[rich24uk]

Anyone able to advise on whether my orchid needs repotting? We bought it from the local supermarket as a display piece. It's the first one we've had so am off to get some feed at the weekend but was wondering if the pot was a little on the small side? The roots don't really have a great deal of room in there.

The potting medium is bark,

[Chrysalis]

Hi Rich.

I have three like that, which I kept in their original pots for some years, having read that they like to be confined.  But eventually they got so big that the aerial roots were making a bid for the next town  and the pots were splitting, so I bought some larger ones form Wilcos and orchid compost.  I just tore off the old pots, trimmed off the dead roots and plonked them in the new compost.

Hey presto!  Three happy orchids on a sunny windowsill, spreading across the windows and flowering abundantly. 

Give it a try.  I'm usually useless with house plants, but these three are going strong after three or four years!

[Mrs Bee]

Hi there. Yes orchids do like their roots confined.

If it is your first go at keeping orchids they thrive best on collected rainwater which you keep somewhere warm so that the water is kept tepid.

When you water them immerse the pot in the water and then drain them well as they don't like to sit in  water.

All this is orchid lore according to my 82 year old mother who is a whizz at growing orchids. She has a nursery for ailing orchids on her windowsill. People give her pathetic looking specimans and she nurses them back to full health and glory.

[rich24uk]

Thanks for the advice

I've done a bit of research and am watering as per your post. I only brought it a few weeks ago and given that they need to be constrained I'll leave it in it's pot for now

[New shoot]

I'd leave it in the pot until it is bursting out of it like Chrysalis did    Remember that these perch up trees in the wild and don't need compost at all.  The only reason it is in bark compost is so you can keep it in a normal house for humans, rather than a specialist orchid greenhouse with mist sprayers and high humidity

They need decent light, but not direct strong sunlight, watering as Mrs Bee advises by the dunk and drain method and if you want to prolong the blooms, a feed can help.  I use Orchid Myst, which you spray onto the foliage and exposed roots weekly.

I'm death to most houseplants as well, but moth orchids are very forgiving 

[Chrysalis]

Bizarrely, mine are on a South facing, very sunny windowsill and thrive there. When I move them elsewhere, they go into a decline...maybe I'm just lucky. 

[New shoot]

If it 'aint broke Chrysalis   

Mine are in the bathroom on an east facing windowsill, but the frosted glass diffuses the early morning rays somewhat