How to Grow, Re-bloom and Propagate your Phalaenopsis Orchid Plant
By Dahlia Bloom
One of the easiest orchids to grow at home, a phalaenopsis brings several months of beautiful blooms year-round.
The quest for re-blooming.
Exposure to light.
Phalaenopsis plants require a low amount of sunlight, and prefer an eastward orientation. Simply place your orchid in an east facing window, and watch it prepare a new branch of buds in a short time. South and west facing windows can work if needed, as long as a sheer curtain is available to protect the phalaenopsis from direct light.
Growing conditions.
Creating baby orchids from your mature orchid.
Once you have a larger Phalaenopsis with several large leaves at its base, you can propagate baby plants. In order to encourage your orchid to grow a new plant, instead of a flowering spike, Keiki growing paste is needed.
Simply remove one of the growth nodes of the main spike, and apply keiki paste to this area. A new orchid plant, including air roots will slowly grow out of this location. Once the baby phalaenopsis has a few leaves and roots of its own, it can be carefully detached from the host plant, and will grow identical flower spikes to its mother.
Cycling Phalaenopsis plant locations.
One thing we know for sure is that patience in allowing your phalaenopsis to re-bloom or propagate is essential. We typically have two sets of phalaenopsis; one placed in a location we can enjoy active blooms, and the order in a sun-soaked eastern facing space.
Once one phalaenopsis has finished its bloom cycle, and needs a rest, we replace it with its freshly blooming partner, and relocate it to the sun-soaked eastern rejuvenation space. This strategy allows us to continually have bloom phalaenopsis on display while permitting expired bloomers the rest they require to re-bloom.
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