Phal with 1 lone bloom

[misorkid]

Hi Everyone, I caught the orchid love bug for a few months and acquired myself a few phals! One seems reluctant to grow and I'm just worried.

This was a recent acquisition from hausermann orchids online. Phal Brother Sara Gold.
It came with a developing spike and quickly formed 2 buds. With a sudden temperature drop in nyc, the spike stopped growing. The smaller of the 2 bud, shriveled and dropped. I got nervous, so i moved the plant to a bright south west facing window in my living room and the larger bud bloomed. I was afraid my cat would show interest in it so it stayed in my bedroom in the beginning. I took a chance but phew! he didn't care much for it besides the occasional nibble of the spag moss. Anyhow, temperature got warmer and spike shows no signs of growing. The lone blooms is pretty but is there anything i can do to initiate the spike to start growing again? I fertilize weakly weekly and i water only when it is almost dry - about once a week. The few aerial roots tend to dry out but i noticed from the clear pot and gently shoving the moss a little, all other roots down under are plump green and growing bright green tips. There was a new leaf growing when i received the plant which also doesn't seem to be getting bigger anymore. It is half the size of the bottom leaves. What does that mean? I didn't repot when i got the plant becuz i didnt want to disturb its growth....but now that its not moving, maybe i should have?

Is patience all I need?? Will the new spike start growing again or am I just getting one lone flower from this phal this season?

Any help is appreciated. I will try to put a picture.

[RosieC]

Bright green tips on the roots is really good. That means the roots are growing and I think that either a new leaf or the existing newer one should start growing soon after.

The small leaf may indicate stress, which could have happened before you got it. If a Phals root system is damaged it will often grow small leaves, although yours sound good. I think whatever has caused it then good care now will mean new ones grow better or this one may even start up again.

The spike might start up again but might not. Usually a Phal will grow the spike to the full size it wants, then open the buds. Some Phals do have sequential blooms, which means they open one or two flowers at a time and the spike keeps growing, but I don't think that Sarah Gold is one of them.

I think personally I would cut it off, let the Phal have a period of root and leaf growth, then hopefully it will grow a new spike in the fall.

[johnblagg]

RosieC has you covered here .....


Stress will indded stop a leaf in its tracks ...mine do that once in a while.In fact I have that exact sign on a few right now that got chilled while in bloom in Janurary and a overly dry spell ....had a shorter bloom period due to this but they are back in gear and decided to spike again after they got outside.And LOl I even got a bonus out of this little stress period one has developed a double crown and I am impaitently wating to see how it does.

just have paitence and after the bloom is gone the spike may start growing again I have one that will do that quite often.

[misorkid]

Thanks!!! I think I will dance around and hope it will grow again. I find it disheartening to cut it while the tip is still nice n green. If it shows no signs of growing after this bloom is done, MAYBE I will cut it.

Since small leaf growth is a sign of stress, I'm hoping I'm not causing it. Crossing my fingers maybe it was just the trip through the mail. Would it be ok to repot and see if anything bad is going on down there? Or should I just wait until this bloom is done?

One other thing I remembered...when i received this plant, I noticed these little flies....they look like fruit flies. What is that? As soon as I saw the nasty things I isolated that plant. They seem to be gone now I just want to know if that is a sign of 'don't buy from that store again' ?

[johnblagg]

Most likely fungas Gnats but not for sure there are several little fly type bugs .....most are not that serious and some are hard to controol in big Gh.

I would not say it is a sign of dont buy from them again just treat them ...Gin uses the mosquito dunks

[misorkid]

So I noticed that the plump green roots that are growing looks good but where it touches the crown is skinny - about half the thickness. Almost like it shrunk. Does that mean I under watered at one point? I read so much about over watering that I tend to wait a little to long... I stick my fingers in the moss and if I feel moisture at all, I wait. Shall I just water when the top is crunchy?

[Zoi2]

Having a plant in moss is a tough call with watering. If the top is dry and crunchy, the middle where the root ball is can be quite wet. Can you poke a finger in there to measure the moisture or use a pencil? Quite a few OB members use bamboo squewers for this reason.
Joann

[RosieC]

The thin roots at the top and fat lower down is something I often get with Phals. I think it means that when the roots first grew they were growing thinner roots (due to whatever conditions they were in) but in my conditions they are growing fat roots. The roots that grow completely from scratch for me always seem to be fatter.

I don't know what that means about my conditions but they seem happy so I don't worry about it.