My flowers are wilting help!!!

[piaffe97]

I have a very healthy looking phal plant (green roots, bright green leaves and stem) but the flowers are wilted. I water it about 2x a week, mist the roots daily, and most recently watered it yesterday, but for the past 3 days the flowers have wilted and I dont know why! Any suggestions or ideas? I thought it might be too hot so I placed it into a cooler room last night.

[Swamper]

Did the flowers bloom wilted or did it flower for a while first?

[piaffe97]

I bought the plant with the flowers bloomed and they were fine for about 2 weeks so I'm not sure what I did!

[camille1585]

If you bought it in bloom, then seeing them wilt so quickly is something that can happen fairly often. For one, if you got the plant in full bloom you have no way of knowing how long it has been blooming, so it may just be reaching the end. The other thing is that sometimes orchids that are bought in bloom have a hard time adjusting to the new conditions in your home, and the blooms will be short lived. There may be nothing wrong with your conditions, but it can be quite a shock for a plant used to a warm, humid greenhouse.
I've had that happen to some phals, more often in winter because of the temperature shock, but the following year they bloom beautifully.

[Zoi2]

I agree with what everyone has said about your blooms, I am wondering about your watering routine. What is this phal potted in? Watering 2x a week and misting daily seems like a bit much. Wait untill the roots turn silvery white before watering again.
Joann

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[RosieC]

I agree with what you have been told above.

If all the flowers were open when you bought it then it could just be normal aging of the flowers.

However I agree with Joann, your watering routine sounds like too much and overwatering a Phal can cause it to not get enough air arround it's roots and then they rot.

If you have a clear pot and can see the roots then water when those near the bottom of the pot turn silvery. Generally you don't need to mist a Phal unless you are in VERY low humidity. If you don't have a clear pot try the skewer method where you put a wooden stake in the pot and when you want to know if it's time to water you pull it out and if it's damp then it's not time to water yet. You can also judge watering by the weight of the pot but I don't think that's a good beginners method and I've only recently got the hand of that myself.

[jeffg]

I concur with the wilting probably caused by the change in humidity and/or maybe the flowers were near done anyway. I have had them do this changing rooms.
I also agree that you may be over-watering. I tend to practice what I've heard others describe as "managed neglect", unless it is obvious they need more attention/water.

[jrodpad]

All of the above is good advice.

I did once have an odd wilting issue like the one you describe above on a phal that just started to bloom. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a small group of mealy bugs living on the back sides of the flowers. You might want to check real close for mealies. Otherwise - it's probably the change in locations/conditions or the end of the blooming cycle as noted above.

Good luck!

- J

[piaffe97]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm still trying to get a grasp on the whole watering issue, I'm not good at telling when they need water yet. I've been known to kill regular house plants in the past for neglect to water so I'm a bit over attentive to these orchids, and I think I might have damaged my first orchid plant by overwatering. I will lay off the misting/watering and hope for the best!!

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[Hedge]

I have suffered wilting flowers on otherwise perfectly healthy phals recently because of a sudden hot spell of weather - sometimes your environment is beyond your control