Luxury phalaenopsis orchid
By Florabunda
United Kingdom 
I have an orchid as above which was given to me for my 70th birthday last August so is precious. It had beautiful flowers but these have all fallen off, leaving a central stalk with three side shoots which held the flowers. Should I prune this and if so, how and where? Please help!
28 Jan, 2009
Answers
One tip for your orchid - which I am assuming is a Phalaenopsis - is to give it a shock. You do this by placing it in a cooler room - about 5 degrees down from its normal temp. Leave it there for about 3 weeks and when you bring it back, it usually does the trick!
They often produce a new flower spike from between two leaves, not only from the node - watch out for that and have your supporting stick ready!
29 Jan, 2009
Previous question
Sometimes if you cut the flower stem to just above the highest node on the main stem it will create a new branch of flowers. This can take about 1-3 months to happen.
Cutting the flower spike off completely at the bottom won't harm the plant either but whatever you do make sure you use a sterile and sharp blade.
Picture of a node:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/gallery/data/506/phal-node.jpg
28 Jan, 2009