How do you get your orchid to everbloom or flower longer than average?

[Autumn Child]

I am curious about everbloomers. I have read and heard about everbloomers but i do not know what cause it to everbloom.

A friend of mine that lived in Indonesian rural areas had a wild white phal that she says blooms non stop. It only have a couple of leaves but huge root network. I have also read a few thread in this forum that seems to indicate the age and size of the plant is the main criteria for everblooming.

What about the feeding regiment for everbloomers?
I heard that you can not feed orchids in bloom?

Could the experts in this forum share a few tips about how you guys make your orchids to go everbloom?

[bodaciousbonsai]

Usually orchids that have everblooming cycles have alot of multiple growths and are at maturity one right after the other. As far as feeding orchids in bloom I will always feed weakly weekly with a well balanced fertilizer like msu. I also have been growing orchids for 16 years now and have yet to see a Phalaenopsis in a ever blooming state.

[RosieC]

It's generally a genetic thing in some orchids.

Some Phals will flower for a very long time BUT they will flower with just a few flowers at once, the spike keeps getting longer and new blooms replace the ones which are fading. It will come to an end eventually though even with those.

I don't think there is anything you can do to get an orchid which is not genetically inclined to sequential blooming to do it though.

[johnblagg]

I once recieved a white phal as a gift that would make a new spike almost immeaditly after the last one finished ....sometimes a couple of weeks between but very quickly .....

It also slowly died within a year .....I am assuming It was my inexperiance that killed it more than the heavy blooming as it was my very first phal.It would lose one leaf at a time slowly getting smaller and smaller,but at the same time producing new spikes untill it just expired.

I Dont know of any way to force this and really dont think it is good for them not to get a chance to restore energy stores in between bloom cycles.

I do have a yellow that blooms a lot in fact is making new spike now and it bloomed in Janurary also ...but this one is on eof the type that make a clump and the spike do keep growing as it blooms and it will stay in bloom for months growing new buds at the tip as a few open .....onlt 2 or 3 blooms open at one time and they last for months.It will stay in bloom untill july or so this year I believe.