How to make my bud bloom..I'm impatient!

[rehric00]

I found an awesome yellow and red phal on clearance for 7 dollars. What a deal! Turns out it has 2 base plants in the pot and has FIVE bloom spikes! I think it is totally awesome. All that was wrong was the outer clay pot was cracked.

Okay, to the point- It has buds all over it. There is one in particular that is about an inch in diameter, maybe a little smaller, but it looks like its about to explode. How can I speed this up?! One bloom spike is in full bloom, it is the other 4 that havn't done anything yet. (I've only had this particular plant for 2 weeks, give or take) I water it when it needs it, and sometimes I put it in a south facing window for a hour or so to give it a little extra light since its winter. I am just anxious to see it open.

[RosieC]

You can't really rush them and trying will probably cause them to blast.

Some of mine seem to grow the buds sooo big they look like they will burst and still take a couple of weeks to open.

It will get there, just be patient

[CTB]

More light sounds good, but patience is needed. They open slowly so that your have blooms for a long time, a orchid blooming for several months is so nice. So many others the bloom only last a week or two. Enjoy those blooms.

[camille1585]

Nope, nothing much you can do to speed up the process other than be patient!

You might want to avoid moving the plant around so much, if the light is hitting it from several directions while the buds grow then they'll open facing every which way, which is not as nice looking.

[rehric00]

Thank you guys for your responses. Camille- This phal is slightly different than the other ones I have. The spikes go straight up and the flowers opened up in one cluster rather than a spray of flowers that I have seen on the others. It is kinda neat!

[CTB]

Post us some pics when you can

[camille1585]

Cool. Do you have a pic of it? I'm curious to see this monster!

[rehric00]

I will try. I uploaded all my pics from the camera and it only allowed me to post certain pics on here. I wish you all could see it... I was shocked to realize that there were 2 plants in one pot and very excited to know i had all of those spikes on it!

[camille1585]

Are you resizing the pics beforehand? If you don't do that most of the time the pics are too large to upload.

[rehric00]

Okay, I am going to try this.. I have 2 pics of this particular plant in my "album" I don't know if people can access it though... Here is an over all shot of it. Don't mind the water spots, I had just brought it home