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I bought a pot of Phalaenopsis Orchid while its flower was almost dead a few months ago. Several weeks later I bought another pot with no flowers on it. I've been keeping both pots in the sitting room at a North-facing window with not a lot of sun, and appropriate humidity. The manual says to water once a week, I followed it when I first bought it, assing the orchid food drops into water, but as I live in a very humid area, I increased watering intervals to twice a month or so.

Question about pot #1:

The first pot's only flower fell off a couple of weeks ago, and afterwards started blooming/blossoming. It looks very fresh and happy and the flowers are coming, and there's a new step growing as well.

  • It's not growing vertically, so shall I hook it up to the support stand thing to keep it straight or is there a chance I may damage it?

The happy pot

The new-born stem

Several new roots coming out and all i

Questions about pot #2:

The leaves of the second pot are getting more and more withered and one of them is turning yellow. The roots don't seem to be in a good condition, either. and the whole plant can come off easily from the pot, as if it's not well settled in it.

  • What should I do to maintain the roots and the flower's health?

I searched before posting, and I read the answer to this question: My orchid has one yellowing leaf. What's gone wrong? but I think mine is slightly different, as I have one other pot at the same condition doing pretty well.

The withered plant

Weak leaves and roots

enter image description here

P.S. Both pots are kept in the bigger ceramic/porcelain pots.

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  • There are more then a few questions here. Feel free to narrow down your questions to a specific question.
    – Lone Wolf
    Nov 7, 2014 at 18:23
  • @LoneWolf I don't think posting several questions about these two pots is a better idea. However I changed all the specific questions to one general question if that improves anything. Will appreciate any help. (:
    – Neeku
    Nov 9, 2014 at 10:03

1 Answer 1

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I've done further more investigations about the problem as I got no answer here; going to a gardening store and trying to get some help, but even those people weren't super helpful. The suggestions I received were to let the roots receive sun through the transparent pot, and some other advice like trimming the green live stems that did not make sense to me.

Answer for pot #1: I inserted the support stick carefully and hooked up the stem to it very gently. It's gradually growing vertically and I think I can make it even more vertical little by little over time.

Answer for pot #2:

Some of the roots looked dried and rotten, as I think I had over-watered them at some point. I took out the plant and trimmed the roots carefully, and removed all of dry or rotten ones. I also cut the one leaf that was going yellowish.

I've moved my pots away from the window which was obviously colder than other parts of the room, and have placed them close to the radiator. Both pots seem to be doing better over there.

The second pot doesn't seem to have improved noticeably, but it hasn't gone worse either. I'll update my post later with the results after letting the plant settle down for a while.


Update: As of now, the pots have both been doing great. The first one has got lots of blossoms and flowers over months, and keeping well, growing more and more media: happy Pot#1

My efforts with the second pot which was almost dead, was pretty helpful and it started growing back. The roots are much better, and so are the leaves, and it's full of blossoms and flowers. happy Pot#2

I've also learnt to water them with a spray, aiming the roots mainly, as otherwise, the water just goes straight down and doesn't necessarily reach the roots as fine as it should or too much water gets there. Some care and love is the key to have healthy plants! (:

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    I think you did a good job. I typically water mine once a week. I think it's better to water a little more frequently with a soil that drains really well. Pot#1 looked good. Lots of healthy roots and a new spike. Pot# 2 looked like it needed to be repotted and have the roots trimmed. These orchids do lose a leaf occasionally and cutting it off is fine. It will eventually fall off. When you repot, use some orchid bark and a little sphagnum moss mixed together and soaked over night. If roots were in the air before, they need to be now and vice versa. They like bright indirect sunlight.
    – Dalton
    Apr 1, 2015 at 20:44

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