How To Get My Orchid To Bloom

You got a moth orchid as a holiday gift. Or as a birthday present. Maybe it came from your grandmother, who also informed you that the plant's horticultural name is Phalaenopsis and that there are dozens of species. But this is not what concerns you: the problem is the flowers have shriveled, leaving behind a bare spike and a couple of waxy green leaves in a pot. You wonder, "When my orchid bloom again?"

Mary Gerritsen understands your pain. Orchid whisperer Gerritsen coaxes hers to flower again every year—and shares her top plant care tips here.

The author of A Bay Area Guide to Orchids and their Culture has been growing orchids since the 1970s and says: "Most of the indoor orchids I have are ones someone got as gift and the flower fell off and so they said, 'Here," and gave it to me."

Photography by Mimi Giboin for Gardenista.

&#8\2\20;Most Phalaenopsis are shipped here from Taiwan, flattened in a container ship, smushed in Sphagnum moss,&#8\2\2\1; says Gerritsen. &#8\2\20;When they get here, to get them to bloom they are grown in special circumstances involving light and temperature.&#8\2\2\1; Your job: replicate those circumstances at home. — Above: "Most Phalaenopsis are shipped here from Taiwan, flattened in a container ship, smushed in Sphagnum moss," says Gerritsen. "When they get here, to get them to bloom they are grown in special circumstances involving light and temperature." Your job: replicate those circumstances at home.

What should I do when my orchid stops blooming?

The goal is to get your moth orchid to bloom at least once a year, for several months. (Some of Gerritsen's will bloom for eight to ten months.)

First, cut off the old flower stalk at the base of the plant. Then put your moth orchid in a room in your house that simulates the conditions that will cause it to flower again. For starters, it will need a month's worth of daily temperature drops of at least 10 degrees from day to night.

"In your house, you tend not to have big drops; the temperature tends to be set to a steady 68 degrees," says Mary. So put your orchid in a room that gets a little cold by the window—and put your orchid in the window. When the sun goes down, the heat will drop and the cold will stimulate it to re-bloom.

Tip: "My room has a window that faces south, has no heat vent, and basically has glass on two sides and a skylight, so it gets a temperature spike during the day," Gerritsen says.

Above: In the wild, many moth orchids thrive in humidity and moist climates, in filtered sunlight beneath a canopy of trees. Keep them out of harsh, direct sunlight.

When should I re-pot my orchid?

"Often the ones from the florist have damaged roots," says Gerritsen. "Make sure it's not done up as a throwaway, stuffed in a pot with a bunch of pebbles, reindeer moss, and no drainage."

Tip: Re-pot, after an orchid stops blooming. Take it gently from its pot, shake off the old bark, and cut off any dead roots with a sterile razor blade or scissors. "Don't make the mistake of putting into a bigger pot, because orchids don't like that," says Gerritsen. "They like to have their roots crowded in a small space." So pot it into a same-size pot, holding its leaves so the roots dangle into the pot. Add bark and gently mix the pieces around its roots to hold them snugly.

Gerritsen recommends a potting medium of Douglas fir bark to aid drainage and air circulation. A 1-gallon bag of Douglas Fir Bark For Orchids is $17.99 from Amazon.