The Phal abuse ends here.

[OrchidMolly]

hmmm..thanks for this info... I will investigate. Thanks very much!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You're welcome.

[kaarthiik]

I have a question, felt the answers might be useful for the others too.

What size Phal should be purchased when one has a chance to buy various sizes (with healthy root system)?
1 Medium Seedling
2 Blooming/Near to blooming
3.Huge

[RosieC]

I think if you are fairly new to the hobby then Blooming/Near to Blooming is a good idea.

Younger plants can be hard to care for (especially very young) and you have to wait for the blooms not knowing how long it will take. Some phals never get huge so unless you particularly want massive specimins that's not so much something to look for.

I generally like to buy Near to Bloom size in all my orchids, even with a bit more experience, but some folks like to buy seedlings because they are cheaper and they are happy to wait several years for them to bloom.

[kaarthiik]

My supplier says he had few Huge Phals in few varieties, they said it in view of Packing Shipment.
My query is, is it a better idea to have few more Phals of that size? Or huge Phal is an aged Phal that is going to end its life?
I will post pics once I receive shipment.

[RosieC]

Phals can live indefinately given the right care. The old leaves die, but new ones come up to replace them, so nothing wrong with an old plant.

Huge Phals are likely that way due to the species or the parent species, although they may just be very large healthy ones.

I'm not sure it's either better or worse, just some people like massive plants, others like small plants.

[silken]

I find that large phal leaves take up a lot of room. But having said that, some of the large ones produce very nice large flowers, so it may be worth it.

[fisher60]

I have one of those large leaf Phals. It has 2 spikes, and each of them have three branch spikes. It has so many open blooms I've had to prop up the spikes with larger than usual bamboo rods. It is a beautiful white with a light yellow center.
Additionally I would like to say that in the past I have killed many orchids with too much love. I have 8-10 Phals, a couple Dens and some others. Many had fresh spikes this spring. We left in April for a long, (5 week) trip out west and I was scared to death I wouls loose all of them, so I made a misting system, put it on a timer, and when we got back.....flowers. Loads of flowers. These orchids truly love being ignored at times, just as long as they get some water.

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[NeoOrchid]

Hah,
Phal abuse is too right! I just saw 1-800 Flowers selling dyed blue phals as "rare"!
The first phal I ever bought is a "jungle cat bloody mary". The orchid expert at the garden center told me to "flood it every week". It's still recovering.... My phals are happy in loose moss in an east window and misted daily and fed weeakly. If it weren't for this forum my orchids wouldn't be as happy as there are now!

[Jeffery]

I have not been here for a while, but still love the Orchids. Once a very proud owner of some very beautiful Phals, my current number now is a big fat 0, all my other none Phals are growing very nice, but it just blows my mind the claim of Phals being the easiest Orchid to grow has eluded me. I have tried keeping them in there original potting material, changing them over to a faster drying medium, added this, added that, took away this and to no avail, I failed miserably, the roots either rotted or dried out, I would move them from one window to the next depending on where I thought they would get the best lighting, I have used a moisture testing device and still failure. I use to think I was such a Mr. Greenthumbs, man was I wrong.