orchid pruning

HI - I have an orchid in a pot which has stopped flowering now. The "care instructions" say cut back to just above the eye. Where is the eye????

The plant is small, three fleshy leaves at the base, one 12 inch stem with no buds, then it forks into two zigzagging branches, each with flowers (or now just the nodules where the flowers were) about every inch.

IS the "eye" one of these nodules or is it the point where the stem branches? If i cut it back to the point where the stem splits, there will be nothing but a bare stem left???? where will next years growth / flowers come from?

thanks!!!

 

see if this helps

http://www.sensiblesoftware.com/articles/a/Pruning-Your-Orchid-Plants.html

 

thanks - do you think it means cut back the flowering branches to where they branch from the single straight stem, or cut back the stem also to where it emerges from the root ball / leaves?

 

deaks, what is it? Is it a phalaenopsis?
If so you cut the flowering stem back to the next joint (Down the stem) that has not grown out yet. Similar to how you perhaps dead head a rose, but obviously there are no leaves on the stem. Hope that makes sense.

 

Aaaah, Pete - like Deaks I am growing orchids for the first time this year indoors. A jewel orchid - that is straining a bit for the light, but is producing new stems - and two on the kitchen window sill that are cym...... I think. I am puzzled by the way these last are behaving. Both were supplied planted in spagnum moss in plastic pots, - which I placed on clay pebbles that I keep moist and feed with orchid feed. I have cut both flowering stems off after flowering (prolly incorrect) - one is producing roots through the base and surface and no new leaves, the other is producing no roots, but new leaves and looking green and healthy. Now which one am I getting right????? Would it help to provide pictures

[ 25. August 2005, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: Fran ]

 

Hi fran, I think some pics would help. I'm not really clued up on all orchids, just some of the more common types. A jewel orchid? have you got it latin name? not sure what that is off the top of my head.
Cym? Cymbidiums in sphagnum moss, that dont sound right. Cutting off the flower stems after flowering is OK though