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So my orchid just lost it's last bloom, its stems look good and green… | Anything about plants | Planta community

Missy

So my orchid just lost it's last bloom, its stems look good and green still but I really don't know what to do with it now! Do I cut the stems down? Please advise a plant novice. 🤷🏼‍♀️

3 likes 7 comments

7 comments

  1. Holly

    I see so much conflicting advice on this… some sources say you can cut back the flower spike and encourage another bout of flowering, others say you should cut back to leave just a couple of nodes, still others say to cut it back to the base (I think?), and another popular opinion is just to leave it. I don’t personally have enough experience to say which is best!

    1 like
    • Missy

      Thanks for replying!

      1 like
    • Plant Father

      it seems to me to be mostly personal preference, but that’s based on cursory online research, i’m not an orchid expert.

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  2. Ezzeldin Yaqoub

    In my own experience cut it all the way to the base so the plant can conserve energy and grow flowers again that are as big as before or bigger and don’t force it to flower again, that will make the flowers become smaller and can kill the plant if you force it to bloom multiple times in a row.

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    • Missy

      Thanks so much

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  3. Wanda’s Weeds

    I fed mine black coffee when we still owned our Market and I was Post Master. They would last and bloom for a couple years, which made me happy!

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  4. Plant Father

    if the stem is green and healthy i would leave it. i don’t cut my plants unless absolutely necessary as leaving an open wound is a big risk for infection and disease especially if your tools aren’t entirely sterile. your orchid will re bloom eventually when it’s ready and leaving the old flower spike will do no harm, you may get more blooms from the same spike or even keikis.

    1 like