Orchids? Anybody?

[ashinae]

Well hi!

First, thank you to those who posted birthday wishes. :) *hugs*

Second, I received a beautiful, white, potted orchid from deerdancer today. I also got a $50 gift card from my parents for Chapters; I fully intended to go and buy an orchid book so I'd know how to care for the poor plant. My parents are like, no, no, don't waste your card! Just look it up on the internet!

And I tried googling "orchid care" and came up with so much, and I can't make sense of it, and HELP. Does ANYBODY here keep orchids? What's a good, reliable site? I NEED HELP OMG.

Comments

[ashinae.livejournal.com]

Um. White ones? There's four blooms. And a sprout.

You can click on the picture for a big one:


And thank you for the birthday wishes. :)

[kohaku1977.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, that's the kind I have!

They like it light, but no direct sunlight. I water them about once a week, always into the pot and making sure that the water does not stand in it. The lovely blossoms will fall off after a while. Just leave it the way it is until the stem is dried out, then cut it, but leave a small bit. I always cut it down to 2 cm. It will get a new stem once it is willing to bloom again. :) Mine blooms once a year. There is special orchid fertilizer, but I only bother with it about twice a year.
If it gets too many aerial roots you need to water it more. :)

That's it, I think!

Your orchid is very lovely!

[ashinae.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm.

OK, so, first: my bedroom faces east, but, sadly, I am generally a fairly late riser. However, I have absolutely no problem with always opening my curtains and blinds. If I leave them slightly out of way of the window, will that be enough light? Once it starts getting later on in the day, I usually also have a halogen lamp that I leave on.

About how much water should she get? (Yes, my orchid is a girl. Hush.) And what do you mean by "making sure that the water does not stand in it"?

[kohaku1977.livejournal.com]

My windows are facing north and my orchids are fine. I really believe she will do great. :)

Uh, sometimes I'm not good at explaining things in English for the first time. My orchids come in a plastic pot which goes into a ceramic one. Does that make sense? When I water them, I make sure there is no water in the ceramic one, so their roots won't rot.

I hope this helps!