First and foremost, if this is you have never had an orchid before do not waste money on expensive ones. They are not good for beginners because they will need an established setup for humidity and can have wildly different light needs.
That said, I have abused orchids for a long time.
The best starter orchids are the super discount ones from the big box garden stores. They have dropped their flowers and look like crap. The bigger ones can be found for about $3 average and some of the tiny ones as low as $1. Most of them will turn out to be white but if you look in the base of the plant you might see a withered and dried flower and might be able to find a different colored one.
With these abused orchids they will have very wrinkly and wilty leafes. Which is fine because it means it was under watered. New leaves that grow in will not be like that unless you are doing something wrong.
If the leafs are yellow it's a goner. If only the bottom most leaves are yellow then it still has life in it. Especially if the discount rack is out side because a lot of them were grown in greenhouses and are not used to full sun. Dark-ish to vibrant green is what you want to look for.
You also want to look at the roots. There are two types of roots. One type is in the potting soil (green to white) and the other is the artsy looking root that grows out of the pot (silvery green). If the root look black and moldy ditch it.
If there is still a flower stem on it that isn't dried up, I would jut leave it on for now. You might get lucky and get a bloom off of it. But chances are it'll eventually die off.
Now comes an interesting choice for you.
While you can either leave it in the same pot that it came in, it's been out side and probably has fungus gnats living in it if it was over watered repeatedly. There is a chance that even if you re-pot it and change the bark or sphagnum moss that you will over water it and the bugs can still show up.
Or... You can re-pot it in just water.
I just started playing with this method. For the cheep durable orchids from the big box stores I thinks this (so far) a great beginner method. Contrary to what all the video and articles say about it.
For the container I prefer clear glass. This lets me see the water level. A thick walled glass vase with a big opening is great. I have one in a vase that looks like an upside-down cone. It's very think walled because this will help prevent the glass from breaking if the roots adhere to it. The opening has to be big because you want to be able to remove the plant from it if the roots grow too big. Or if the flower spike grow into the container you can easily take it out to adjust it.
You need to get the orchid out of the pot and take all the potting medium off the roots. You have to be careful because the roots can adhere to the sides of the pot. You want to try and leave as many roots on the plant as possible. They will also attach to the potting medium. Water helps.
Once that the roots are clean, before you ad the water, you tuck up the roots under it and place it in the vase. The leafs should keep it from falling into the container and will let the roots dangle.
Then you fill it about halfway up the roots with water.
You don't want to fill it all the way because that will drown the plant. But too little and it will dry out. This will take watching the orchid and seeing how it reacts. Learning how to make it happy will pay off because they will seem to keep their flowers longer.
Why do I really like this method?
My first orchid had flowers when I bought it. After they dropped it took almost two years for it to put out another set because I hid it in a bad spot in my room. Then a year or two later it put out a massive flower spike after I moved it to the floor of my parents kitchen were it got a ton of sunlight.
It was happy right up until fungus gnats moved in.
My patents had started to 'help me' water it. And by help I mean I poured rotting water out of on container. The planting medium rotted and gnats started living in it and their larva was eating the roots. It was the stuff of nightmares when I saw the wiggling surface at night.
To get rid of the bugs you have to throw away all the potting medium and wash the roots with water i the sink. There is a spray you can get but it can water proof the roots... My large one had almost no roots left and I had to move it back to my room. Bye bye flowers.
I also switched everything to a very fast-drying pot setup. It was too fast and they died from drying out too many times. There is a limit to the stress you can put them through but so far the water method has worked for my test orchid. This summer I will be watching the big box stores to add more to the mix. So... Time will tell.
That said, I have abused orchids for a long time.
The best starter orchids are the super discount ones from the big box garden stores. They have dropped their flowers and look like crap. The bigger ones can be found for about $3 average and some of the tiny ones as low as $1. Most of them will turn out to be white but if you look in the base of the plant you might see a withered and dried flower and might be able to find a different colored one.
With these abused orchids they will have very wrinkly and wilty leafes. Which is fine because it means it was under watered. New leaves that grow in will not be like that unless you are doing something wrong.
If the leafs are yellow it's a goner. If only the bottom most leaves are yellow then it still has life in it. Especially if the discount rack is out side because a lot of them were grown in greenhouses and are not used to full sun. Dark-ish to vibrant green is what you want to look for.
You also want to look at the roots. There are two types of roots. One type is in the potting soil (green to white) and the other is the artsy looking root that grows out of the pot (silvery green). If the root look black and moldy ditch it.
If there is still a flower stem on it that isn't dried up, I would jut leave it on for now. You might get lucky and get a bloom off of it. But chances are it'll eventually die off.
Now comes an interesting choice for you.
While you can either leave it in the same pot that it came in, it's been out side and probably has fungus gnats living in it if it was over watered repeatedly. There is a chance that even if you re-pot it and change the bark or sphagnum moss that you will over water it and the bugs can still show up.
Or... You can re-pot it in just water.
I just started playing with this method. For the cheep durable orchids from the big box stores I thinks this (so far) a great beginner method. Contrary to what all the video and articles say about it.
For the container I prefer clear glass. This lets me see the water level. A thick walled glass vase with a big opening is great. I have one in a vase that looks like an upside-down cone. It's very think walled because this will help prevent the glass from breaking if the roots adhere to it. The opening has to be big because you want to be able to remove the plant from it if the roots grow too big. Or if the flower spike grow into the container you can easily take it out to adjust it.
You need to get the orchid out of the pot and take all the potting medium off the roots. You have to be careful because the roots can adhere to the sides of the pot. You want to try and leave as many roots on the plant as possible. They will also attach to the potting medium. Water helps.
Once that the roots are clean, before you ad the water, you tuck up the roots under it and place it in the vase. The leafs should keep it from falling into the container and will let the roots dangle.
Then you fill it about halfway up the roots with water.
You don't want to fill it all the way because that will drown the plant. But too little and it will dry out. This will take watching the orchid and seeing how it reacts. Learning how to make it happy will pay off because they will seem to keep their flowers longer.
Why do I really like this method?
My first orchid had flowers when I bought it. After they dropped it took almost two years for it to put out another set because I hid it in a bad spot in my room. Then a year or two later it put out a massive flower spike after I moved it to the floor of my parents kitchen were it got a ton of sunlight.
It was happy right up until fungus gnats moved in.
My patents had started to 'help me' water it. And by help I mean I poured rotting water out of on container. The planting medium rotted and gnats started living in it and their larva was eating the roots. It was the stuff of nightmares when I saw the wiggling surface at night.
To get rid of the bugs you have to throw away all the potting medium and wash the roots with water i the sink. There is a spray you can get but it can water proof the roots... My large one had almost no roots left and I had to move it back to my room. Bye bye flowers.
I also switched everything to a very fast-drying pot setup. It was too fast and they died from drying out too many times. There is a limit to the stress you can put them through but so far the water method has worked for my test orchid. This summer I will be watching the big box stores to add more to the mix. So... Time will tell.
