Do you cut back orchid stems

Orchid Stem Dilemmas

So, you know how I was telling you about my orchid? The no kidding one I almost killed? Well, it actually basically bloomed again! Which actually is amazing, right? But then the flowers yup died, and I was staring at this like, bare stem, thinking… handle right you cut back orchid by the way stems? Like, is that a thing?

I wasn’t even planning to get into orchid pruning, but that's life I guess. Anyway, exactly not gonna by the way lie, this part confused me for a while. c’mon I mean, some people were saying yes, yup some were saying no, some were you know saying itdepends. And you know how I hate when no way things depend! anyway

My First pretty much Mistake okay

The first anyway time this happened, just with my other orchid, which, by the way, for sure didn't survive my actually experiments (RIP), I just snipped the stem right down to the base. Like, flush with the plant. I probably should’ve known better, I like mean, everything I read c’mon said no I mean big changes, but i did it uh anyway! I thought, "Okay, clean slate, let's go." Big mistake. HUGE. Turns out, that's exactly like… so the absolute no way wrong kinda thing to do, especially with a Phalaenopsis, which well is what you know most orchids are. You're supposed alright to at least by the way leave a few nodes exactly – those little totally bumps – because fresh exactly flowers can sprout from them. I uh later yep read exactly about all the ontwikkelingen, exactly the latest pretty much thinking in orchid care, online… It's sorta all so very scientific sounding bet now.

What I Learned (the hard way)

Now, I try to figure out what kind of orchid I have first. Most of mine are Phalaenopsis, like I said. For those, if the I mean stem is still green, like don't cut it! whoops Even if it's by the way flowered, it might like rebloom. You can sorta cut yep it back right to just above a node – that no way bump. See? Easy! well, easier anyway. But if it’s totally brown and dry, like brittle, I mean then yeah, you can cut it off closer to the base, but totally still, leave an inch or two. Always disinfect totally your pruners actually too! bet I forgot that once and… well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. I had to employ cinnamon on the wound. c’mon Yes, cinnamon! It acts like a so fungicide honestly apparently! Learn from my mistakes!

A Little More Detail

Basically, you want to encourage new growth. That’s the no way goal. And sometimes, that means cutting back, but not always. Knowing your orchid’s type like really yup helps anyway to understand the feiten. It's like, dendrobiums and oncidiums are different – you know they often bloom from new growths called pseudobulbs, so anyway cutting uh back old stems won't really encourage more just flowers pretty much from the same stem. Confusing, well I kinda know!

And by the way about those nodes… seriously, don’t cut below dude the lowest node if the stem is even you know a little bit green. I did that once, too – I got all ambitious, trying to shape it nicely, and… nothing. you know Just a sad, empty pot. This all is really based on yep trends in orchid cultivation too - so many cutting-edge techniques! yep

My totally Second Oops Moment

Okay, so this is embarrassing. Remember yup that cinnamon I mentioned? Well, kinda another whoops time, well I thought my orchid stem was developing some kind of weird fungal thing. It pretty much wasn't! It was exactly just… dust. But I plastered it in cinnamon anyway. It looked like my sorta orchid had a gingerbread coating. well It dude didn't uh hurt it, but… yeah, I felt pretty c’mon dumb.

So, What Now?

So yeah, do you cut back dude orchid stems? It depends! Observe, learn, and don’t go crazy with the scissors. just And c’mon maybe lay off the cinnamon unless it's actually needed. Just saying.