Orchid on membrane watering system

Hello Everyone,

I've attached a picture of a phalaenopsis orchid that my mum has been growing on my membrane diffusion watering system for about 6 months. When she first bought the orchid it was reduced in price and in a bit of a sorry state with quite a lot of leaf and flower damage. She cut it back more by instinct than knowledge and this is the resulting 2nd flowering. She has another two phalaenopsis on the go, both in good health but not flowering at the moment.



My mum is usually pretty handy with plants but she had never tried an orchid before.

Chris

 

It is beautiful, isn't it? My daughter has been growing Phalaenopsis for about 6 years now, her technique is to ignore them! They are kept in North facing rooms [kitchen or bathroom], and have grown large enough to be constantly in flower. I have found that mine produce only one flower spike per leaf rosette, which means up to 5 months between flowerings.
My daughter does like her house well heated. My orchids are well but not thriving as hers do, but I keep my house much cooler. What sort of heating has your Mum got?

 

I have a couple of these orchids which when I bought them flowered for months and months. However, they haven't flowered now for over 6 months. They tend to develop buds which grow a little bit then shrivel up before getting anywhere near big enough. Any tips on how I can get them going again?

 

Hi, I don't know a lot about orchids. I know from experience that they don't like direct sun. Also when I first had mine they produced a lot of what I thought were shoots which were actually roots -these are like fat grey worms and come from the base. These shrivel eventually. The flower spikes come from between the leaves, and are darker coloured. They take quite a while to develop. If you have repotted yours, they may take offence and not flower for up to a year.Don't water them too often, although they like their roots moist they don't like them wet. Keep in a tray of damp pebbles if in a dry room, to improve the humidty, and feed them sometimes! I think they like quite warm rooms. If you're already doing all these things, sit back and hope!
Perhaps there are some expert growers who have more suggestions.

 

My mum's house has gas central heating powering water-filled radiators. There is also a gas fire in the room where the orchid is kept. The plant sits just back from a large west facing window. During the 6 months she has successfully achieved new flowers. My system has an open water reservoir which probably helps with humidity around the plant. The plant was re-potted onto my system and seemed to benefit immediately.
Chris

 

Hi Chris, Thanks for comments. I used to have a watering device which drew water from a small open reservoir into a fibrous mat underneath the plants. I used it for watering plants when I was away, but eventually the mat became so clogged with hard water deposits that I couldn't clean it. I should have used just rainwater but had no water butts at the time. How does yours work?

 

Hi Liz,

See earlier Watering Houseplants with Science thread

I'm happy to try and answer any questions that you might have.

Best wishes
Chris