[Grubbypaws]

OK I am confused 

Christmas bought two new orchids to my home and I am trying to learn how to look after them. I have googled how to prune them until I look like this 

There seems to be no consensus as to how best to do this.

Do I prune when the stem is still green and when the sap is rising even though this will sacrifice a few flowers or do I wait until flowering is over?

Where do I make the cut? Is it a few centimeters below where the spent flowers have been, high up on the stem, or is it a few centimeters from where the flowering stem originated from the mother plant, low done on the stem?

[Kristen]

We have several of these, presents from friends over the years. They seem to be happy ...

After the flowering finishes I cut back to an inch above a "node" on the flowering stem below the bit which has flowered, and they tend to send out a new flowering shoot.

Mine are put somewhere prominent when in flower, but the rest of the time are on an East facing window in modest light, cool temperatures (rarely below 18C, definitely not climbing dramatically on a hot sunny day though). I have a full 2' square gravel tray there, with plenty of gravel in it, on which are stood all my "resting" Orchids and the water level is kept topped up (below the bottom of the pots, but not much and at least an inch deep in the gravel) to provide humidity nearby.

I water with a proprietary feed - used very dilutely - and as per the instructions the pots are flushed through with water every 4th watering. I only ever use rain water.  Leaves are cleaned with a cloth and some distilled water (comes out of the dehumidifier here)

[Grubbypaws]

Thank you Kristen, that is really helpful.

Can I also ask when is a good time to re-pot them. I have bought some transparent pots and special compost. Should I wait until they have finished flowering or doesn’t it matter?

Do you provide much humidity when they are in flower or just when they are resting in your gravel tray?

[Kristen]

I would try to avoid repotting them at all. Don't think I have ever repotted mine ... I do pot-on my Cymbidiums, as they get bigger, and I do that in the Spring - dunno if that is appropriate for Moth Orchids though, sorry. After flowering (i.e. when "resting") sounds right though.

I don't provide humidity when flowering 'coz I move them to somewhere where we can enjoy them, but the plants would prefer some extra humidity.

I do put the clear-plastic pots in a snazzy outer pot [when in flower and moved for enjoyment!] , and I put an inch of gravel in the bottom of that (so that there is no/little chance of the pot itself sitting in water). There will definitely be some evaporation from that, but my snazzy pots tend to be very little larger than the plant's own pots so I am sceptical that there is much of a gap for much evaporation to happen.  More wide-open outer pots would be better ...

I rarely "Mist" plants as it marks the foliage, but that is an option (don't let water collect in the axils of the leaves though)

[sunshineband]

Remember that these orchids are epiphytes and use their roots to attach themselves to trees, and the fat grey ones are the healthy ones. They usually stick out of the pot at the top and can grow quite long. I mist these regularly with very dilute house plant food. Any roots that look black are actually dead and it is worth trimming these off so they don't rot. The only time you need to re-pot is if there are masses of black roots in the pot which need to be removed, or the potting medium has broken right down and there appears to be hardly any in the pot.

Kristen has described exactly how to prune back the stems to get these so they develop new flowering growth. 

The other important thing is to keep the leaves as clean as possible. Don't remove leaves from the base until they pull off easily as the plant withdraws nutrients from these are they die back.

Once they are happy they should last for years!!