Anyone have indoor orchids?

timmysgal1

My husband has 3 indoor orchid plants that he keeps near a window in our kitchen so they can be near the light.  One just budded again but it hasn't opened.  Actually, two of the buds died and fell off before they ever bloomed.  He only waters it once a week and it has very good roots and this would be the third time it has bloomed (but never at this house where we live now--the previous times were at our old apartment)

Any suggestions?  I thought maybe it was too cold near the window, but he will not listen to my suggestions!  My mother told him that orchids do not necessarily need to be near direct light, but he doesn't listen to hear either!  I was hoping someone outside of the family might have a suggestion!

nital

depends on the type of orchid and the window.  my orchids all do better outside, but the phals need full shade outside, and i don't have a good spot at our house, so they live on a north facing windowsill.  being too cold and sudden temperature changes will definitely affect the blooms.  two of my phals are very reliable bloomers, and they lost their buds with it got cold here a few weeks ago (i didn't realize they were spiking).  fortunately, they just branched and have new buds growing. 

j+k

Even though he's watering it once a week, he might be watering it too much.  Two ice cubes - or the amount of water it takes to make two ice cubes is all it needs once a week. Also, take it out of a hot window with direct sunlight. 

You might want to convince him to take one and move it to somewhere else where it gets indirect sunlight, and give it less water. See how well it does compared to the other. 

Also - what kind of soil is it in? It shouldn't be soil at all - but if it's dense, you might want to try replanting it with orchid bark.  Orchid's should not be planted in dense soil of any kind.  I've actually bought orchids from stores that had the orchid in two dense of material and I repotted it in an orchid pot with orchid bark and it did much better.