Hi guys! I bought my orchid two weeks ago. I repotted it because the pot was too small and the roots were coming out of it, however i didn’t cut the flower. There is one flower that is done flowering and there were two that fell off and didn’t flower at all. What can I do to keep my orchid alive? And how can I propagate it? Thanks! Pics of before and now
Your plant will stay alive but the flowers will fall off and it appears as if that spike is dying back. When it fully turns brown and crispy you can cut it off. Keep taking care of it and eventually you’ll get a new spike. Someone else may be able to speak more to propagation than me, but my general understanding is waiting for it to grow a baby on its own and wait for the air roots to develop before cutting it off.
2 gillningar Okay thank you! Hopefully I will have a new one next year. It’s my first time having plants and I am excited but sad at the same time bc of the flowers. Thank you for the info :)
1 gillaOk, generally, it’s best to wait for your orchid to finish with its flowering before you repot as it can shock the orchid into dropping its blooms. No big deal, with proper care, you can grow another flower spike next year. It does look, however, like you used regular potting medium instead of a chunky orchid bark mix- and that would be a problem. Orchid roots need much more air around their roots than most houseplants- without it, they sort of smother and you’ll likely face root rot.
2 gillningarYou can’t force an orchid into propagating naturally. Keikis are possible, but only likely in some hybrids and in some scenarios. I have more than 20 orchids and have never had one. As Pi mentions below, it is certainly possible, just not easy in home conditions.
2 gillningar Oh that was probably it. I used the regular mixed soil. Should I repot it again with the appropriate soil? Or do you think it’s best for me to wait?
0 gillningarYour flower spike is dying off anyway, so no reason to wait. I highly recommend repotme dot com’s mixes, but any decent quality orchid mix will do. While you’re at it- You should just pick up a clear plastic orchid pot with tons of ventilation holes or slits around the sides. It’s easier to keep an eye on roots, and it provides much better drainage and aeration for phalaenopsis orchids. You can get one 1/2- 1 inch smaller than your decorative pot and just insert it. Then you can check the roots whenever you want. While you are repotting, you should trim off any roots that are mushy or papery. Anything that’s not plump and firm is dead and will just decay in the new medium.
0 gillningar
Repotting blooming phalanopsis usually results in it aborting the flowers. But that doesn’t mean the plant itself is dying. Follow Swamp Witch’s advice. The media looks very dense so you may have issues with getting air to the roots. If they don’t dry out, the plant will loose roots. I use bark and ventilated pots so my phals dry out relatively quickly. There are a couple of ways to propagate your phal. You can apply keiki paste to an unspent node on the inflorescence (flower spike). It contains hormones that can induce the plant to produce a keiki (a clone of the mother plant - similar to what a spider plant or mother of thousands does just on a slower and smaller scale). Occasionally orchids will do this without the paste, but the paste increases your chances. You can propagate through seed, but it is a fairly involved process involving sterile conditions, and growing in a medium like agar in flasks. The other way is cloning the plant but it is even more sciencey than growing from seed. I know there are videos on YouTube that go over keiki paste use and propagate from seed of you are really interested in trying.
2 gillningar Yes I used regular potting mix instead of orchid’s. Should I just repot it again?
0 gillningar Yes you should repot as soon as possible. Regular potting soil will smother the roots quickly.
1 gilla