What About Self Watering Pots for Phalaenopsis?

by Lynette
(United States)

I was given a moth orchid, I am new to orchids and found your web site very informative. I have a question. My orchid came in a container called Ella self watering from Novelity Mfg. THe orchid is planted in a moss base. It had three blooms when I got it and they have recently fallen off. I am afraid I over watered so the leaves look good. My question is will it bloom again this summer and is there anything you can recommend I do for it? Should I continue to fertilize it?

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Jun 24, 2011
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by: Melissa

Thanks for your question.

It is a good one!

This moth orchid is a nice gift and I am glad that you have found my web site so informative.

I am not familiar with the Ella self watering container from Novelity Mfg. so I can not speak about it, or self watering containers in general. But I did do some research about it after you wrote. I will have to try them and let you all know what I think about using them for orchids. As to your other questios . . .

Phalaenopsis do bloom for a long time, up to 4 months sometimes, but the blooms could have easily just fallen off in the natural cycle of the plant. You mentioned that you were afraid you had overwatered it. If you really overwatered it then the leaves would not look so good. Phals. that have been really overwatered get root rot and then they can not transfer water to the leaves from the roots and the leaves often wrinkle or yellow and sometimes die.

You wondered if it would bloom again this summer No, probably not this summer. Most Phals. and Phal hybrids are not free blooming. For the most part they bloom once a year and it is common at they will (of course depending on the environment that you keep it in or where you live) bloom in the Feb, March, April time. I have 10 in bloom right now and it is June.

Here are my recommendations for how to deal with this plant. I would suggest that you go to my site www.orchids-plus-more.com and go to the url of the page listed below and read it. Lots of great free information on growing and re-blooming Phalaenopsis. The url of the page on my site is: http://www.orchids-plus-more.com/phalaenopsis-orchid-care.html

You also wanted to know if you should continue to fertilize it? Yes, the adage is "weakly, weekly" which means do it frequently (like every week or two when you water) and use the fertilizer diluted to about one quarter strength that it lists on the label.


Hope this is helpful.

Good luck,

Melissa
www.orchids-plus-more.com


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