Plant Fails: My Troubles with Orchids

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I mentioned in my grocery store plant post that I have a bit of a troubled history with orchids, specifically moth orchids (phalaenopsis) as they are plentiful in grocery stores, home stores, gift shops, and unfortunately in my list of diseased plants.

Here's my tale of orchid woe.

My first orchid was brought from Fry's grocery store. It had such nice large leaves, cute white flowers, and 50% off. How could I resist.

I named it Odette and bought a roomier pot from Amazon, and some orchid bark and Miracle grow fertilizer (which I later found out wasn't recommended, but that's a different story). Things were looking good.

Unfortunately, one day I noticed something white underneath some of those nice leaves.

Mealy bugs!

I overly panicked, went totally scorched Earth to spray them and hack them away. Next thing you know, I was Googling how to re-grow roots in orchids. RIP Odette.

My next orchid was purchased at Whole Foods Market for about $12. I named it Fiona like the movie, Shrek. It was about the same time I got an Ogre Ears Jade plant from Home Depot, and yes I did name it Shrek.

Well, Shrek and Fiona both suffered the same fate, too much Arizona Summertime heat and sun exposure.

The third orchid came from Aldi, I thought this one would be different. I learned so much from the other failures after all.

I have read that you shouldn't re-pot an orchid while they are "blooming", so I chose to wait until the flowers dropped to re-pot this one, big mistake.

They lasted 5 months. Because I waited so long, I didn't see that many of the roots were rotting. It didn't help that the poor orchid was originally potted in the tiniest plastic cup thing imaginable.

I had to cut off all the roots and several bottom leaves. And unfortunately, re-rooting efforts didn't work.

Now here's my newest victim orchid from Sprout's. Will it beat the odds and survive in my care. Only time will tell.

Wish us both luck, and stay green.