How to care for orchids?

Hi. Orchids are surprisingly easy to care for. Give them filtered light, water deeply once a week (meaning soaking the roots and letting the water run out. Don't let roots stand in water. They'll rot.) Use a very watered down fertilizer after watering and they will continue to sprout and bloom. And only transplant when the roots are crawling out of the pot. When transplanting use a mixture of wood chips and moss. I've had mine for over ten years and love 'em. They're starting to rebloom after finishing up in September with their summer blooms.

Orchids like to be rootbound, they don't need new pots but every couple of years unless the medium it is planted in is breaking down. Get good orchid medium, I get the kind with bark in it, it is closer to its habitat up in the canopies in the rain forest. Remove the orchid and medium from its pot (I use the two pot system, or the orchid pots with holes throughout the ceramic pot), remove all the medium from the roots as possible. Repot the orchid roots very gently so as not to harm them, remove any obviously dead roots. If you have a lot of surface or above the medium roots, the can still be left above the medium, they help collect humidity from the air. Look at the roots and fill the bottom of the pot to accommodate the length of the roots, then start filling gently, as you hold the orchid straight, to fill all the spaces around and between the roots or the plant may not be supported well. The bark can then be soaked in the pot for fifteen minutes to hydrate the medium in tepid water, drain it well and you are set to go. I don't repot an orchid when they are flowering, I don't want to cause the flowers to die off early from the stress it goes through when it is repotted. If you have any other questions, just ask Val. I have eight orchids right now.

Thank you for the information. I have new shoots now so I think I will wait until after the flowers come and die off, then repot.