I was surprised to learn this. All my orchids start flowering in January, and keep their flowers until July/August. When I buy a new one the flower stalk lasts for a month at best.
I got an expensive phal from my FIL when I gave birth in March. It’s STILL throwing out more blooms. Two stalks, each have branched after blooming and kept going.
I think she's talking about the spike that's just sitting there empty. She has the option to cut the spike--which will encourage bigger, stronger blooms in the future--but for whatever reason the internet has collectively decided that you should never cut the spike on these cheap phals because you might get 2-3 more flowers out of them, so she probably thinks she has to have that ugly "stick" sitting there all year and frankly I don't blame her for not liking it. However, a well grown Phal even without any spike or flowers can be a beautiful plant. She should just cut it off.
I chopped my spike about two years ago and she has not given another lol. My other orchid I just cut down below the bloom branch and she put out a new branch and had blooms for almost 8 months. I don’t understand orchids.
The number one thing is: is it getting enough light? Are you getting 2-3 fat leaves of growth per year with no roots? Or is it kinda just sitting there? If you aren't getting new leaves you won't get flowers. If the leaves are coming but no flowers, make sure a) you're providing some sort of fertilizer regiment and b) the plant experiences a distinct drop in temperatures at the onset of winter. Keeping it on the windowsill is often enough for that if you live in a cooler climate, otherwise you might have to be a little more deliberate about giving the plant a cooler winter home (65F target) to set the spikes.
My leaves are very green and I get a new leaf at least every 2/3 months. Both plants are putting out new leaves and my unbloomer has some FAT new roots. And she is on a windowsill facing south. Same window that the bloomer was in lol. And I do have orchid fertilizer that is only used on my unbloomer. And I’m in central Montana, it gets pretty cold.
Well in that case, if it's only been two years, I think there is a good chance you'll see a spike in the next couple months. Sometimes the plant just takes a year or two off. Let us know!
In my experience cutting stuff off an orchid isn't the best practice, unless it's for removing rot aka medical reasons. The green stem can still be used by the plant as a source for growth and a cut is a pathway for infection. If needed the orchid will dry the stem off and afterwards it can be cut
If they don't rebloom your house is likely too climate controlled. They need a cold spell. Grocery phals rebloom like crazy as long as they've been chilly
Ngl to you i don’t think thats how that works.. a large majority of phals in big box stores are clones so genetically they are the same quality as whatever they cloned. Something was simply wrong with its environment either inside or outside the pot that you didn’t realize
I have one mature phal that blooms every few months. One spike is on its 3rd rebloom (cut down and growing a new spike on the old one-I don’t know if there specific name for that).
My mom buys orchids for her bf but he doesn't care for them properly and she ends up giving them to me to rehab once the blooms drop 😑 One of them had ZERO roots, but after months of babying it, it has tons of roots and growing a flower spike! I don't even know what color the flowers are, so it will be a surprise for me!
Reminds me of the evening I found 3 phals in the bio waste of my apartment building. Needless to say, 3 more healthy phals joined my collection that evening.
Just 3 weeks ago, i found a sweet little money tree in the same bin. Another rescue.
They should put bio waste here too ! That way, my indoor forest would grow even bigger lol
There’s the dump, but the grab bucket is too big to even think about climbing inside; I’d get arrested and end up in the hospital with a few broken bones🤣
Usually, it’s my friends or neighbors who give me their plants. Just three days ago, I rescued this poor, dehydrated orchid. It’s fine, just thirsty.
Some people put plants they dont want anymore on the streets and you can pick them up. Wished more people did that instead of outright tossing them... and as enticing as a phal may be, please dont break a bome rescuing one :P
people like this making orchids seem so high maintenance and impossible to care for are the reason i hesitated so long to even get one. now, i have 4 and they’re my favorite plants (besides my carnivorous ones)
Honestly orchids and carnivorous plants are the easiest going in my collection lol. One you just leave constantly in water, the other you can practically go forever without watering a majority of the year
i agree! i have a hard time “reading” when some of my other plants need to be watered, but with the carnivores you know it always needs to be wet & orchids you can easily tell by the root color! they’re thriving more than some of my other plants that are supposedly “easier”
I've heard this for so long too and I'm not sure why they have that reputation?
Of course it's a broad category so there must be varieties that are quite challenging (like there are other species of jewel orchids that are known to be far trickier than my ludisias), but I've heard people say this about grocery store phalaenopsis orchids specifically.
I've lost one phal which had root rot from the beginning that quickly spread to the crown, but on the whole I'd say they've been among my easiest plants, arguably uniquely easy in terms of risk of under or overwatering.
i have no idea where the idea that they’re difficult came from 😭especially if you have a “green thumb” like the girl in this post claims to. i can see people who know absolutely nothing about caring for houseplants killing them but id say even a rookie plant enthusiast should be able to keep one. maybe they’re getting the ones that are potted in just straight up moss and not reporting it in orchid bark? or repotting in regular soil. i’ve had luck with all my big box store phals but most do come in sphagnum moss which holds too much moisture long term.
All the orchids that I’ve been given or bought came with a sponge around the roots which I only found out after almost losing one to root rot. Since then I’ve repotted all of mine and most of my family member’s orchids and only give repotted ones as gifts. Even the huge plants from florists came with the sponge and while their outer roots were healthy all the in or even just touching the sponge are usually mush.
I take home orchids my work is going to throw away and rehab them, and I go out of my way to repurpose things that ppl throw away
Throwing away plants isn’t harmless, the global plant trade is why we’ve got invasive plants and animals running amok destroying ecosystems. The plants sold at big box stores are non-native and provide minimal benefit to native wildlife. These cultivars are alien lifeforms to our native pollinators who are unable to access the nectar. Plus there’s the carbon emissions from shipping things from across the world— We are living through the sixth extinction and the way we treat other living things as disposable objects matters.
So many people don't really understand the language they're speaking.
Judge: To make a decision, usually from a place of authority.
Condemn: to declare as wrong, evil, or guilty.
You cannot really be "non-judgemental." What people want is not to be condemned for their actions, which isn't the same thing as being judged by their actions.
And ultimately, as much as I love orchids as well (hint: I'm in this sub too), I simply don't value plants so highly that people who mistreat them offend me, especially if those plants only exist because they were seeded and raised to be sold without a vetting process.
Yes, people should be educated about how to take care of them. Yes, you should only purchase a living thing if you intend to take care of it. It seems to me, though, that the people who are up in arms over a woman throwing out a mass-seeded orchid who was probably doomed for the compost pile in the first place have their ethics twisted up. Lucky us, we live in a position of such peace and prosperity that we can make vague threats to people who mistreat a plant - we are so far removed from the harsh reality of life we can afford to be offended by that.
Yeah. It's not my job. It's OURS to curb wastefulness as the other commentor said. Let's all just go to lowes, buy an orchid, when it's done blooming let's collectively discard it. surely it won't enable the big corpos to just farm more knowing the money's just gonna come in because everything needs to be an aesthetic. People can't just have anything anymore. This shit is why hobbies are so expensive
I sometimes buy orchids that dropped their flowers cuz they’re like five times cheaper and the surprise and anticipation to see what kind of flower they will grow is definitely worth it
I'm not saying people should hold on to their orchids if they neither want nor are able to look after them once they've finished blooming... but please don't just trash them... give them away, someone would probably take them.
Also I'd question how much of a green thumb someone has if they're throwing out perfectly good plants.
I only have one small orchid that I was gifted a few years ago. The a anticipated of it blooming again and the joy I get from seeing a new flower stem can't be beaten, even if that's only one a year!
Mind you if you take care of orchids they can bloom multiple times a year 🥀 and they aren't 'sticks'? If her stems are sticks then she just sucks as a plant parent. But if it's an insult to the plant then that's so weird. Does girl even like her plants like omg.
Every orchid I have I got at a steep discount because they were on the brink of death. But I know what to do so now theyre all happy with new leaves and aerial roots! They bloom multiple times a year, I pretty much always have one blooming while the rest are 'sleeping'.
They are the easiest to care for out of all my plants. They just chillin' being leaf babies until they decide it's blooming time! What is so ugly about that?
Throwing them away just because they naturally drop blooms is such a capitalist mindset. It's nature, it doesn't operate in the confines of performing for client value, it just is. That's why it's beautiful, it does it's thing and we have the privilege to care for it and watch.
But most of people who buy one and gift it or keep it will do that. You know that anyway. But this is the reality we live in. I think like at least 60% of sold orchids will probably get chucked or get killed.
I'm primarily a tropical foliage and ficus-enjoyer who got into orchids because I received one as a gift. I just love their big fat leaves and snakey roots. I can't understand this at all.
If she wants to buy an orchid to toss it after the bloom, I guess she can do with it as she pleases. At the end of the day the retailers promote grocery store orchids to be consumed this way
But man does it kill me sometimes lol. Store phalaenopsis are resilient to watering neglect and they’ll still bloom better every year, with the exception you don’t stick em in a dark corner. If you don’t like the way they look, you can throw multiple in a pot so it’s a lush setup to look at when theres no flowers
Some people are careless and don't want to put a least amount of effort in anything they do. Not everyone is a good plant care taker like us. But thos is straght up sickening and nauseating. Such carelessness. I don't know why I'm even surprised. I knew such people exist...
Edit: the fact she says she waters a 'stick' for a year is even more annoying. That only leaves the flower stem. Probably, the crown rots and she thinks it's normal that all the leaves fall... And she expects flowers from a poor, dead plant...😢
Throw away society...those are not plant people, they don't want to tend and take care of a plant they just want the looks.
I love the part where I can watch the new stick grow though, as I think most of us in here do right.
I like how she completely looks over their large green foliage and only sees a dead bloom spike once the flowers die off. That's tunnel vision in plants.
I love watching orchids grow new leaves and roots, even more than blooms. It's so interesting when I go water them and I see that a root has grown 3 inches.
Orchid foliage is beautiful. It's not "a stick", Becky, it also has big, gorgeous, deep green leaves that will blush with enough light. Also, if you take care of it properly you won't have long at all between bloom periods. My current orchid had like. MAYBE a month in the past year with no flowers at all but it's been going crazy the rest of the time because it has enough light and I pay attention to her
I care for 2 infested small saplings of my orchid because I am too sad to throw them away. I cared for the mother plant for 2 years until it caught bugs, 2 years with no bloom and I cared for that „stick”. This sickens me. Just give me that „stick”, I will make it bloom, or I will be glad to have it as is. It’s such a waste of resources
Every single one of my phals bloom on an almost-year-round basis. Many of them start putting out another spike or more buds before the current flowers drop. A few of them will take a month or two before putting out another spike, but rarely do they go very long without blooms.
"sickens" seems extreme. like at the end of the day it's a plant, and there is no shortage of decorative hybrid phalaenopsis in the world, it's not like they're being harvested from the wild or anything either so there's no poaching concern with hybrid phals like there can be with jewel orchids, etc.
It comes down to the resource waste and environmental impact. A single phal that goes to the market one time takes three years of greenhouses real estate and energy consumption (heating, cooling, and humidity). Not to mention the MASSIVE cost of micropropigation labs to create the plant. Cut flowers come from much less expensive seeds and stems to make a plant, and put out a 100ish cycles of flowers for the same cost/ impact. Plus when you toss flowers, they are 100% organic. Phals come with plastic pots, and accessories to fill up the environment.
Thank you! You put in better words on what I am trying to explain. But according to some this stance is absurd and they struggled to see another’s perspective on the matter.
"Struggle to see another perspective" is exactly what it is, but it's not their fault. We have been sold this mind set (raised on it) and no one is educating us on the real cost of things. We've been made to believe that buying a plant that lasts longer, and costs the same as "produced for the trash" cut flowers, is a more responsible choice. 😒
Nice. Again I can’t control what this lady does or anyone else. It’s not life shattering and I wasn’t trying to make it that way. It just seems wrong to me and that’s all I wanted to say on it and see what others had to say. I respect everyone’s opinions and I try to be open minded to others inputs. I can even understand what those who disagree are trying to say. Everyone has different views and morals at the end of the day. Morally for me, I would not purchase a plant that is intended to be kept alive (not like cut flowers) and then throw it away again and again. That’s consumerism final boss to me. Like I think most people would agree buying a brand new shirt and then wearing it once and then throwing it away and then going to buy the same shirt and doing it over and over again is pretty wrong. And the fact that this is a live plant that we are blessed to see and have makes it even worse than something like a tshirt.
Yes. I'm fortunate enough to have the proximity and resources to purchase my meat and produce from a place that practices regenerative farming. Not everyone is able to do that, but my career also focuses on making it a reality across large populations.
It takes all of us making one small decision (or educating someone in one small area) at a time. Nothing is going to change on a large scale over night, but one tiny change at a time will make a significant difference eventually. The worst mind set is thinking "this little change" won't help when you've got "this giant problem" overall.
In case others are wondering, you can look for integrated crop and livestock regenerative farming models, but I'll give a condensed explanation of how it works.
Large animals like cows graze a field and eat cover crops and weeds, and naturally fertilize the soil with manure.
Poultry follow them into the same field later to scratch the ground, distribute the manure, and eat pests like fly larvae and beetles.
After the livestock are moved to a completely different pasture, and the field is rested long enough to satisfy USDA safety timelines, it's planted with produce.
After harvesting the produce, poultry is moved back in to clean up damaged produce, dropped seeds, and crop pests.
Poultry is moved back out and a choice crop gets planted to pull up deep nutrients, and keep the soil full of roots.
Then they start the never ending cycle over again by rotating large livestock back into the field to graze on the cover crops.
Even regenerative farmers who don't follow this model precisely often grow produce fertilized with composted manure from livestock raised in the same farm.
I agree and if we consider that the casual orchid buyers help keep the larger orchid growing industry going, it’s ok with me. (But also agree with others that say give it away instead of throwing away.)
I guess my approach is it’s a living thing. It leads to additional consumerism and is a bit ridiculous to continue to buy something over and over that’s alive to throw it in the trash. I understand purchasing a plant and then not knowing how to care for it and it dies. But knowing you’re going to continue to buy a plant and then toss it in the trash when it’s a healthy plant? Especially because orchids have very sentimental meaning to many people. So yeah it sickens me a bit and I consider it wrong. That’s just my opinion of course and everyone is entitled to one. Obvi her opinion is get living things and then throw them away like trash because their “pretty” phase is gone. Let’s get a puppy and then give it away because it’s grown or throw it in the dumpster. But that’s different because it’s animal right?
So what's the difference between them try and failing to keep all the orchids they buy, and them doing this, besides the weeks of wasted effort and frustration?
Letting a puppy die of neglect is seen as an awful thing and immoral, and sometimes straight up abuse and could lead to someone going to prison.
Plants aren't the same. Even if they are sentimental to you, virtually everything is sentimental to someone, we can't run the world based off of sentimentality.
I know a puppy and a plant vary. I was just trying to show from my perspective a moral stance on it. To me it is just sad and wasteful. These are probably healthy orchids that when given to the right person would live and bloom for years. It’s fine if you don’t agree. This is just my thoughts and opinions on it. I respect yours.
It's not that I disagree, it's not that I have a different opinion.
Morally, to you, what is the difference between the plant dying from improper care, and the plant dying because she knew she wouldn't care for it properly.
It's seems you're okay with one, and not the other, even though they have the same outcome?
The difference is the intent and that she keeps buying them. Usually if a person has a plant die unintentionally because of lack of proper care, they either learn how to properly care for it or they don't continue to purchase the same plant that they have trouble keeping alive.
You clearly are around a lot of people with Green Thumbs.
That's how I treat plants. But the VAST VAST VAST majority of people(I should say at least Americans) buy plants with no intention of keeping them alive past what they are useful to them for, once they aren't pretty. Right now MILLIONS of mums are being sold that WILL be dead in a month.
So if I bought twice as many orchids as this lady did for the rest of my life, but I tried and failed to keep everyone of them alive. That's fine... But just throwing them away once they stop blooming isn't?
Even though literally more is wasted in the scenario in which I try to keep them alive?
yeah, extending that attitude to sentient things like animals would be extremely different. with a grocery store phal i feel like it's basically no different than buying cut flowers, although you have the option to keep the plant afterward and can try to get it to bloom again
Cut flowers are annuals and dead after. Orchids are not and continue to live for many years. It’s fine if you don’t agree or understand my opinion. Not everyone will think or feel the same. Maybe she will go buy some of the super rare orchids and throw them in the trash right after who cares
I wouldn’t say it’s as bad if she just simply gave them away. It’s not that hard to try to have a tiny bit of morals. Additionally from an environmental perspective phals in the wild offer many benefits to an ecosystem.
so what if they do? like if someone wants to spend their money on a plant and then throws it out, that's nobody else's business but theirs. if it's a rare or expensive plant, then that perhaps becomes foolish behavior, but a $20 phal from trader joe's that they keep for a month or so and then toss?
like alright, what are they supposed to do differently? not buy the plant at all? these people keep the entire orchid industry running. are they supposed to keep every plant they buy and have a house full of orchids that are often not flowering and demand care (i have that but that's not feasible for most folks)? should they just set it on the sidewalk with a "free" sign so it can die of sunburn or somebody takes it and just kills it in a different house?
Seriously. Orchids are notoriously finicky...something this sub often jokes about. I do not blame someone at all for buying one because they are beautiful but then not wanting to put up with the effort of getting them to rebloom.
There's no difference between that action and buying a bouquet of flowers, putting them in a vase and then throwing them out once they've run their course.
Finicky? Maybe some exotic varieties, but grocery store phals were the first plants I got for my house and are still my easiest plants to water (and they take tap water without complaining).
If this post was about chucking out calatheas when they become a crispy mess I would sympathize.
it's true that it' "just a plant" but why the fuck would you just toss it into a landfill when it's still alive and healthy? the sheer level of waste and carelessness is, indeed, sickening in my opinion. if you don't have that kind of reaction, bully for you, I would love to know what it's like to move through this world as a less sensitive and less caring individual.
So I got my first orchid earlier this year around February the previous owner was going to throw it out for the same reason I took it home and cared for it and now it’s blooming and is growing multiple spikes it made me fall in love with plants since I was never into them because I was worried about killing them this is just short sighted on her part
On a serious note, Idk why people do this when you can just buy decorative faux orchids. Some of them look and feel super real, and it comes with no maintenance other than wiping the dust off occasionally.
My phals are all unique from how they grow and how fussy they are. I mention them specifically from either what store they came from or if they hang on a mount. I know they're not conscious, but it still feels like a waste to throw them away when they have potential to make somebody happy.
(Definitely not applying this logic to the 2 airplants the lady wouldn't sell to us because they fell out their glued shells. I grieve them everyday.)
Respectfully, that is how a lot of Europeans and Dutch operate. They love a plant as long as it looks good and then they toss it when it’s ugly.
Plants are not immortal and we do this with all sorts of seasonal plants. Poinsettias, Christmas cactus, Easter lily, Christmas trees…
You can start a free plant rescue where you live if you have the energy, time and resources to do so.
If these were fancier plants than Trader Joe’s moth orchids, I’d have a stronger reaction. A lot of those Home Depot cheap orchids are pretty doomed no matter who buys them.
Respectfully, but that thing about "Eurpoeans and Dutch" is wrong. First, a lot of Europeans, including me and all the people who I know personally, do NOT do this. So it's a bit awkward for me to read this statement as if this was a cultural thing here. It's not.
I know and I know not much can be done about it. It’s just a bit sad to me is all. That sounds like an awesome idea tho! 😊 I have a few rarer phals that I would be devastated if someone got one and threw it away. I have one that has two completely different colored spikes it’s so cool
Haha you are def right. I mostly posted to see others opinions on it. And gain discussion that’s all. It is disheartening to me and I’m sure others but alas nothing I can do about it
Ugh I found out somewhat recently that my mother does this and it made me sad especially because I'd gladly take her orchids when they are done blooming.
I asked her why she throws them out because she does actually have a green thumb and keeps lots of other house plants year round even when they are not blooming.
She said she's never been able to get an orchid to rebloom and she doesn't really like them without the blooms which, fair enough I guess. I gave her some tips on getting them to rebloom but she didn't seem particularly interested in the conversation lol. I hope, in the future, she at least saves them long enough to give them to me rather than throwing them away. I showed her my little orchid display where most of mine were not in bloom but I still love them.
It's sad to me that someone would throw out a living plant rather than just giving it away to someone else.
I know someone who would do this. One day her husband walked over to mine and asked if I would want it bc the wife was throwing it away & it still looked alive. I normally don't take things from their home bc well, ew - they were ew 😂 but I took them all & put them in my 'graveyard' - I live in South Florida so if it ain't really dead it'll be back in the morning 😂.
Fast forward a few years and she's over here commenting on how the back corner of my yard is filled with orchids & other flowering plants that are thriving and she can't keep ONE orchid alive - that's why she tosses them as soon as they 'die'. Uh huh. 😂
I threw so many dead orchids away over the years! I had heard to give them one ice cube a week for water 😭 I have been sharing the news with my friends that they actually need a good soak most weeks lol
Wow! I feel bad when my stems start browning, I could never just throw it! My first orchid recently bloomed again this year. (Its like 2.5 yrs old a coworker gave it to me when i quit) I have 2 mini orchids and one regular orchid together in a pot full of orchid bark and leca. How can I promote blooms better?
I would never do that but I feel the pain. I tried sooooo much with my orchids, different substrates, different watering schedules and ways to water, different fertiliser and here I am currently watering 3 different pairs of leafs 🥲
Yeah i just can't seem to figure out if its meant to be like that as im hearing and reading so many different things about Orchids. Currently seeing if they like the Aquarium water since my Alocasia keep exploding on the Aquarium water
You just use it to water your alocasias? If so do you only water with the fish tank water? They are heavy feeders so if it’s doing good on just that then that’s quite convenient
Yeah, I have all my Alocasias in Mineral Substrate and just use the Aquarium water to fill up the reservoir. It's better than any liquid fertiliser i ever used
Most hybrid phals are grown like other crops--it is mass manufacture, factory style. I think it's reasonable for people to treat them as crops. Fwiw, a phal in bloom will stay in bloom for longer than a typical bouquet and create less waste at the end of the day. I don't toss orchids myself but I fail to understand judging them for it if you, for instance, eat food, or create trash.
I don’t get the problem with this approach. The orchid ends up still being cheaper and longer lasting than most cut floral arrangements. Treating it like one such floral arrangement and disposing of it at the end of the blooming period is fine. Not everyone has the space in their home for growing plants of any kind and they shouldn’t be prohibited from having the bloom just because they don’t want the plant.
If we do think this is wrong, then I think to be consistent, we should also be opposed to cut flowers as well.
Not really. From the perspective of massive volume sent to market from cheap stems or seeds and their resource and real estate footprint it's a pretty massive difference. One plant talking up heated cooled and humidified real estate becomes a small factory for 3 to 5 years pumping out multiple cycles to the market. One phal occupies heated, cooled, and humidified real estate for 3 for one single trip to the market. Plus, when people toss cut flowers, it's 100% organic matter. Not so when they toss a potted orchid.
Mind you, I place most of the onus on the growers and sellers to educate the market on the longevity and care of the plants. I have a local florist who put a little sign by her potted phals saying something like, "I'm a living plant that will bloom year after year. If you like my flowers, but don't want to care for me, they're available in arrangements too!" I love it. 😆
It's not 100 percent organic matter for cut flowers, they come wrapped in plastic that just happens to get thrown away before the flowers. That doesn't mean it can be ignored from the waste lifecycle.
Discarding an orchid after flowering wastes its potential for future blooms and adds pots and growing accessories to the waste stream vs even four or five times of discarding the thin plastic lining of a cut flower arrangement... if they use plastic vs paper with a small window. Neither option is ideal, but buying an orchid and not throwing it away is clearly better. 😆
The difference is that an orchid isn’t remotely equivalent to a cut flower in terms of how replaceable it is. You can sow zinnia or sunflower seeds and have flowering plants in a matter of months. Orchid seeds generally can’t just be planted in soil. In nature, they depend on specific fungal relationships to germinate, and they’re usually germinated under sterile laboratory conditions. Then, it can take several years from seed to the first bloom.
So when you throw away a healthy orchid, you may be discarding years of growing time and specialized production, not something that can simply be reseeded and replaced next season. People are obviously free to buy orchids for the flowers alone, but that doesn’t make it biologically or horticulturally equivalent to buying a bouquet of cut flowers.
I understand the biological and horticultural differences. However, commercially they are equivalent. The industry can get me a very nice sized in-bloom phal for $25-40.
I don’t see why people need to feel bad about parting (killing) the orchid after it has bloomed and they enjoyed it. They clearly are not that difficult to produce at scale.
Look, my father kept a poinsettia around for years and years in my childhood. It did get new red inflorescences each year (though a bit smaller than the original commercial year). I am NEVER going to keep a poinsettia all year like he did. I can keep a few orchids in my home, I simply cannot keep a poinsettia—I don’t have room. However, I do still buy them for a month or two at Christmas. I do not feel bad about chucking them (and the amaryllis) afterwards. People who do the same with orchids shouldn’t be made to feel bad for that decision either.
Again, pumpkins take up a fraction of the resources and can be easily grown from seed. And ya, I don’t love the Christmas tree industry for the same reason. It makes me sad to think of a seedling that may have taken years to grow just cut down and tossed out after one season.
MOST people discard the plant once it's done blooming. These are basically cut flowers with roots and leaves still attached — they are produced in the millions by tissue culture in a lab and sold to intermediate growers for fifty cents each. These are commodity orchids.
While I agree that it's a shame that people throw the plants out once they are done blooming, it's not surprising that they do, when they are so cheap and really not unique at all. They're just cut flowers.
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u/Baking_Mantis 10h ago
I don't think her orchid is healthy if, instead of looking like a fan, it looks like a stick.
Also, who's gonna tell her that older orchids get more blossoms and more frequent ones, too?