Is There a Way to Bring Back an Orchid Plant?

Growing Orchids

• If you're going to grow orchids, you need to satisfy some of their more specific requirements. They needs lots of light (up to 12 hours a day) but can't tolerate direct sunlight. Orchids grow successfully in north- and south-facing windows, which provide indirect sunlight and under artificial UV lights. They need temperatures of 60 to 80 degrees, and grow better in humid heat than dry heat. Orchids grow and thrive with minimal waterings, and should only be watered once a week, when their soil dries. They thrive with 10-10-10 fertilizer, applied once a month.

Orchid Potting

• Orchids require lots of air circulation and drainage around their roots, and so require specific potting soil. Orchid potting soil must also be capable of retaining moisture to support the plant. However, an orchid's need is for circulation and a lack of standing water, not dryness. The ideal orchid potting mediums are wood chips, peat moss, vermiculite, perlite or ferns. To pot an orchid, fill a 3- to 6-inch pot halfway with your potting medium, then lay the roots of the orchid over the potting soil. Be very careful not to break or damage the roots. Set more potting medium over the roots to fill the pot, but don't pack down the potting soil. The orchid needs air pockets around its roots for them to "breathe."

Orchid Lifespan

• If your orchid is suffering, the first answer is to remedy the care you're giving it. If you haven't been satisfying the orchid's needs, change your gardening habits. Re-pot the orchid in the right potting medium, using a larger pot (orchids will suffer if they're not re-potted with new potting soil every two years or so). Change your watering schedule, to allow for drying between waterings (orchids suffer and drop their flowers if they're over-watered). Obtain a fertilizer and feed the plant once a month at the most; plants that are suffering require more nutrition to come back to health.

  Orchids go through a very specific blooming process during their lifespan. This process is repeated again and again, and doesn't mean the birth or death of the plant, but rather its re-blooming function. During the summer, orchids sprout a "shoot," which is long, narrow and unstable. These shoots carry the blooms of the plant; each shoot will bear up to five orchid blooms. The shoots and blooms are unique in the plant world in that they can last for several months, if they receive the correct care. After their designated blooming period, the flowers shrivel and fall off. During this "death," the bloom also shrivels and dies, followed by some of the leaves that were attached to that shoot.

  Although this seems to be a very dramatic exit, often leaving the orchid with only one or two leaves and some roots, it does not actually signify the death of the plant. An orchid will naturally bring itself "back" from this situation by re-blooming: a new shoot will appear, and go through the entire process again. To encourage this re-blooming, put the orchid in a north-facing window, where it will receive only restricted light, and keep its temperature at around 50 degrees. This lack of light and cold temperature will "force" a new shoot to appear, and is an effective way to bring back an orchid during the winter.