Moth orchid

[Loubear]

I've got an orchid that I rescued from hospital corner at the garden centre. I've had it 2 years and it lives in my bathroom. It seems to be growing new roots near the top of the stem along with a new flower stem. I was just wondering whether I leave this on, or remove it to make a new plant?


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[Bal]

Hi loud ear I used to be able to grow orchids really well in my last house, but since moving I have lost all of them bar one which has produced 3 what I call babies, I don't know what to do with them either!:confused.

[mothhawk]

If you want to let it flower, then leave it attached to the mother plant until the flowers finish. Then you can remove the flower stem and cut off the plantlet and pot it up in orchid compost. If you're not fussed about letting it flower, just cut off the flower stem and pot it up anyway. Quite a lot of orchids really only use the compost for anchorage and to get a little moisture - in the wild they'd be clinging to a tree branch. You could quite probably get away with potting it up with the flower stem still on, but it would make it a bit top-heavy in a new pot and as the flowers grow it might topple out of the pot as its roots won't have a firm grip.

[Knight of Albion]

A lovely plant ...

It's doing well in your tender care, Loubear.