Don’t Give Up On Your Orchid!

This post is for all of you out there that have possibly thought of simply throwing your not so great looking orchid in the garbage, or at least in the organic recyclables bin. Take a deep breath, realize that just like us, orchids go through phases and may not always be looking their best. With just a little patience, your orchid, given the right care, can certainly grow new leaves and flower again! When the blooms have faded and the plant is not in all its glory, do put in an interesting container, and then follow some of my simple advice, ready?

First of all, I am no orchid expert, and have only owned this one orchid during my entire houseplant and container gardening ventures. I will say though, that I was able to get this orchid to rebloom, and that a few months ago he was looking so poor I even thought of, gasp, getting rid of him. Fortunately I was too busy to really go through with this act, iinstead I went away for a month and entrusted the houseplant watering to a friend. Surprise suprise, the orchid looked so much happier upon my return, and even grew a new leaf! (I'm guessing I had been negligent with the watering and my friend was diligent!)

In the mean time, while in Toronto I spotted some orchid fertilizer which I had been meaning to purchase on our trip (none available in the nurseries around here) and so not only is my orchid showing signs of life, he is now also getting fertilized, once every two weeks. That and of course watering once or twice a week, and being placed in bright light with ho direct sun.

I had already trimmed the flower stalks to half their height, but still need to seal them with wax as I did the last time I was hoping for new blooms. That is it, now we just need to be a little bit patient, and hopefully we will be rewarded!