Hi, I need some advice. I live in mid-Michigan. I have a couple of
Phalaenopsis orchids. One I bought about 3 years ago, the other I bought
last winter. Both of them were in bloom when I bought them. The newer one
seems to be resting, which is understandable. The older one seems to be
very healthy, putting on new growth, lots of new growth. Unfortunately,
that is all it does is new leaves. I keep it in the kitchen in a northeast
facing window next to the sink. It gets misted every morning and watered
every Friday morning. I give it fertilizer every two weeks. It is set in
bark mix that that was changed two years ago. The house is cooled to about
77 degrees in the summer and heated to 70 degrees in the winter. It only
gets the light it receives thru the window which is direct sunlight for
about 2 hours in the early morning and then just diffused lighting for the
rest of the day. The air from the duct work cannot blow directly on the
plant. I will sometimes set it outside over night if I know the
temperatures will not drop too low and the humidity will be high. Some of
the oldest leaves look a bit worse for the wear (cat), with broken off ends.
A couple of the older leaves have a couple of dark brown circular spots
about a quarter inch in diameter. Two other older leaves also have what
looks to be a split down the center of the leaf that is very dark. The
plant currently has about 40 leaves on it, about half of them new the last
couple of months. HELP! Does anyone have advice and is there a book for
growing orchids indoors in northern climates?

Thanks,
George Weber

Hi, George.

First of all, can you post a photo of that plant to the
alt.binaries.pictures.orchids newsgroup? I'd love to see a phal with that
many leaves!

There are four factors that may commonly result in a non-blooming
phalaenopsis:

Insufficient light
Insufficient nutrition
Improper nutrition
Lack of day/night temperature drop

Insufficient light is usually not a major problem, as phals are usually
happy with lower levels, and a northeast window is probably OK most of the
year, but the lighting may be a bit slim in the winter.

We'll need more info on the feeding regimen to address the nutritional
aspects. What is the formula of fertilizer you use and at what
concentration do you mix it? Also, please describe the color of the leaves.
If they are a bright emerald green, it is usually an indicator that the
plant is being overfed with nitrogen, which can be a reason for the plant to
not bloom.

Many phals need to be exposed to a day/night temperature drop of 10°-15° for
a couple of weeks in order to initiate the growth of inflorescences (flower
spikes). We typically see that in the autumn, and if the plant is close to
a window, that's usually all it takes. If your windows are of the
energy-efficient type, that "chill" may later in the year, when it gets
really cold outside. In any case, you really don't want the plant to be
exposed to anything lower that 50°-55°F.

The American Orchid Society publishes some short guides to growing orchids
in the home and about phalaenopsis culture specifically, among others. I
have them available - along with all sorts of other stuff - at my website
(URL below). You'll find them via the "Free Information" link under the
"Basic Culture" heading.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"George Weber" <gw7764 [at] power-net.net> wrote in message
news:11i7vrufoo5fdc5 [at] corp.supernews.com...
> Hi, I need some advice. I live in mid-Michigan. I have a couple of
> Phalaenopsis orchids. One I bought about 3 years ago, the other I bought
> last winter. Both of them were in bloom when I bought them. The newer
> one seems to be resting, which is understandable. The older one seems to
> be very healthy, putting on new growth, lots of new growth.
> Unfortunately, that is all it does is new leaves. I keep it in the
> kitchen in a northeast facing window next to the sink. It gets misted
> every morning and watered every Friday morning. I give it fertilizer
> every two weeks. It is set in bark mix that that was changed two years
> ago. The house is cooled to about 77 degrees in the summer and heated to
> 70 degrees in the winter. It only gets the light it receives thru the
> window which is direct sunlight for about 2 hours in the early morning and
> then just diffused lighting for the rest of the day. The air from the
> duct work cannot blow directly on the plant. I will sometimes set it
> outside over night if I know the temperatures will not drop too low and
> the humidity will be high. Some of the oldest leaves look a bit worse for
> the wear (cat), with broken off ends. A couple of the older leaves have a
> couple of dark brown circular spots about a quarter inch in diameter. Two
> other older leaves also have what looks to be a split down the center of
> the leaf that is very dark. The plant currently has about 40 leaves on
> it, about half of them new the last couple of months. HELP! Does anyone
> have advice and is there a book for growing orchids indoors in northern
> climates?
>
> Thanks,
> George Weber
>

George Weber wrote:
> Hi, I need some advice. I live in mid-Michigan. I have a couple of
> Phalaenopsis orchids. One I bought about 3 years ago, the other I bought
> last winter. Both of them were in bloom when I bought them. The newer one
> seems to be resting, which is understandable. The older one seems to be
> very healthy, putting on new growth, lots of new growth. Unfortunately,
> that is all it does is new leaves. I keep it in the kitchen in a northeast
> facing window next to the sink. It gets misted every morning and watered
> every Friday morning. I give it fertilizer every two weeks. It is set in
> bark mix that that was changed two years ago. The house is cooled to about
> 77 degrees in the summer and heated to 70 degrees in the winter. It only
> gets the light it receives thru the window which is direct sunlight for
> about 2 hours in the early morning and then just diffused lighting for the
> rest of the day. The air from the duct work cannot blow directly on the
> plant. I will sometimes set it outside over night if I know the
> temperatures will not drop too low and the humidity will be high. Some of
> the oldest leaves look a bit worse for the wear (cat), with broken off ends.
> A couple of the older leaves have a couple of dark brown circular spots
> about a quarter inch in diameter. Two other older leaves also have what
> looks to be a split down the center of the leaf that is very dark. The
> plant currently has about 40 leaves on it, about half of them new the last
> couple of months. HELP! Does anyone have advice and is there a book for
> growing orchids indoors in northern climates?
>
> Thanks,
> George Weber

I'll start by caveating myself and saying I'm no orchid expert. I got
my first one about 3.5 yrs ago from my son't gf. She gave me more, and
I got hooked. I had 12 at one time, I've killed 2 or 3. But I couldn't
get any of them to bloom. I asked here, and got lots of suggestions.
More light, different feeding regimens, Havasupi Indian dances and
chants (jk!). No blooms. A couple of people suggested I not feed or
water them for a while. I couldn't do that for a long time, but last
winter I decided, "Bloom or die!" Not really. But I picked out 3 or 4
of the healthiest ones, with lots of new growth, and stopped feeding
and watering them, at least until they started to go bad. I sprayed
them each week. It took a couple of months, but the paph spiked last
December. I didn't even notice it at first. I was pretty excited when I
did. I started watering it again and the spike grew. Unfortunately, my
inexperience let to the spike not flowering. I think the way I watered
it killed the flower just as it started to bloom. But I got my first
spike. Since then, I've gotten a Oncidium Sharry Baby to fully bloom
(14 blossums at once!) and a gorgeous cat to bloom this summer! And the
paph whose bloom I killed is now in full bloom, much bigger than it
would have been last year! And without the starvation tecnique.
I acquired a phal this summer and have been normally watering and
feeding it since. It's putting up some nice new growth. I'll give it a
year of faithful feeding and watering, but if it doesn't bloom, I'll
give it the same treatment. It's worked 4 times now, with 3 kinds of
orchids, so I'll continue to do so until I am convinced there's a
better way.
Hope this helps in your world.

"Starvation" works for some orchids, but with Phals I wouldn't want to take
that chance. Phals have nowhere to store moisture and nutrition. I believe a
starvation regimen used on a Phal would lead to a sad plant in pretty short
order.

Just my 2 cents.

Diana

Diana Kulaga wrote:
> "Starvation" works for some orchids, but with Phals I wouldn't want to take
> that chance. Phals have nowhere to store moisture and nutrition. I believe a
> starvation regimen used on a Phal would lead to a sad plant in pretty short
> order.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> Diana

Thanks! Probably worth more than that. What would you reccommend to get
a phal to bloom?
This one's potted in a very unusual way. I mentioned it in a thread
here when I found it last summer. It's in a hour glass shaped vase. The
potting material is held up in the top by the narrow part at the
center. There is normally water in the wider bottom part. It's a very
nice green color, so it looks pretty nice. I tracked down the lady who
potted it and she did it for last year's orchid show. Had found it in a
book about Victorian era orchids. Apparently this was a very popular
way to pot them back then.
Am interested in your ideas on how to get my Phal to bloom.

salgud,

Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple of
weeks.

If you do this outside beware of evening or night rain. It will sit in the
crown and then bacteria will rot it and kill the plant.

Bob
"salgud" <davegb [at] safebrowse.com> wrote in message
news:1126725445.566320.19550 [at] g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Diana Kulaga wrote:
>> "Starvation" works for some orchids, but with Phals I wouldn't want to
>> take
>> that chance. Phals have nowhere to store moisture and nutrition. I
>> believe a
>> starvation regimen used on a Phal would lead to a sad plant in pretty
>> short
>> order.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents.
>>
>> Diana
>
> Thanks! Probably worth more than that. What would you reccommend to get
> a phal to bloom?
> This one's potted in a very unusual way. I mentioned it in a thread
> here when I found it last summer. It's in a hour glass shaped vase. The
> potting material is held up in the top by the narrow part at the
> center. There is normally water in the wider bottom part. It's a very
> nice green color, so it looks pretty nice. I tracked down the lady who
> potted it and she did it for last year's orchid show. Had found it in a
> book about Victorian era orchids. Apparently this was a very popular
> way to pot them back then.
> Am interested in your ideas on how to get my Phal to bloom.
>

Bob Walsh wrote:
> salgud,
>
> Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple of
> weeks.
>
> If you do this outside beware of evening or night rain. It will sit in the
> crown and then bacteria will rot it and kill the plant.
>
> Bob
> "salgud" <davegb [at] safebrowse.com> wrote in message
> news:1126725445.566320.19550 [at] g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Diana Kulaga wrote:
> >> "Starvation" works for some orchids, but with Phals I wouldn't want to
> >> take
> >> that chance. Phals have nowhere to store moisture and nutrition. I
> >> believe a
> >> starvation regimen used on a Phal would lead to a sad plant in pretty
> >> short
> >> order.
> >>
> >> Just my 2 cents.
> >>
> >> Diana
> >
> > Thanks! Probably worth more than that. What would you reccommend to get
> > a phal to bloom?
> > This one's potted in a very unusual way. I mentioned it in a thread
> > here when I found it last summer. It's in a hour glass shaped vase. The
> > potting material is held up in the top by the narrow part at the
> > center. There is normally water in the wider bottom part. It's a very
> > nice green color, so it looks pretty nice. I tracked down the lady who
> > potted it and she did it for last year's orchid show. Had found it in a
> > book about Victorian era orchids. Apparently this was a very popular
> > way to pot them back then.
> > Am interested in your ideas on how to get my Phal to bloom.
> >

Thanks for your reply, Bob.
I'm not sure how I'd do that. Possibly some more of those Havasupi
Indian chants! Seriously, I don't have a greenhouse, or any area with a
consistently lower temperature. Will have to ponder that one a while.

>> Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple
>> of
>> weeks.<

That's the key. If you can't do that naturally, try to create a cool space
at night. You might set an ice bucket next to it, for example, or even put a
few ice cubes on top of the medium. Do this in late October/early November.
That should do it for you, providing it's getting enough light. I do
remember your description of the way this Phal is "potted". Interesting.

Diana

Diana Kulaga wrote:
> >> Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple
> >> of
> >> weeks.<
>
> That's the key. If you can't do that naturally, try to create a cool space
> at night. You might set an ice bucket next to it, for example, or even put a
> few ice cubes on top of the medium. Do this in late October/early November.
> That should do it for you, providing it's getting enough light. I do
> remember your description of the way this Phal is "potted". Interesting.
>
> Diana

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give that a try this fall.
It's a beautiful plant and I love the way it's potted. I'm getting a
digital camera next month and want to start taking pics of my orchids.
I'll be sure to take a couple of pics of the Phal and post them to a
binaries site so others here can see what it looks like. It's really
great looking and is a very attractive and different way of displaying
an orchid. It's one of my favorites!

salgud wrote:
> Diana Kulaga wrote:
>
>>>>Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple
>>>>of
>>>>weeks.<
>>
>>That's the key. If you can't do that naturally, try to create a cool space
>>at night. You might set an ice bucket next to it, for example, or even put a
>>few ice cubes on top of the medium. Do this in late October/early November.
>>That should do it for you, providing it's getting enough light. I do
>>remember your description of the way this Phal is "potted". Interesting.
>>
>>Diana
>
>
> Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give that a try this fall.
> It's a beautiful plant and I love the way it's potted. I'm getting a
> digital camera next month and want to start taking pics of my orchids.
> I'll be sure to take a couple of pics of the Phal and post them to a
> binaries site so others here can see what it looks like. It's really
> great looking and is a very attractive and different way of displaying
> an orchid. It's one of my favorites!
>
Check on your news server for alt.binaries.pictures.orchids. Many of us
participate thee as well and there are many beautiful pictures of
orchids. And always room for more! :-)

--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Reka wrote:
> salgud wrote:
> > Diana Kulaga wrote:
> >
> >>>>Many will give their Phals about a 10 degree f drop in temp.for a couple
> >>>>of
> >>>>weeks.<
> >>
> >>That's the key. If you can't do that naturally, try to create a cool space
> >>at night. You might set an ice bucket next to it, for example, or even put a
> >>few ice cubes on top of the medium. Do this in late October/early November.
> >>That should do it for you, providing it's getting enough light. I do
> >>remember your description of the way this Phal is "potted". Interesting.
> >>
> >>Diana
> >
> >
> > Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give that a try this fall.
> > It's a beautiful plant and I love the way it's potted. I'm getting a
> > digital camera next month and want to start taking pics of my orchids.
> > I'll be sure to take a couple of pics of the Phal and post them to a
> > binaries site so others here can see what it looks like. It's really
> > great looking and is a very attractive and different way of displaying
> > an orchid. It's one of my favorites!
> >
> Check on your news server for alt.binaries.pictures.orchids. Many of us
> participate thee as well and there are many beautiful pictures of
> orchids. And always room for more! :-)
>
> --
> Reka
>
> This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
> http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Will be one of the first things I do, as soon as I start getting decent
pics with my new camera.