How come your Costco sells orchids and ours doesn't??
When you say your quest is for a stem, do you mean a stem with flowers? If so, sometimes giving them a bit of a chill in the fall for a month will help induce them to bloom. By a chill, I mean maybe about 55 or 60 degrees as opposed to room temps. 3 leaves on a phal is not too bad. It can depend on the Phal and its breeding. Some get lots of leaves and readily grow keikis and others don't. When you are feeding them, you could try boosting their potassium (middle number) in the fall also. Potassium helps encourage flowering. I hope that helps.