Phal. Blooming problems

[Massica]

I am looking for a diagnosis, and potentially a treatment plan for my sad phal.

I purchased a phal about a year ago. It had several flowers already folly bloomed on its two spikes. After those flowers died off, none of the other buds made it to bloom. They all died in various stages of development. They turn a funky red-green, their stems become rubbery and red, and then they fall off.

After all the buds died off I figured I would repot and maybe help out the little guy. I put the phal. in a decorative wooden-slat basket in fir bark, charcoal, perlite, and a little blended up sphagnum, with some moisture-retaining moss on top. Unfortunately, the new buds that formed on the ends of the old spikes did the same thing. They turned red and rubbery and fell off.

I read that sometimes exposure to methane can cause bud blast, so I moved the phal away from the stove and ripening fruit, but that did not help. Now the phal has an east-facing window where he gets a decent amount of light, but is shaded nicely by a cymbidium. Based on my past experience, it is getting inside the range of light phals like. I live in the Bay Area, so low humidity is generally not a problem, and I mist if it ever does get too dry.

I fertilize monthly with 20-20-20, but I am now switching all my orchids to a biweekly weakly schedule with superthrive as well. I am thinking of switching to 20-10-20, because I hear this is more preferable to phals, but I have a hard time believing that THAT would make such a big difference. I should say that I recently noticed that its oldest leaf (it has 4) has started to kind of curl, edges pointing down, away from the leaf stem, and get crispy toward the tip. That's all I can think of for now.

Any ideas?

[jkofferdahl]

I'm going to take the curled leaf as a clue since you don't mention the leaf as yellowing. It sounds quite possible that the plant is simply not getting enough water. How do the roots look? How does the potting medium feel? Too much water can cause the roots to rot, and then the plant can't absorb enough water. And, of course, if the plant gets too dry between waterings it's not getting enough water.

You can't really schedule orchid waterings. Instead, you need to water the plant on its schedule.

One final clue, though, is the neighboring Cymbidium. These are cool growing plants, while Phals are warmth lovers. The Phal could simply need more warmth.

[John]

You may need to rethink the wood-slat basket. The media may be drying out too fast.
John

[Massica]

These are solid ideas. The leaf is not so much yellowing as it is fading a little. As far as the roots in the medium, I'll dig them up gently when I get home. As for the roots sticking out, they look amazing, although they haven't grown very much. They are really fat and green, albeit with very little new growth.

As for the temperature issue, there's not a whole lot I can do about that, I really only have three useable windows in my studio, and they are all pretty full right now. Also, if the plant weren't warm enough, would it go through the trouble of producing new spikes and buds only to lose them? I feel like the moisture problem sounds more promising, since the plant seems to think it should produce flowers, and then loses them. That sounds like an intermittent problem. I think I would have had to put the phal in pure sphagnum if I wanted it in the basket. I guess it's time to repot again .

[John]

I have several Phals in semi hydro and they are doing very well. Check out Ray's website or the semi hydro forum for more info.
John

[BikerDoc5968]

First off, the way you describe the buds that hadn't opened, I would say they blasted....maybe from the trip home, maybe because of temperature change in the new loaction. As has been said above, water when the plant wants water and warmth 70+ day/ 60+ nite. In the fall cooler temps will help set spikes as it does for your cymbidium, just not as drastic. I use an 11-35-15 with minor elements every week x 3 weeks then washout time. I've been using this since late July and will continue until Jan/Feb and will then switch back to 20-14-13 for the vegetive growth. Many people make up their food using a ppm scale based on the N percentage. So pick your poision and happy growing

[Shirley]

Massica, My phals are almost all growing in sphag with some perlite mixed in and they seem to like it. I have a number of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of each pot to assure good drainage and I water whenever the top of the moss gets crispy, about every five or six days in hot weather. Good luck!

[quiltergal]

I'm thinking your problem might be twofold. Too much nitrogen can actually prevent blooming. Some here (myself included) feed at 125ppm N at every watering. Seems to work very well. With your 20-20-20 example you would need 1/2tsp/gallon of water to hit the target of 125ppm. Here is Ray's PPM calucaltor. Fertilizer PPM Calculator

Temperature may be your other issue. Phals like a 10 degree dip between day and night especially in the fall. That's what helps them set spikes. However, after spikes have set they like to stay warm.

[Massica]

I see, Terri. I would say that I give about that ratio of 20-20-20 to water, although no one ever says how much of the solution to give the plant once you've mixed it. I will say that I might have been giving too much nitrogen in the past, which may have screwed with its lifecycle. I am still not entirely convinced that I am not giving too much phosphorous, but I am also no botanist.

As far as the temperature issue, living in the Bay Area does not bode well for temperature regulation. When I lived in Florida, I did nothing to my phal, and it grew like gangbusters (until it died on the trip over in New Mexico, but, years later, it's still too soon to really get into that.) Here, my dendros are really happy, but mostly everyone else requires a little more nudging than I am used to. It just ain't tropical here (thank goodness). At least it's usually humid. Any suggestions on how to keep the phal warm? I don't really have enough room for a full-on terrarium....

[Massica]

Just to update those that helped out..... SUCCESS!!!! I have managed to make my phal bloom and the flowers are not so numerous, given the obvious stress the plant was under, but they are beautiful. I made two changes. (1) I started using super-thrive, as I was afraid my plants were not getting enough vitamins and the like, and (2) I lowered my concentration of fertilizer and upped the number of feedings from once a month two once every two weeks.

Whatever it was, this seems to have worked, as I have 4 healthy phal flowers and 3 more. Given how many spikes it managed to put up, I am looking forward to some serious inflorescence next year! Thanks everyone!