what to do after orchid flowers

[Eden]

Hi there, my mums orchid has finished flowering and is not sure where to pinch out the top, the instructions that came with it say to pinch it off right at the base of the plant but I'm not sure, does anyone know where to pinch it out?
Many thanks
Eden

[nick the grief]

I'd take it out as low down as possible (the flower stalk that is not the leaves ) as it will only die back anyway. With a bit of luck it may flower again depends if it likes your Mum or not

[Protea]

I think it depends on what type of orchid it is - what does the label say?

my phaleonopsis (sp?) orchids say to cut the flower stem about 30cm from the base (so you end up eith a stick) because it may repeat flower from th same stem. However, i have found that this just encourages them to grow Kiki's (min plants) on the stem instead, so next time mine flowers i'm cutting it off at the base (they've never re-flowered off an old flower stem). These stems don't die back naturally.

My Cambria orchid says to cut the stem off as near the leaf as possible, these will die back - unlike the phaelonopsis ones. New flower stems will form from inbetween the leaves of new tuber-like growths.

With my lady's slipper orchid (don't know the proper name) i have to cut the flower stem off at the bas as soon as the flower dies otherwise it seems to kill the plant! At least that is what happened to one of the plants i had! When i cut if off promptly the flower stem died away and the plant remained healthy.

So....the answer is it depends - not very helpful am I!!

[TPeers]

Since I regularly have to 'rescue' Mum's orchids (for a Botanical artist she is excellent at killing plants!) I have found that it is best to give a feed to the orchid after flowering, you can get pots of orchid feed from the garden centre. As with the comments above, unless you know that it is a type which will re-flower off a latent bud, cut the stem as close to the base as is reasonable. Make sure that it is in bright but not direct light - on a south facing windowsill your plants will get sunburn! and be sure that it is not too cold, nor in a draught - if you can, one of the best places I have found for an orchid is the bathroom! The diffuse light through the obscured glass suits the plants, and they seem to like the humidity.

A lot of places recommend that you only water with rain water - I have never had a problem using tap water and I am rarely in the situation where there is no orchid in flower in the house. (I was last given an orchid plant two years ago!)

Most orchids (I have one exception) flower once a year, they seem to like to take a rest after flowering so give it some time.

[Eden]

Many thanks for all your replys!
best wishes
Eden