Fussy Orchids

Orchids are a like the ‘spoilt brat’ of the plant world.  They don’t like to be moved, they don’t like to be too cold or too hot and they need to be kept moist. I was given one as a gift just under two years ago when my little one was born.  As you can imagine, it did not get the attention it desired!  Once the flowers fell off, the following year no further buds appeared.  

At the beginning of this year I decided to get my act together and start taking better care of my gift.  I found an orchid care kit from Amazon (yes, I shop there a lot) called Orchid Myst.  In it came a new clear pot, repotting mix and a bottle of orchid Myst spray which provides mineral and organic nutrients.  

When I went to repot the orchid, my poor plant’s roots were a right mess and almost 90% needed chopping off!  To be honest, I thought there was little chance of the plant recovering, although the leaves seemed green and healthy.  

Anyhow, several months on this is what my orchid looks like:

You can see the air roots pointing down, they are green, could be a bit more plump, but otherwise healthy.  The role of the air roots are to suck up moisture from the air.  In cold countries like the UK they thrive in bathrooms where the environment gets warm and steamy!  My plant lives on my bathroom window so it can get both moisture and sunlight.
Towards the right you can see
a node pointing upwards- it made my day seeing this start up as it is the long-awaited Spike
where the flower buds will grow out from! The brown sticks pointing up are the old Spikes
that I had trimmed.  For a long while when no new shoot grew I thought that I had been too rough. But it turns out that it had been a case of negligence in feeding last year. 

Orchids, are fussy and high-maintenance.  However, I know that when I finally get flowers blooming, the feeling of satisfaction will be second-to-none!