Every time I pass an orchid — at Lowe’s, at a restaurant, anywhere — I always stop to admire it. They are such beautiful plants, especially when they’re flowering! However, I’d never bought one for myself, because I have always heard that they are hard to care for, and even harder to nuture well enough that it blooms again after the initial time. But there’s a first time for everything, and for my birthday back in March, Jose gave me a gorgeous orchid. And I love it.
The problem is that the blooms have finally all fallen off, and I’m anxiously trying to figure out what I need to do to care for it in hopes that it will bloom again. (Side note: at first I was worried that I had done something wrong to cause all the blooms to drop. But then we were at Lowe’s over the weekend, and I noticed that every single one of their orchids was bloom-less. So it must just be that time of year?)
Anyway, I’ve searched all over the web, but there is so much information, and much of it conflicts because there seem to be a zillion different types of orchids. The tag on mine said nothing but “dendrobium.” Does anyone out there have experience with orchids? Do I need to cut the stalk now that the flowers have fallen off, or should I leave it? Do I need to do something special with fertilizer? Or just keep watering it weekly like I have been?
If I can keep this one going, I’m totally filling my apartment with orchids.
We had an orchid years ago, it really liked it in the bathroom. The steam from our showers really kept it happy. That’s really the whole extent of my orchid knowledge… good luck! Beautiful plants!