I want to give up on my Phals

[sii]

Quiltergal,
for the directions on the Orchid Food it says .75g per 2.5 L of lukewarm water. (1 scoop = 1.5g) I usually use half a scoop. So less than this?
Your explanation explains why my orchid made 2 keiki's and no blooms. :-)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Part of the reason that Phals are so popular is because nurseries are able to manipulate the time and rate of blooming at any given time of the year.

They have special cool houses for that.

Whenever they want a certain type of Phal to bloom, they're all brought there.

[marydaniellesantos]

Phals don't like direct light, so it may be that you are giving them too much sun.

[CTB]

Welcome to the Orchid Board. I agree with past posts I think you must do something to drop the temp and to cut the light hours. Many good suggestions. I stop watering and fertilizing in October until March. Only water would be rain fall. Throwing them out would probably make them bloom. Do you have a porch or patio that you could use, till it gets too cold?

[marydaniellesantos]

Idk if anyone has already said this, but luke warm water would probably help also... although room temp isn't as bad as cold water. And maybe cut down fertilizer if none of the above helps.

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by CTB

Welcome to the Orchid Board. I agree with past posts I think you must do something to drop the temp and to cut the light hours. Many good suggestions. I stop watering and fertilizing in October until March. Only water would be rain fall. Throwing them out would probably make them bloom. Do you have a porch or patio that you could use, till it gets too cold?

LOL Thats funny I was about to write the same thing!!! Because a sudden change in environment sounds like just the thing to force these plants in blooming. People talk of this temp drop, which I could not agree more, and if you dumped them in the trash outside, my bet is they'd spike within a month.

[RosieC]

Welcome to Orchid Board.

I think the key is a temperature drop.

I notice you say about luke warm water. I only do this over the winter on Phals that I need to prompt to grow more roots and leaves. I use colder water on those I want to flower.

I also have a natural temperature drop in autum and winter and the combination of the fact that the water is getting colder in the taps and the house temps are getting colder seems to trigger them to spike.

I don't think it has to be a day/night difference, rather a drop from how they have been over the summer. I kept mine too cold though this year and they went dormant instead, then started to spike as the temps crept up in mid spring. I now have lots of flowering Phals for the summer

[sii]

I could put the orchids out in the backyard, but it's very sunny and hot out there. I sun is out there until about 3-4 pm when it moves to the front of the house. The front of my house (north facing) doesn't have a spot where I could put them without them being knocked over by my kids. Should I try the back? I have a table under a tent? What about placing them in the basement? Definately cooler there, but no to much sun.

[quiltergal]

No direct sunlight or you'll fry them. So unless you have a shady spot in your backyard, I'd say no that won't work.

I'm not sure about the conversion from teaspoons to grams. I did look Schultz up online and their label instructions also say half a teaspoon per gallon, so I would assume they have made the appropriate conversion for grams/liter.

[sii]

Thank you all! I'm experimenting. The orchids pictured above I've left in the same room, but moved them further away from the window. The one I had downstairs I've put outside, under my tent. I just checked the temperature (it's 8:57 pm) and it says 25 degrees celcius/80 farenheit. I'll stop the food and just give straight water. Let's see.....