Question
I am new to orchids but asked the man at the nursery detailed questions about its care as well as looked it up online. So I have been watering it every monday by holding it under running luke warm water because I was told this would wash the fertilizer off its very sensitive roots. Then on Thursdays I make up a tub of fertilizer enriched water and let my phals sit it in for a couple minutes. They are not in direct sunlight but are in a very bright indirect sunlit place. I didn't know I was supposed to cut the stem after the blooms fell off though until reading other peoples answers here. So did I do something wrong to my plant? Should I change its care? Or just cut the top off? How far down? Is there any special way of doing this? I have another phal in bloom and I want to do the right thing for it when the time comes.

Answer
Hello Chelsea,

Cutting off the stem after the flowers have all fallen off can be done fairly easily.  Go down to the bottom of the stem, go back up an inch or two and cut it off, just be careful to not cut any of the leaves.  

Of course, this is assuming that the tip of the stem has begun to die and turn brown.  If the tip stays green, that would be an indication that it is still alive so wait until you can see it turning brown.  There is nothing wrong with cutting the stem off soon after the flowers have all dropped, that is what most people do with their phalaenopsis orchids.  

If your phalaenopsis has 4 or more healthy mature leaves, you can try for a second blooming on the same stem.  The way to do this is to go down from where the lowest flower had been, find a node (looks like a bump or knuckle) and go back up about an inch and cut the top part off.  If all goes well, in a month or two you will see a new stem slowly grow outward and in about 3 another months it will be in bloom.  

I'm not sure washing the roots under running water gets rid of the fertilizer since the roots have probably already taken it up along with water.  What washing the roots, as you were told to do, does is wash out any salts within the pot.  Salts can come from your water along with mineral salts from the fertilizer and if allowed to accumulate within the pot, can damage the roots.  

Hope this helped.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.