Once Your Orchid Has Bloomed... 

 

 



Once your orchid has bloomed, the flowering stem (also know as 'scape' or 'spike') will usually need to be removed. In many cases, this is important for the health of the plant and to encourage it to bloom well again, the following season. Read our guide below and you'll know exactly what to do when your orchid has finished flowering.  

 


The rule below probably applies to  almost all orchids commonly sold in the market.


"When all the blooms on your orchid plant  have faded, cut off  flowering stem about an inch from the base, or as close to the base you can easily get to."

 

Use a sharp knife and cut the stem at an angle—that's it! This applies to most of the commonly available orchids including:

> Phalaenopsis (moth orchids)
>Cattleyas (and related genera: eg. laelis,slc, blc)
>Dendrobium (applies to phalaenopsis type only)*
>Oncidiums (and related intergenerics, eg. Odontocidiums, Miltassias, Brassias, Colmanaras etc)
>Paphiopedilums (slipper orchids)*
>Cymbidiums

 


 
A old flower stem can be seen to the right on this 
phalaenopsis. As you can see, a clean cut was made 
about an inch from the base of the plant. Two new flower
spikes can be seen  to the left. Once these have finished 
flowering, they will be cut off just above the first node
 from the base of the plant. The nodes are encased in 
a lighter colored sheath that looks like a white band.  


Once you've made the cut, discard the flowering stem. The remaining stem "stub" will dry up and fade on its own. Do not attempt to fully remove it, as you'll probably damage the plant.

*There are some exceptions in a few  cases:

 Phalaenopsis can often be rebloomed from 'just-bloomed' spikes by going down to the first node below the lowest bloom on the spike, and cutting the spike off about 0.5"  above this node. This should only be done on strong robust plants, if at all.  

There are certain dendrobiums now becoming more popular called "nobile types." These produce flowers directly from the plant pseudo-bulbs, either singly, 

      

 or in clusters of two-three flowers. When the flowers fade simply remove them, or allow them to fall off. Do NOT cut off the old drier pseudo-bulbs as they are part of the plant and may rebloom the following season. 

The most common 'Maudiae' type slipper orchids produce one flower on the stem. However there are an increasing number of multi-floral bloomers (produce two to five flowers) and sequential bloomers (continue to bloom from the tip of the flowering scape) that are now available and, which should not be cut off right away—see our section on slipper orchid care for for more information.

(LEFT) Nobile type dendrobium hybrids bloom directly from 
the plant stems (flattened pseudobulbs). The faded blooms can just be plucked off individually or allowed to fall off.  

There are of course, thousands of different types of orchids. If you're becoming an orchid hobbyist you will discover that there are always a few exceptions to this general rule. For example,Psychopsis(Oncidium) papilio produces a long wiry flowering stem that should never be cut off as it will continue to rebloom from the tip for severa years! This also applies to several Aeranthese species and hybrids, which are from Africa. Some Masdevallias and Bulbophyllums(echinolabium and related species and hybrids) will produce two to three flowers per stem before they are done blooming!

                                           

 Below from left to right: Dendrobium phalaenopsis type, Paph Maudiae type, Cymbidium, Miltonia. All these orchids require the flowering stem to be cut at at base as described above once they have finished blooming.  


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