Question
I received an orchid as a gift 9 months ago.  The flowers are long gone and the stem they grew on has dried out.   A few months ago I noticed that my plant was sprouting another leaf so I thought I should try and save it. I called the flower store and they told me to cut all of the dead roots off and cut the dried stem as close to the plant base as possible.  The plant is in my office so I don't have access until the weekend to pick up bark and/or orchid potting stuff.  My question is can I secure it in an empty vase (They told me they sometimes do this at the store when cleaning orchid's roots)Is the bark or soil particularly necessary?  Everything I've read says the roots hate to be wet.  I don't really have a "green thumb" per se (I usually over water everything) and since this little guy has managed to survive these past months I thought I should give it some help.  Any advise would be great

Answer
Melissa, the advice that you got from the flower shop was good as far as it went.  I recommend that you not do anything with the plant (such as unpotting) until you have the orchid potting mix.  I recommend that you repot it with fresh orchid potting mix into a plastic pot with lots of air holes in the bottom,  If the orchid potting mix is not damp, I recommend that you soak a portion of it that you plan to use and save the rest for future repottings.  When you water the plant, set the plastic pot in a place where the excess water can easily drain away.  Orchid roots don't hate to be wet, but they need to dry out a bit between waterings.  Water only once per week and don't let the pot stand in water.  These plants prefer an east window if you have one.