At Home | When that orchid spike stops blooming

Photo ©MAK @ M / M Details

I have had this conundrum before. What to do when that orchid loses all its beautiful flowers and no more new ones seem to be coming? Keep on taking care of it, I heard. Trim the spike, I heard. Trim? How? Where? History repeats and I am doing a bit of homework. American Orchid Society has this nifty video to help out. In the nutshell: Leave two nodes behind if you don’t want to cut the spike at its base. Cut about ½ inch above the second node with sterile cutting tool. Treat the cut area with fungicide (some other options I read about are: sealing the cut with melted candle wax or cinnamon powder). Become patient. Take care of the orchid as if though the blooms were still there, and if genetically possible, in 2 to 4 months the reward will come. Inhale. Let’s see.