did i kill my orchid?

BG09

I'm pretty sure I over-watered my orchid. All the blooms went limp and died. I clipped off the blooms that were dead that hadn't already just fallen off. Will it eventually get new blooms? I see what looks like two new little buds growing on one of the stems, but the other stems are barren. The bottom leaves still look good and healthy though. Is there any hope for my orchid to be beautiful again??

living_insanity

Our orchid's bloom and leaves dropped and we trimmed the stem all the way down.  I think if you still have some green leaves you wouldnt do that.  The way we water our orchid is by giving it two ice cubes once a week.  I think it said that method on the orchid tag when we got it

BG09

That 2 ice cube thing is a great idea! Thanks for the tip! That's how I'll be watering it from here on out! (if I didn't kill it already, that is..)

+j+k+

After all the blooms have died off and dropped, snip back the stem(s) continue to water it once a week. I don't do two ice cubes - I just run it under the faucet for about a second and that's it for the week. Every once in a while I drain off the excess. If the leaves turn yellow, you know you've waterd it WAY too much.  The moss and the mulch should never be sopping wet or very damp.  The ice cube rule works too.  No more is needed. As long as you have green leaves, the orchid is a viable plant and can be revived. 

Put the orchid somewhere where it will get sufficient light, but not direct, harsh or hot light light. It will go months with out blooming, and then right about December, January - maybe even into February you should get a shoot or two. Support as they grow with a stick and those little itty bitty hair clips. They work fantastic.

By spring and summer you should have blooms. Mine got shoots in January, I had blooms in March until July. 

I don't fertilize mine, and it does just fine. But you can get fertilizer at a greenhouse and they can tell you when the most appropriate time is. 

ribth

I agree with all of the above, except that I water mine by completely submersing it in water for about 30 seconds (so the bark chips absorb the water) every week. Every other week, I submerse it in water with orchid-specific fertilizer. When it blooms, I only water it every other week, without fertilizer. Truly, it depends on what kind of orchid you have. Certain species like to be watered more frequently. If you bought your orchid in the grocery store like I did with mine, it's probably a phalaenopsis, so it's super-easy to grow and is very hardy. But, you may have to re-pot and fertilize on a schedule. I used bark chips to re-pot, but you can also use sphagnum moss.