Couple questions about blooming?

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

It should be helpful

Great, thank you so much

[NYCorchidman]

Many phals naturally have dark green leaves so leaf color should only be VERY GENERAL guideline. I personally think it is probably more confusing than uesful to the beginners.

Brighter the lighter, the better the flowering will be. With that said, avoid direct sun unless it is the morning or late afternoon.
Many phals will bloom bloom in rather shady condition, but very poorly.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Many phals naturally have dark green leaves so leaf color should only be VERY GENERAL guideline. I personally think it is probably more confusing than uesful to the beginners.

Brighter the lighter, the better the flowering will be. With that said, avoid direct sun unless it is the morning or late afternoon.
Many phals will bloom bloom in rather shady condition, but very poorly.

I have them in a south facing window that has the blinds down. And we have an upstairs neighbor whose balcony blocks some sun. We also have a fence. And if the trees ever bloom, we've got those out back too, lol. It's not shady, just filtered.

[RosieC]

Bright but not direct light sounds good.

Can you let it cool down a bit at night, or when you are out. That's what I do, we only heat to about 60 at night and when we are out, that seems enough to keep the plants warm enough but set spikes on the phals. When I let it go cooler one winter it actually delayed spiking on all the phals until it warmed up a bit in the spring, they all went almost completely dormant.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Bright but not direct light sounds good.

Can you let it cool down a bit at night, or when you are out. That's what I do, we only heat to about 60 at night and when we are out, that seems enough to keep the plants warm enough but set spikes on the phals. When I let it go cooler one winter it actually delayed spiking on all the phals until it warmed up a bit in the spring, they all went almost completely dormant.

It gets a little cooler over by the window on its own (we are still dipping into the 30s outside at night =( Where is Spring??) and our thermostat is set around 68 or so at night. Any lower than that and I freeze to death. I'm a sissy, lol.

[NYCorchidman]

What kind of blind are you using? I use sheer curtain, so it filters some sun but still allow lots of light through. Blinds that are very wide and blocks most of the sun out may be what many people prefer, but not so good for the plants.
You said filtered, not shady, so I think your location is ideal.

The late cold spell is hitting the east coast I guess. we had quite a bit of snow a few days ago. and it is still quite cold.

By the way, you don't have to suffer for the plants. If you like it warm in the house, then keep it warm and do not grow something that need chilling.
Fortunately, phals do not need chilling, which actually can kill them fast.
68 at night is perfect. I don't think my place gets any lower than that either and all my phals bloom well.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

In all honesty, the Phal you're referring to should bloom either next year or in the next 2 years, provided that you are growing them under the correct conditions.

I would not try to force this particular individual to bloom at all. As Sonya said, it needs time to recover from malnourishment.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

What kind of blind are you using? I use sheer curtain, so it filters some sun but still allow lots of light through. Blinds that are very wide and blocks most of the sun out may be what many people prefer, but not so good for the plants.
You said filtered, not shady, so I think your location is ideal.

The late cold spell is hitting the east coast I guess. we had quite a bit of snow a few days ago. and it is still quite cold.

By the way, you don't have to suffer for the plants. If you like it warm in the house, then keep it warm and do not grow something that need chilling.
Fortunately, phals do not need chilling, which actually can kill them fast.
68 at night is perfect. I don't think my place gets any lower than that either and all my phals bloom well.

You know those horribly ugly standard cheap blinds that apartment complexes use to shade their windows? We're using those. Fortunately, the place we are moving at the end of May allows us to actually customize our apartment so I will be doing away with those ugly blinds and making our place a bit more homey. xD Do you need to still filter the light if the window is west-facing? I believe the place we're moving to has northwest facing windows, but more west than north, if that makes sense?

Yes, it's still cold here. It's supposed to snow here today too. =( I like snow but it's almost April. Ready for warm and sunshine and killer allergies, yeah! It is good to know all of that, btw, thank you. =) I am still new to this whole thing so I want to definitely get it right.

---------- Post added at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

In all honesty, the Phal you're referring to should bloom either next year or in the next 2 years, provided that you are growing them under the correct conditions.

I would not try to force this particular individual to bloom at all. As Sonya said, it needs time to recover from malnourishment.

I don't actually know how to force a phal to bloom, lol, unless by putting it in the cold it would force it to bloom...I thought that you had to put it in cooler temps as part of its natural cycle of blooming and going dormant. Truthfully, I don't really care if it doesn't bloom so much as I want to make sure I am giving it the proper environment so that when it's ready to bloom it will. I am nervous about moving, as I will need some help to gauge how much natural light is enough and how much will need to be supplemented (even if I have to separate my plants so the full-sun needing types are under a grow light in one place and the phals are in another). I have started fertilizing it weakly weekly and yesterday I let it have a nice soak in some KLN, so I am hoping it will be cheery enough to bloom for me SOMETIME in my life so I can see what it looks like! Thank you for all of your help!

[PaxTea]

What exactly do you guys mean when you say direct sunlight? I thought that a plant had to be outdoors to get direct sunlight.

My plants are in a southwest/west facing bay window, which has blinds that I pull up in the morning and put down after dark. The window doesn't have curtains or anything. Beams of light fall directly on the leaves, especially in the evening.

Is that bad?

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by PaxTea

What exactly do you guys mean when you say direct sunlight? I thought that a plant had to be outdoors to get direct sunlight.

My plants are in a southwest/west facing bay window, which has blinds that I pull up in the morning and put down after dark. The window doesn't have curtains or anything. Beams of light fall directly on the leaves, especially in the evening.

Is that bad?

That sounds like direct sunlight if the leaves are still receiving the light on them without a filter, like a blind or a shade. They can be burned that way, but I don't know about SW orientation so much as South, which is the direction my current windows face. If I pull my blinds up, it's too much light on my phals and they get black around their edges, which indicates too much sunlight. Plants do not have to be outside to receive direct sunlight. That said, a small amount of sunlight is blocked by your window itself, but remember that light also magnifies through glass.