Phalaneopsis - new flowers wilting
Hi all,
I am a pretty new phal afficionado. I have bought 2 of phals in the local hardware store last year, both in bloom at the time (end of spring last year). They stayed in bloom until mid-fall, when the flowers dried and fell off. Then they started pushing new flowers, and somewhere in end of january/beginning of february this year new buds appeared.
Two of the buds dried out and fell off off the one of the phals, but another 3 opened on the same plant so far. On the other plant, it's just 5 green buds so far, not opening yet. On the 1st plant, three blooms exist: the first that opened is looking good, second opened a week later and is closing on itself, and the third that opened 3 days ago is also closing. What am I doing wrong here?
I didn't repot phals, mostly because I didn't know I had to, and when I read all about it they were already pushing buds, so I decided to wait until they finish.
They are on the northwest window: I only have windows to northwest and southeast, and they seem to like it pretty much here where they are - northwest. They have plenty of daylight throughout the day, with direct sunlight only in the evening/late afternoon, when the sun is setting in west, so they don't get burned. Even so, in the summer when the sun is the strongest, I put down the shades on window for a bit.
They are in draining pots (plastic ones with holes in the bottom) and I water them once a week: I have a bottle of water sitting there for a week, then come sunday I take a small pot, put the plant (with it's pot) in it, add water to the top, and leave it so soak for some 5 minutes. Then I take it out and set it on its' post, and repeat for other plant. Once a month I do it with the orchid-specific liquid added to the water (when flowering) and I do that once every two months when not flowering.
On the window I have a big long plastic container, like those for balcony flowers, which I filled up with that floating-stone balls, and I add water to those stones to keep them moist - the same time I water the plants. They are not soaked (the stones), I only add water to make them moist, so they could evaporate from below because I read orchids would appreciate that. But the plant pots sit on top of those stone-balls, so their pots can drain and are never submersed in water.
Leaves are thick, green, look healthy, it's just those flowes closing so fast after blooming that I'm worried about. The plant having its flowers closing is a bit crowded in a pot, I can see roots everywhere, the pot is full of roots, but as I said, I wanted to wait with repotting until blooming finishes. Maybe I should do it nevertheless?
Temps are, at the time, between 18-22 celsius (between 64-71 F) and since it's kitchen, it's pretty much like that throughout the year, except for the summer, when it
gets in ranges from 23-35 celsius (73-95 F). No direct cold air blowing, just occasional "cooling" of the room when I open the window a bit to change air (not the window near the orchids, the one I open is at the other end of the wall).
So, what am I doing wrong? I love those plants and I want them to bloom and feel happy. My wife had one phal before, she didn't care for it the right way (potted in no-drain pot and watered "when she remembered", sometimes even only once a month), and it lasted like that for 5 years before its roots rotted.
I've read too little moist will cause flowers to curl, but I dont think mine have too little water. Also, I spray leaves and top layer of aerial roots with water every morning, I use 1 spray (1 push on the handle) per leaf upside, one per downside, and some 5-6 sprays on the top of the pot/aerial roots, and then some more on the said floating-stones around the pot.
Any help would be greately appreciated!
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