Question???

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by Sensualblossoms

Thank you!! I would break my heart to think I was able to grow these specific kinds of flowers

I'm am sure you will be able to! Many aren't that difficult - it's just knowing what kind of care they require!

If you are able to please post a pic!
Also if you can give specifics on how much light your plant receives (ie. in a window? which direction? etc) is helpful

[dounoharm]

physan 20.....

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't recommend using Physan 20 without any kind of evidence that there's disease involved with your flowers dropping.

Phyton 27 is the better product and is safer to use than Physan 20. Physan 20 tends to ruin the roots of an orchid if applied onto the roots. Phyton 27 won't do that. I tried using Physan 20 and often ended up killing plants because I sprayed Physan 20 on the plant's roots. I've sprayed Phyton 27 on the roots of some of my diseased plants with no ill effect.

There's an article about using Phyton 27 versus Physan 20, (google it). According to the article, many people use Physan 20 as a precautionary measure to sanitize mounts, pots, and growing tools and work benches. Phyton 27 is the one most widely used against disease.

Anyways...

Your flowers may have just wilted because they were done blooming.

When you cut off the spike, it didn't harm the orchid any.

Phalaenopsis or moth orchids are slow growing. They will only put out on average 2 leaves a year. Occassionally they'll put on a stellar performance and grow 3 or 4 leaves, but that's rare.

It's also pretty common for a newly acquired and un-established Phal to just sit there and do nothing for months!

However, spring and summer are when the heaviest growth occurs for a Phal. Growing starts slowing down in the fall and may even stop completely in the winter.

Phalaenopsis usually naturally bloom in the spring.

In the future I would only remove the flower spike after it has gone completely dry. Leaving the flower spike on will allow the plant to possibly put out kheikis (baby orchid shoots) or even re-bloom.

[RosieC]

Assuming it's a Phal, then they like a cooler period arround the end of the year towards winter. This is when the new flower spikes start.

If your house is kept warm all year it may mean that the flower spike does not form.

Here in the UK I don't heat the house at night and flower spikes always start arround Christmas.

As others have said they can be slow growing and everyone has given some good advise about getting them to grow. But I've had ones which have not grown much at all in a year and others put out several leaves each year, so as long as it looks healthy don't worry too much.

I favour cutting the spike right down after flowing to give the Phal chance to grow a bit, but some people like to leave it until it goes brown in case it forms side spikes. It's a matter of preference really.

[seamonkey]

Just put it in a good place, water it when it's almost dry and otherwise ignore it: a watched phal never spikes!