and today we're talking about growing Phalaenopsis Orchids at home.

Phalaenopsis Orchids are probably the most popular orchid found commonly for sale

at home without having to go to a specialty grower. Anywhere from big-box stores

to grocery stores and everything in between seems to be selling Phalaenopsis

these days. And the big questions I get are what do I do with them once they get home?

How do they do I keep them alive?

Also, what do I look for when I'm buying them? So, a couple of examples just to point out

things to look for when you're buying, look for plants that still have some flowers in bud that aren't totally open yet

Because that's going to mean more value for your purchase. You're gonna get to watch those open up the

and they're going to last for months and months. Another thing to keep in mind when you're shopping for

orchids, look at the leaves and the roots don't be shy about inspecting the

plant when you buy it. This plant in particular has some new green growth on the roots.

They look like bright green tips. You should look for that rather than

anything dried and shriveled up. Also the leaves should be nice and firm and glossy

And not drooping and wrinkled. Even though it could be tempting you might see some

things on the clearance rack, this is what not to purchase.

Anything that's looking this sad is not likely to recover.

The thing to remember is even though you may have the perfect spot on your dining room table

to display the beautiful flowers you don't want to necessarily keep it there

all the time, unless that space is really conducive to good growth. So first rule of

thumb is find a space with some good light. And the good thing about Phalaenopsis is they

can grow in pretty low light compared to other orchids. That's one of the reasons

why they're so popular. So think bright, indirect light. So generally an

east or western exposure or southern exposure with a sheer curtain.

You don't want them to be baking in direct sunlight. They're native to tropical

regions to rain forest so they really need that bright light but not

necessarily baking on the surface of the sun. In temperature wise, one of the other

reasons they're so popular is that they are extremely well adapted to our

typical indoor environment so the 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit home is perfect

for a phalaenopsis. Humidity will go a long way for keeping your orchids

looking really healthy growing and blooming. Mine in particular like it

in the bathroom I have a Western window and I just put them on the windowsill.

And they do really well. They love steamy showers. In watering and fertilizing

they do go hand in hand and you'll find a lot of places will have very detailed

fertilizing schedules for orchids, but to keep it simple I like to follow the weakly

weekly schedule which is basically you're using about a quarter strength

fertilizer according to the label directions every time you water. It may

not be weekly during the winter, my orchids get watered maybe twice a month

over the summer I do put them outside and that's very helpful for breaking

any kind of pest cycle that you might have some pests built up indoors but they also

love of summer vacation just like we do. Another question I get all the time is

how do you know when to repot an orchid. And basically the potting media that they're in is a bark media

When what you're looking at looks more like soil than like bark, it's time to repot

A common misconception or question people have is they see a few roots growing over the

side of the pot and think 'oh my gosh I have to repot it'

Not necessarily. Sometimes the roots grow over the side because the potting mix is

too wet. If you're seeing an excess of roots coming over the side it'd be a good idea to

take it out and check out what's inside the pot. You may find it's all breaking

down and it's staying way too wet and that's why so many roots are growing over the

side because what's in the pot is rotting.

A few of the biggest ones that we deal with are scale and mealie bug. They are related

A scale looks like little tiny droplets ranging in color from beige-ish white to black and they're easy to miss.

They're hard to spot especially on a dark stem so they will just

look like a little raised bump and they are hard with a shell which makes them a little bit

difficult to treat and both scale and mealy bugs like to hide out in the

intricacies of the flowers which also makes them hard to spot. Mealy bugs are easier

to spot they look like little tiny cotton pieces, little fluff, in either case the

best way to control them hopefully you have a few of them, q-tips or cotton swabs dipped in

rubbing alcohol will take care of them. If it's an ongoing problem,

spraying with horticultural soap, insecticidal soap, is another good way to take care of them.

This purple one here, lavender or purple, I bought for about $3 on the clearance table

and it was just a plant and I nursed it for a year and a half before it bloomed again

and this is what I got. It did take some time for it to revive itself, it looked pretty

pathetic when I bought it. Not quite as bad as what I showed you earlier

but it was not in the best of shape. So what did I do that made it come back into

bloom so beautifully? I fertilized regularly I made sure I had good light

and I watered consistently and I didn't overwater. I also have found that the difference

between the daytime temperature and the night temperature can trigger blooming so this

is another reason to put it outside. A lot of times our interior temperatures are

consistent 70 degrees day and night but having as little as a 5 to 10 degree shift

between day and night temperature can trigger these plants to bloom.

They generally bloom once a year and Phalaenopsis is the only orchid that does this

There are small, what we call nodes on the flowers but this whole assembly here is the flower spike

and behind where once all these followers are done blooming there's a

little triangular piece of tissue on the spike that we call a node

So after this is all done if I were to clip it here another spike should emerge

from this tiny area. So I encourage you all to try out a Phalaenopsis orchid

If you haven't already, as you can see here there's a lot of variety in terms of

color, shape, size. It's very easy to get sucked in and find that you can't just

keep just one. The possibilities are endless I like these little miniature ones, you can

collect a lot more that way. Some of them will get up to pretty large sizes and

6-inch pots or more but at any rate, just find something you like

and enjoy growing it.