I thought today I would try to put up some pics of my newest hobby- Orchids! I was at one of the local shopping centers shortly after Valentine's day and was waiting for a prescription to be filled. I decided to do some "browsing" to kill the time and came across a selection of orchids in their garden center. Now mind you, this garden center is a semi-outdoors area- partly open to the elements- and it is February in Michigan. I'm no genius but even I know that orchids are tropical plants and probably don't appreciate the Michigan weather in February. Most of them still had a flower or two on them but looked like they had seen better days. The sign next to them said $4.00 (!) which I figured was a great deal! Even if I brought them home and ended up killing I wouldn't be out a ton of money, so why not. In my inexperience with these beautiful plants I picked out the 2 plants with the best looking flowers still attached, paying no mind to the health of the roots or leaves.
When I arrived home I decided to do some homework and see what I had gotten myself into. These particular orchids I found out were a species called Phalaenopsis Orchids or "moth orchids". They were a brand called "Just add ice". The directions instruct you to "just add 3 ice cubes once a week- it's that simple!" and I had to wonder if adding ice cold water to a tropical plant was really a good idea. I have always kept house plants but never purchased an orchid due to 1. the rumors that they were very hard to take care of and 2. price (not willing to pay $20 a piece for a plant that I will probably kill). After my research I realized that I probably had not purchased the healthiest plants. Through the clear pots I could see dead, brown roots and also noticed little black flies buzzing around the plants. Little did I know that I had just introduced a pest into my home that I would spend a long time trying to get rid of. Turns out the little flies were Fungus Gnats and feed on the broken down potting medium that harbors this fungus that they like and tender new roots.
I decided that I needed to do whatever I could to get rid of these pesky little buggers- a process on which I am still working, btw. As soon as the plant with pink flowers dropped it's last flower I decided that I would repot it. I ordered a bag of high quality phalaenopsis mix from repotme.com and watched some videos online on the process.
Well I think that is enough of this little saga for today. I'll post a description of the rest of the process and and some more pics tomorrow.
Trixy
