on ice cubes, it makes sense. I’m torn. My 80 year old FIL is a Plant Wizard and he uses ice cubes on his orchids and they are always looking fabulous! Lots of flowers and very healthy year after year 🤷♀️ this is why I’m torn. I too have a good luck with ice cubes but I’ve only had my orchids for a couple of years. I have a habit of over watering everything. The ice cubes help me control how much I water.
Over watering isn't based on how much water you give a plant, it's based on how much water stagnates in your plant. Some need more frequent watering than others. That's why drainage holes are so important to prevent stagnant water that leads to root rot, fungus and pests. Best way to water is to fully saturate the soil like she did here and let the excess drain out. Do that every time your soil becomes dry. To know if your soil is dry all the way through, either stick your finger in and feel or stick a long slim stick into the soil. If it comes out dry/free of wet dirt debri then you should water. Also I care for plants that kind of let you know when they need it. They get dull (spider plant) and some droop (vein plant, peace lily) to the ground when they want water and will perk up after you give them some. If you don't have any, I recommend spider plants and pothos. Pothos have many variety and can tolerate over watering, they can even just be in water and thrive. Spider plants are equally easy to care for and they give me babies every year around spring.
My mom got me a tiny orchid 5 years ago and it’s still alive even though it stayed in my very dark, no sunlight room for like 4 years and I watered it less than 1 time a month. A year ago I put in downstairs by the window and my mom has given it water regularly and it has finally started to bloom😭
@@iwatchthemooooon3002 they don't photosynthesize very much in the dark so they don't need as much water. Any excess water wouldn't really have evaporated and caused root rot, mold, fungus or whatever. So as long as the plant doesn't die in the dark it's best not to water it very much. But in the end it was probably luck that it didn't die in the dark
I got my friend a Orchid from Trader Joe’s for a housing warming present, and the blooms stayed on for literal months. That was 3 years ago and it still flowers for at least 3 months at a time with only about 2 months of no blooms. We call him Frankenorchid because he’s a monster!
Same here. My mum got gifted an orchid around january. It already had blooms open, opened the closed ones and gave us a new bloom a few months in. I got the stem down after every bloom fell off. This was a week ago. The blooms did stay on 6 months! Also my mum bought 2 other orchids 2 months ago or so and they also are still perfectly fine. Even gave us a few additional flowers
Dude! I have an orchid from trader Joe's that's the same way! Holds blooms for a crazy long time. My happiest orchid ever, and I've never even repotted it.
The blooms can actually last months (up to 6 months in my apartment). I think it depends on climate and I try not to have any fruit or in the open close to the plants because that accelerates blooms fading.
My grandparents last for even longer than this. They love their bay window, that was why I was confused when they said it didn't last long and to cut after it dies off. Grandparents don't do this, but it lasts like all year long and comes back.
It's because store-bought orchids have been moved through at least 3 or 4 different environments in a span of mere weeks. That puts stress on orchids as they don't generally like being moved about too much. Once they're settled and growing in decent conditions however, that's when you can see the half-year long blooms.
My grandmother has been doing the icecube thing for years and has so many gorgeous orchids. She's like an orchid queen lol 😂 I just can't keep them alive 😂
Thankyou! My mom has gone through at least 3 orchids by now, all were gifts. They are so hard to care for, and we always used ice cubes until a friend told us otherwise. I’ll definitely be sharing this video with her, someone just gave us another orchid. Wish us luck!😂
If it's getting sunburned, then you're putting it in direct light instead of indirect light. Find another spot for it where the sun doesn't hit it directly.
I'll add that after cutting the flower stems, it takes a long time for new stems and buds to grow....like months. You basically have a nice green plant that you should water weekly (don't let roots rot/blacken) and it's a good time to repot it in proper material anyway to prevent too much moisture. Proper fertilizer will increase the likelihood of blooms/ faster growth.
I would generally recommend using spring water, filtered water (like through a Brita or something), or distilled (for drinking) or r/o Depending on where you live and your tap water (and any current water projects in your area...it can change randomly and you'll never know) the chlorine or chloramine and other metals etc can severely damage the roots.
I've kept many orchids alive with icecubes, never a "set" time though. Once they start drooping or getting sad looking I put one in, sometimes it's 3 days, others it's 10, and everything inbetween depending on the weather
I have a white orchid, the blooms last really long, she's 2 years with me on a west-facing window, I usually put her in a plate of water for 2 hours every week so she can drink her fill and then put her back. They can be really sensitive or really resilient, it's 50/50. Sometimes the vibe in the room will kill it, other times it can survive a month without water. But ice is always a huge no with plants.
My mum had an orchid plant from when i was about 3 to about 11. We barely ever remembered to water it, did not bother taking care if it and never repotted. That thing was determined to live.
I remember having an orchid that kept regrowing flowers for 6 months straight. Literally if any bloom died, new one approached so it took me some time before I could cut it
Soak weekly, mist every few days, and place the pot on top of a humidity tray filled with water (or a tray of pebbles/marbles with water) and they'll be happy! 😁
Thank you for the tips. My mom has lpads of orchids but havent been able to take care of them since she got sick. With your tips i can at least cut the flower stems bc it has become too long and it even touched the groud when we elevated it
I love all my orchid babies!!! So many people throw out their orchids when the flowers drop off and it makes me soooo sad! I always say as long as the leaves are firm and beautiful the plant is still alive it’s just not in bloom. I also repot my orchids in a special potting mix as well!
I read in an orchid book that if you get an orchid from the supermarket or wherever they won't bloom again, because those commercially available ones are treated with a fungicide that will halt the production, but the plant will keep growing. Don't know what ended up happening to mine, my ex kept it long ago. But I got one for my current boyfriend's sister, and hers keeps blooming over and over.
Huh all of my moms orchids are from the supermarket but some of then have been going strong for over 10 years! But it's also possible that we don't live in the same countries
I only buy them on clearance from supermarkets and bring them home to save them. I have 15 good strong ones and have only lost 2 over the years. Some bloom way more than others but I have had success so far thankfully 😁
Media: Get LECA/sphagnum moss/orchid bark. Sphagnum moss holds a lot of water and is good for drier enviornments, but it doesn't provide much air and can suffocate the plant if it's compressed. Orchid bark holds a lot less water but provides a lot of air and can be better for more humid enviornments. (I haven't tried LECA yet, sorry). You can mix these with each other to get the benefits of all of them. Repotting: If you use organic materials, the medium needs to be replaced every 2-3 years or when it starts breaking down/getting moldy. Choose the next size pot if you are repotting, or you can use the same pot if you just need to replace what the orchid is planted in (wash it first). Gently squeeze the pot the orchid is in to help release the roots and media from the pot. Grab the base of the orchid and gently pull it out of the pot. Separate as much of the media from the roots as possible; a few leftover pieces won't hurt anything. Run the roots under water so that they turn green instead of silvery. White/yellow roots are fine, they just didn't get sunlight while growing and therefore don't contain chloroplasts. Brown roots could be rotted. Gently squeeze these roots- anything papery, leathery, mushy, or stringy is rotted and needs to be cut off. Other roots are fine and should be left on. Start placing your medium of choice into the pot. When the base is high enough, you can put the orchid into the pot and fill the space around it with more medium. Your plant should be stable- if it is, that's a successful repot. Blooms: Most grocery store phals bloom in the winter, usually only once a year. A slight decrease in the light and temperature will help signify that it's blooming season and not time for vegetative growth (phals don't go dormant!) If a plant doesn't bloom every year, that's fine! It could be going through shock from repotting, adjusting to your enviornment, not have the nurtients it needs to bloom, or just not have enough energy stored up in the plant. Hope this helps!
They usually only bloom during the warmer months and usually don’t bloom at all during winter/colder months. I’ve had 2 over the years that just bloom whenever they want but I always look forward to blooming season lol
I have about 12 orchids in my house, most of them have had bloomed for such a long time! They have bloomed for more then 3 months! I’m actually lucky because me, my sister and my mom all work together in a plant nursery so we get to learn a lot about plants, and orchids are such a common purchase but people mostly tell me how their orchids die so quickly and I didn’t know what to tell them to help them treat the orchids good, now I at least know the basics! Thanks Krystal!
Thank you for explaining this! I recently got an orchid for my grandma while she was in the hospital and well, now I have it and I wanted to keep it in memory for her. Thank you cause I've been wanting to make sure I knew proper care
Lol when the clips come with it we take care of the plant until it can’t last and then use the clips for our hair is that evil because I’m wearing the clips of a dead plant in my hair? I don’t think it is
I miss having an actual garden. I just recently fell in love with having and taking care of plants but we now live in an apartment where sunlight only shine in our small kitchen, not really ideal for plants. We used to have a garden with lots of orchid in our old home. I dreaded doing plant-related chores back then since I was only a kid and we had a lot of various plants
Orchids are truly magical flowers. I am not good with plants, in fact the only reason I have plants in my room is because someone has gifted me them at some point. Most plants die eventually because I have an ugly habit of not taking care of them, but my orchids, that I barely water and take care of bloom all year long like it’s nobody’s business. I think the main thing you need to remember about orchids is that if you place them in a proper spot and do the minimal care they need, they bloom and grow beautifully. They’re not needy plants, which is why they are some of my favourite plants/flowers.
THANK YOU!!!! I was freaking out I just bought my first (ever) orchid. She’s looking super dry and a little cramped, I was thinking about repotting her lol. I won’t now! I’ll just water her. Thanks for the guidance I’ll be watching your videos from now on !! 💜
My dad gets my mom orchids for valentine and when the flower “dies” he just puts them on our old blooming thorn tree we have on in my front yard and they doing fine wrapping their roots on the thorn tree and every spring they bloom adding purple and white Accidents along with the pink Thorntree
I have this orchid I've had for years, I keep it on my desk so it's not right by the window, water it rarely and usually too much, never cut or repot it. I always joke about it being magical because I do not know how it's still alive.
Tbf i just let mine do its thing, water it every once in a while and the flowers last like a month or more, the one i have in my window gets the most flowers too😅
I always internally cry when I see orchids in stores because I know the second those flowers are gone it’s going in the trash because it’s “dead” or “ugly” or “unhealthy” ;-;
I ONLY buy orchids on clearance from grocery stores. I take them home and doctor them up and now I have about 15 in all different sizes. I have only lost 2 so far in the last 4 years doing this and it was because they had root rot so bad I couldn’t physically save them 🥺 it was so unfortunate! But that’s what I live for lol
Bruh this video hits home. No joke we have over 92 orchids in our house. My dad is obsessed and we recently did a recount. We water them on different intervals and I often help out
my mom used to have problems caring for her orchids. then, two of them fell off the balcony of the third floor. she picked them up and they both lasted for a few more years. she also hasn't had issues with more orchids so far. it's a true story but obviously coincidental. but what we've learned over the years is that orchids need A LOT of sunlight. really, put them in the sunniest spot in your house. at least for us, that works the best. or maybe just throw them off a balcony and you'll be good lol
In recent years I have found where blatantly wrong information is being provided by the companies selling plants on the "care tag's." They are also claiming plants as an annual rather than perennial.
They are more likely to re bloom if placed in a “new” location. So after all the blossoms are done. And at least one new leaf has developed. Move it to a new location, ie: a window facing a different direction that the first. It should bloom again eventually. But don’t expect quick results. It may not like it’s new location, and require another move before it’s happy. Lol
I had an orchid last almost 3 months. Indirect light (my kitchen counter, out of direct rays but in a room with a large window), and I did follow the ice cube suggestion. Spray orchid food directly on the roots only once a month.
@@A_Ducky LOL! Same.. thnk god for google telling me it was normal 😅 Went ahead and planted a veg garden a couple mths ago.. and turns out, I CAN grow stuff! 😁 Apparently the sun and water claim they helped me 🙄🙃
@@MsSimplysandy Sun and water never heard of miracle grow potting mix, pfft 😉 Seriously, I'm very glad you are growing things! Nothing like biting into a tomato you grew in your own garden, right? It even smells better than store bought! I don't have space for a garden anymore but hoping to save my dying mom's flowers.. so i can have them after she passes, as a memory (still scared I'll kill them so enlisting help of neighbors & videos like this, heh)
@@A_Ducky Haha, yes! I hear the pros saying miracle grow is a no-no, but I think every beginner is destined to try it ☺️😎 Definitely looking forward to eating the 'fruits (or veggies) of my labour'! Your idea to revive your mom's flowers sounds lovely!! Good Luck and enjoy! 🌱👌🙂
We were very lucky to have our orchids be in bloom for over a year here in cold Pennsylvania lol. They've gone back to being more regularly on and off with blooms but that might be that we have more indoor plants to focus on now so they don't get as much attention to the little stuff anymore
I’ve been repotting for the last 2 days >:3 waiting on my orchid pots to get here! Any minute now lol another thing that I just learned is that store bought orchids are manipulated by temperature and apparently it takes up to one and a half years for them to bloom again. I suppose you could possibly do it quicker if you know how to manipulate it properly which I’ve tried and failed lol I’m pretty sure I did it wrong though so hopefully I have luck soon because I’ve had mine for a year and a half!
My orchid was over watered by coworkers while I was out of work for two weeks. It's literally rotting 😭 two leaves just fell off. I pulled it out of the pot and took the moss off. I left it out to kind dry up for a day. I hope it doesn't die ! But idk what I'm doing either. This is my second orchid.
@@interwaveswatcher1576 is it still alive? Has the decline stopped and it now appears to be doung 'nothing? If so, care for as per usual with sporadic watering and fertillize 👍🏼
That's how I felt when my mom gotten an orchid for her birthday from my grandpa... I took over the plant care and learn the hard way.. they are not cheap either to care of really. : ,) Better pots, mix and they need a special fertilizer... which is a liquid.
I got an orchid as a gift when my son was born. It has not stopped blooming since then. Literally over 9 months with flowers still on it. As they die another is already blooming. It’s crazy. I will water it like once a week if I remember. It is just thriving in the window sill it’s on. Right now it has two stems bloomed with over 13 flowers. It’s wild!!
I tried explaining to a couple that watering an orchid with ice cube will kill the roots, it’s a tropical plant, it doesn’t do well with anything cold. “But that’s what the lil paper says to do!” It was a lost cause, they were back buying more two weeks later :’-)
