Phal Bud and bloom drop troubleshooting?

[BullyDogMom]

I have a bunch of Phals..10-15ish. I refuse to buying anything else until I get these perfect- orat least I can understand what went wrong.

So much of it is about the owners habits and local environment- but something is happening and I can't ID what in the world Im doing wrong.

I live right outside NYC. My plants range from 1-8 years in my care. I take them out every summer. Every fall I bring them in with spikes at various levels of development.

I found my older larger phals tend to bloom earlier, their spikes mature faster., etc

But I brought in ~ 12 orchids in the fall, all with bloom spikes at various states of development-some already and still in flower- put them in "their spot" and never move them because if something is wrong with a location (like a draft or shadow from a tree or too far from light, I want to ID that issue). Its nearly March and I can't make sense of what Im seeing.

I have spikes where the 4th and 5th blooms from the end matured to almost opening, then crumpled and died but the front 3 are opening. I have another that threw a huge long spike and developed 12 buds that were nearly ready to open, and then they all dropped in a day.

Most of the information I see online is about bud or flower drop depends on shock- something weird, a drastic change- like the ride home from a grocery store or some change that is weather dependent + drafty windows- but winter is nearly over and these sikes have been happy the whole time - getting bigger getting plumper- - why would I be bud-dropping now when they did so good through the coldest tems and shortest days without moving them at all?

Somthing is happening and I don't know what

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!

Any chance there could be a gas leak? It could be very small, but buds are really sensitive to it. Since this spot has worked for multiple years there's SOMETHING that is different this year...

[Dimples]

A full spike of buds dropping in a day sounds odd. Do you have any natural gas appliances in the house? Or do you happen to be storing crates of fruit near your orchids?

Could someone else in the house have left a door open and generated a draft? Have you checked for pests? How are the roots doing?

What have your indoor temps been lately?

[Ray]

Any ripening fruit near them?

A poorly tuned gas flame and ripening fruit can both produce ethylene gas, which will do just as you describe.

[Fuerte Rav]

Sorry to hear your woes BullyDogMom, but if it's any consolation a lot of my Phals are behaving exactly like yours! Mine stay indoors all year, in the same spots, so don't even have a twice yearly change of environment like yours.

But!
I think the guys on here have solved my mystery, if not yours!

I switched our gas fire on 2 weeks ago for the first time this winter and it has been on every evening since. Because of the strong winds we've been having I have only had one small window open, not creating a through draft/good ventilation. All the phals in connecting rooms have been affected and only the ones in a completely different part of the house haven't suffered.

I hope you manage to resolve your issue!