QuestionQUESTION: I purchased 3 of these (discounted) from my local grocery store. There are buds coming out but no flowers. Two were in clay pots with one in a flimsy plastic pot stuck inside the clay pot. One came in a large hard plastic pot. Should I transplant any of these? The leaves all look good on all 3 plants.
ANSWER: Hello Medrene,
You will need to be patient for the buds to open but hopefully it won't be much longer before they begin to open.
As long as they stay looking healthy, keep them in their pots for now. Unless they start looking distressed, wait until the flowers have all faded and died before transplanting.
The type of pot can make a difference in how often you may need to water them. Orchids in plain unglazed clay pots will need watering more often than those in glazed clay pots and plastic pots.
Hope this answered your questions.
Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.
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QUESTION: I have placed my 3 new plants altogether in a plastic planter box on a tray next to a west facing (slightly open) window so they get the the sunlight in the morning. Is this sufficient light? Is there something I should do about humidity other than taking the whole planter into the bathroom to soak up the humidity afterwards.
Thank you.
AnswerHello Medrene,
Did you mean an east facing window? An east window should be fine for the phals as long as they are not exposed to direct sunlight past 10 AM.
How deep is the plastic planter box? If it is more than a couple inches deep with no holes in the bottom, you might try placing an inch or so of small pebbles, marbles or something similar in the bottom and keep some water in the planter box to help create a little extra humidity. The main thing would be to make sure the bottom of the pots do not sit in the water. What I do is allow the excess water to drain into the plastic tray when I water my phals, using an old turkey baster to siphon out water until it is below the pots.
Hope this helped.
Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.
