Question
i have a small orchid for about 5 weeks and  the blossems seem to be withering  petals folding inward.   when i received there were 3-4 unopened buds  dried up and fell off   thank you

Answer
Joan, the average lifespan for an orchid flower is about a month (some types last only a day and other types for a couple of months), so your flowers lasted about as long as would be expected. Normally, the additional buds would open and provide a much longer flowering period for the plant. Bud drop can be caused by a number of things. A dry atmosphere or temperatures that are too cold or hot can lead to bud drop. You mentioned that the plant was small which leads to another possibility.  Flowering takes a lot of the plant's energy.  If a plant cannot support prolonged flowering, one protection to that is that it drops some or all additional buds.  At this point, I recommend that you purchase fresh orchid potting mix and repot you plant.  When you unpot your plant, preparatory to repotting, you should examine the root sytem.  Any collapsed roots are dead and need to be removed before repotting. Any collapsed roots could be yet another cause for bud drop. Repotting in fresh orchid potting mix will help the plant with its new growth and is recommended after each flowering.