I went to Earl May in search of a new pot for my orchid today, and well you know how these things tend to go...I ended up with a new orchid too! I found a slightly pathetic looking what I think is a cattleya orchid, although I'm not 100% sure. There was no price on it and I asked the sales lady how much they wanted for it, figuring if they were going to ask $5 for it I could definitely spare the cash in order to try and revive it...well she gave it to me free! I went to Lowe's and bought a more general potting mix (I already had some specific for the phalaenopsis that I had before) and a new pot there. I went back to Earl May and bought another pot for the new orchid since I didn't think I had anything suitable for it at home. So of course, my free orchid turned into a $25 shopping trip. But oh well. hehehe. I was going to buy one pot at least, right?

It is all Target's fault though, seriously. Because I went there on Wednesday and they had orchids, and I had serious orchid lust and almost walked out of there with a new phal. But I talked myself out of it. So this is just the realization of that lust.

When I got home I repotted the new orchid and the phalaenopsis, and also took a cutting from the phal where it was growing a new baby off of a flower spike from before. So hopefully everyone is happy now. My phal has been suffering through the winter, part due to underwatering, and I'm not sure if is getting too little or too much light. Since I just repotted them I'll keep everyone on the kitchen table for a few weeks, out of the bright south light, and see if that improves the leaf color of the phals and maybe get some new root growth from everyone. And I took pictures, because I am a nerd:



Here are the two orchids before I started (+baby phal still attached)


The repot is a little bit of an undertaking. Part of the reason to repot is to rid the orchids of the old dead roots and to give it new potting media in case it is all rotty. Orchids like a lot of air to be able to move between their roots, so they are potted in a loose bark mixed with charcoal and small stones, and the new pots provide air holes on the sides. In nature, orchids grow in trees, where branches meet and there is moist bark and leaves, etc. I think I saw some mealy bugs on the new orchid, so I got out the pesticide just in case. I had that problem with my phal when I first got it, so I figured it was better to take preventative measures now than to deal with critters later on. The bark is soaked in water before potting.


Most of the roots on the bottom of the cattleya were dead, which is unfortunate. There is a lot of really good growth up top though, so hopefully this hair cut will encourage new growth down below. It was really snug in its old pot, so I'm sure there wasn't much room or reason to grow down.


My phal had a lot of dead roots too. There is also a bunch of new growth towards the top, which is encouraging. Maybe I will love the phal more and it will make me more flowers.


Here are all 3 orchids in the humidity tray. Putting the orchids on a tray filled with rocks and water makes it more humid in the general vicinity of the orchids than it would be otherwise. Orchids grow a lot in rainforests, etc, so they like a little more humidity than other plants need.


Here is the baby phal that I cut off of the big phal....hopefully it takes root and becomes a big orchid too!


Yeah ok, my life is exceptionally boring. But I'm glad I did something this weekend instead of contemplating my navel and renting a bunch of movies. Ok, I rented some movies. And I made muffins with my new silicone bakeware. The jury's still out on whether or not it is "awesome", but I definitely thought it was nice. The muffin cups seemed more shallow than on a metal muffin tin, so the batter spilled over a little. Oh well. Still tasty.

Well back to work I suppose...been on the spectrometer all weekend which is oh so super de duper thrilling. THRILLS 'N' CHILLS.

Edit: I think it may be a dendrobium, and not a cattleya....hrmmm...