Question
My fiancee bought an orchid for me with four spikes from a Kroger store. I have had it about 3 or 4 months. When he brought it home all the spikes had at least one flower on it. After several weeks the leaves have turned yellow and are very wrinkly. I have left it in the original container and take it out every morning to let it get some sun on my front porch. It probably only gets a couple hours then its in the shade until I bring it in at night. It did grow a new short spike off one of the original ones about half way up and now I only have four flowers on it. The flowers have been doing good were falling off after 3 to 4 weeks but, the last set of flowers on this spike only lasted about 1 to 2 weeks. Please help. I don't want to kill another innocent orchid.

Answer
Amanda, the orchids I'm familiar with, sold at Krogers, are minidendrobiums.  Like most dendrobiums, they have a rest period and will tolerate little or no watering during their rest period.  The rest period usually starts after the cessation of flowering. During rest the plant's leaves may turn yellow and/or drop from the plant just as deciduous trees do in the fall when they enter their rest period. You will need to keep the watering to a bare minimum-- perhaps going to occassional misting just to prevent the canes from shrinking too much.  The plant will tell you when the rest period is over by starting new growth.  When new growth starts, you may water and feed once per week.  Use 1/4 tsp of plant food per gallon of water when you start feeding.  Orchids have a flowering period just as they have a rest period, and then a growth period.  Losing flowers is just a normal end of the flowering period.  If you honor each of these periods, this plant may bloom for you again next year.  It will want temperatures between 50 - 80 degrees. Where you are growing it now is fine, but you will need to think about where you will grow it when colder weather appears (perhaps an east window sill).