I was given an orchid in flower in November. A few weeks ago the flowers started to drop and now they have all gone, leaving a bare, dead looking, stem. Should I cut this stem/spike or leave it and hope new flowers grow from it. The leaves and base look healthy, the roots are silvery.
barmaid, it may look like it but its not the orchid root that produces flowers but a flower stem. they do look alike but the roots will never produce flowers no matter how you train them.
it depends....sometimes the stem dies and dries right back to the plant...those you can cut off. If the stem stays green then cut off just above a bump on the stem where there is what looks like a tiny leaf or scale. This will usually make another flower stem
I have one that's about 8 years old and this year it's gone absolutely crazy, full of flowers, far more than when it was given to me! All I do is ignore it, put some water on when it's about to die although I did pot it up a size when it split the pit it was in. I also clip off any dry looking stems.
I have 4 different orchids and they all constantly come into flower. I never cut the stems down, sometimes new stems grow up from the bottom similar to the silvery roots but sometimes stems with new flowers branch off the old stems. Apart from trying to only use rainwater I give them no care at all and have never repotted any of them in 4 or more years.