A phalaenopsis given as a gift flowers for eight to twelve weeks. Then the last flower drops, the spike goes yellow, the plant sits there doing nothing for a month, and somebody bins it.
It is not dead. It is between flowerings, and getting a second one is easier than keeping the first one alive.
First, stop drowning it
Root rot kills more gift orchids than anything else, and it is caused by kindness. A phalaenopsis in the wild grows on the side of a tree with its roots in the air. Roots have to dry out completely between waterings or they turn to mush.
Three ice cubes a week works and is the reason it gets recommended: it is slow, small and hard to overdo. A proper soak every ten days is better — take the pot to the sink, run tepid water through the bark for a minute, let it drain completely, and put it back.
Never leave water sitting in the saucer. Healthy roots are silver-green and firm. Brown and soft means you have watered too much.
Cutting the spike
Once the last flower has dropped, look at the spike. If it is still green, count the small triangular bumps up the stem — those are nodes. Cut cleanly about a centimetre above the second or third node from the bottom, with scissors you have wiped with alcohol.
The plant will often push a new branch out of that node within six to ten weeks.
If the spike has gone brown or yellow all the way down, cut it off at the base instead. The plant will build a whole new spike, which takes longer but produces more flowers.
The bit that actually triggers it
Temperature. A phalaenopsis spikes when it gets a run of cool nights — around fifteen to eighteen degrees, with a difference of at least six or seven degrees between night and day.
In a Paris flat with the heating on, that never happens, which is why so many orchids stay in leaf indefinitely. Put the plant near a window from about mid-September, or on a balcony while nights are above twelve, and leave it there for three or four weeks.
That is the whole trick. Cool nights, then back to a normal room once you see a spike starting, because a developing spike does not want to be cold.
Feeding and the wait
Weak orchid feed every third watering while it is growing, nothing while it is dormant. Do not repot unless the bark has broken down into compost — usually every two years.
From cutting the spike to the first open flower is about three months, sometimes four. It is a slow business and there is nothing to do in the meantime.
Bring it to the studio if you want a second opinion. We look at four or five a week and can usually say from the roots whether it is worth the wait.
