I can't keep them alive! :disappointed:

they always go.... well....Kinda...... dead
:laughing:

They seem to thrive on neglect, which is probably why the 2 I received as gifts 18 months ago are still alive & now flowering again much to my surprise! I am renowned for murdering houseplants one way or another.

I was told to water them very very sparingly once a week and that is what I have done. However, a lady who owns a local a flower shop admitted to me that she only waters hers about once every 2-3 weeks. I did buy some orchid flower food from her & you just snip the end off a little plastic bottle & upend it & stick it into the bark-like potting material. About 6 weeks later I noticed new shoots appearing.

Another tip which seems to work is to keep them fairly cool & in a north facing window.

After all these pearls of wisdom I'll probably wake up tomorrow to find my orchids as dead as dodos..

Anyway, I hope this helps & good luck.

Great deal op, by the way

Bargain , £10 in Aldi leaflet I have just picked up.

I love Orchids, I will definitely be adding to my collection. Cheers OP... :smiley:

Great find Nin, bargain and lovely.

mam loves these,nice find op, heat :smiley:

Pot costs £3

I've never put one in the kitchen before - it obviously must grow ok in there - think I'm going to go and get myself one.

Will get 1 for mothers day

Thanks Nanny <3

bought one last year £5 @ morissons still going strong bargain

What's the best way to care for these? Ours died :-(

great price for a twin stem. I'll have to keep an eye out for them

lovely, thanks OP, +heat :smiley:

Oh thank you so much for this excellent advice, I might actually try having one again :smile:

You're very welcome. And believe me - if I can keep an orchid alive, anyone can!

Mine are still in the same pots that I had them in, but I read somewhere that you should change the bark stuff after a while. As they're doing fine at the mo, I'm not going to start fiddling with them though.

Having said all that, they're probably keeling over this very moment just to prove me wrong......:smirk:

These are £2 in my local farm shop. Worth a visit if you live in the Bradford/halifax area. There's also some orange potted lilies for 1.99

Not sure if this has been mentioned but they were on sale from yesterday. Bought one in Perth store. They were all very healthy looking too.

home and bargain penny lane Liverpool said its nation wide £1.99 and twin £2.99 still heat added thou

Try watering them occasionally.

I did :smirk:

Pahhh...I have 30 odd orchids and find them very easy to look after and bloom if you get the right amount of sunlight.

When choosing a orchid check for plenty of plump roots and leaves for the plant to have a long healthy life!

You'll find that the plastic pot they are potted in are clear, you'll know when to water them when the roots turn almost a grey like colour compared to a green colour when watered and they might have a wrinkle like appearance to the roots.

When they are in bloom I water more often like once a week and don't tend to let the roots get too shrivelled. When not in bloom and in colder months I can leave for 2 weeks or so. But just be sure to let all water drain away. (This is IF they are potted using bark compost if it's packed tightly with moss it's a completely different matter..they can go for a month without water non bloom)

Orchids only tend to sprout flowering shoots at a temperature of 13C so a colder temperature at night is ideal if you want your orchid to re-flower.
Once it's finished flowering you need to cut the stem to the base but just above a 'lip'. There is another cunning trick to get it to re-flower again by cutting it 2 'lips' up (about 1 inch above the 2nd 'lip'. The lip can sprout again.

Mmmm I wonder if anyone read all of this

Well for a orchid to re-flower it needs a drop in temperature at night compared to daytime so mine are all on a window sill where it tends to get a little colder at night than lets say the middle of the living room!

Ta op got one from edge lane retail park, liverpool. had a couple of Dutch trolleys full,three levels on each trolley with lots of varying colours, Right inside main eentrance.

Fabulous! I hope you enjoy it :smile:

Thanks OP, got the pale yellow variant yesterday - pic below.


phalaenopsis hybrid by J9STL, on Flickr

Wow!!!! That's absolutely stunning! Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous photo! :smile:

thanks to you too for posting the deal
photography is my main hobby :smiley:

Cheers for the post. Just got back in with 2 for mum
That kills 2 birds with one stone. Bday and mothers day done

Who me? lovely?
Not so sure on that. Just a friendly guy, who appreciates nice people out there :smiley:

anyone know if they've got any left? and is it possible to leave this outside for a few days?

none left in my store.
I just didn't have the time :disappointed:

there were only 3 left at my store and by the time I had got to the counter there were none left. pity mine has got a terminal spike.