Cut the flower stem all the way down to about half an inch once the flowers fall off. Don't feed them or water them too much after they've been repotted and place in low light for a couple of weeks. Then put them in a window with east or west exposure and water about once a week, feed about once every two weeks. A new flower stem will grow next winter or spring.

And now I'll back out of this forum (nearly) as quiet as possible, without asking my beginner's question or striking up a conversation about my 2 new roots...or are they spikes?! Screw this. Good luck to the OP. I miss Gardenweb!

Nothing to do with HOUZZ/GARDENWEB. More like newbie + phalaenopsis fatigue. How do you tell someone that the dreaded spag is fine provided that you might only need to water the plant once a month?

Anyway, I usually ask said newbie where they are in the world and then send them a link to an appropriate set of complete cultivation notes.

In my experience, using bark alone for Phals isn't the best option. On the other hand, using just sphagnum moss by itself isn't the best option either. Bark dries out too fast, while sphagnum moss can hold on to too much moisture. The solution to this conundrum, I find, is to use both. Phals love moisture, but their roots still need to breathe. For my orchids, I use 50% bark mix (fir bark, charcoal, lava rocks, and coarse perlite), along with 50% sphagnum moss. Not all sphagnum mosses are the same. The only two varieties that are suitable for growing orchids are either the Chilean or New Zealand sphagnum mosses.

Better Gro sells both of these for relatively cheap, and their brand is endorsed by the American Orchid Society. If you want the best for your orchids, then this is what you're looking for. It's the only stuff I use for mine and I love it. When you mix these two together, the 50/50 blend is foolproof. The bark mix prevents the moss from becoming compacted, while the sphagnum moss prevents the bark mix from drying out too fast. You get the best qualities from both, with none of the negative.

Here's how they look mixed together, just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about...

Both of these mixes can be bought from Home Depot. My store doesn't carry them, but you can order them online and have them shipped to the store free of charge. If you look for these on Amazon, those sellers want to price gouge you and charge almost double. Home Depot is the only source that sells them at a reasonable price.

Better Gro Dendrobium Mix &

Better Gro Premium Grade Orchid Moss (2-Pack)

I know that they call it a Dendrobium mix, but the only difference between it and the Phal mix is that it includes small lava stones. Which I find makes the whole mix even better.

Is this the Howard that used to preach more light?

If so, welcome back Howard! You are still mentioned occasionally here when the answer to: 'Why is my orchid not blooming?', is you need more light.

Bob

Sphagnum moss alone isn't ideal as a growing medium by itself, but it is certainly possible. I've grown orchids in it before in the past. The same goes for bark mix by itself, too. Even though it tends to dry out way too fast. But both of them mixed together works brilliantly. With sphagnum moss, if you don't know what you're doing, you can run the risk of packing it in too tightly. Having 50% bark mix mixed in with it eliminates any chances of that happening. In fact, with the 50/50 mix, I pack it in as firmly as possible. This stabilizes the orchid and holds it in place until it has a chance to establish itself. I do this for all of my orchids and they love it.

I provided links to both in my previous post, just in case your store doesn't carry it. They can ship it to that store for free. That's what I do.

I have always wondered what happened to Howard, the orchid light guru. Spot on advice and he is correct;his bark is worse than his bite, but good advice along with some other who dont seem to be on anymore.

I am new to orchids and just purchased two small phals in order to learn. I fortunately had both the bark and the sphagnum on hand so after reading this thread I did try and repot. My orchids did not come in moss but a hard cube of something.

I repotted all my phals last year in a combo of lava rock and leca, they are doing well and I have some blooming.

I do have some leca I never knew it could be used for orchids. Our climate is extremely dry in the winter, I wonder if the leca would hold enough moisture?

I water a couple times a week using a hudson sprayer (with careful aim, the orchids are kept indoors) and then sometimes I will take the orchids to the sink.

Thanks for the information on soils. I am a cut flower grower so I can grow many difficult seedlings outside but my "houseplant thumb" is sorely lacking in experience. My methodology up to this point was grow it till it dies and then discard :) That was when I had a busy life, now with retirement I find I have the time to pay attention to and enjoy houseplants. Hence my new found delight in orchids.

As to the coir, I use it for starting seeds and love it. I was afraid that it was too small and would wash out between the bark in my orchid mix.

Looks like a root to me.

Agreed, likely a root, not new stem, but still good.

Congrats on successfully transplanting & growing your phals! This thread is interesting, I do love active soil discussions! I have found a mixture of better gro and moss works best in my area for phals but I'm always trying out different ideas. I'm also a firm believer in not transplanting when they are in bloom.

After a few missteps with orchids my husband recommended a no fuss approach. Best advice! Following it was very hard. Now I have a large diverse collection of happy orchids that only receive minimal fussing.

Thank you for sharing and some great insight.

I clearly made mistakes with mine as shown in this post but I think I kind of getting the hang of it. This is the longest I've kept orchids alive and I'm looking forward to keeping them for a long time.

I've been watering them once a week but I wonder if that is enough due to the dry california bay area climate and the bark mixture I repotted these in.

Should I water more often than once per week?