New buds on orchid going into rest?

[annacf]

Hi,

I've had my orchid for several months. When I got it, it was starting to bloom and was probably 75% buds. Well, I kept it alive and now it has gone into what I believe is its resting period. All but 4 of the flowers have fallen off and some of the branches have shriveled at the ends. There's one branch that has all three of its flowers left and they all look healthy. I just noticed that there's a new branch going off of that branch and it has three buds on it. The new branch is dark purple instead of the green that the others were. Attached are two pictures. Is this normal? Any advice on how to deal with this or should I proceed as normal?

[MattWoelfsen]

Welcome to the the OrchidBoard annacf!

You have a Phalaenopsis. The flowers are dying because it is their time, not because the plant is going into winter rest.

Since winter is upon us here in the USA, I recommend that you water your plant early in the day, so that the leaves dry out by night fall. Do not water again until the root ball is dry. Water temperature should be tepid--not cold nor warm.

You can cut off the flower stems down to next node and try to get it to flower from that point. Or wait until the plant itself, dries out the stalk--once all the flowers have dropped. Then cut off the spike.

[estación seca]

Welcome! Your plant is making more flowers, so you've kept it happy. There is a lot of information in the beginner's forum about Phalaenopsis.

[camille1585]

Welcome to Orchidboard!

Yes, that's normal behavior. Phalaenopsis don't have a winter rest, they grow year round (though usually more slowly in winter due to light/temperature conditions).
There are 2 types of Phals. First you have the ones that bloom all at once, which is the case for the majority of mass produced hybrids, and there are others which are sequential, where they only have a couple open blooms at a time, but continue producing new buds for some time.

Your Phal likely has a sequential blooming species somewhere in it's background, and that still exert a small influence on your plant's blooming habits. I have several Phals like that; most of the buds open at once, and meanwhile the tip of the spike continues to grow and will produce a few more buds. Sometimes the spike tip starts growing well after the blooms have dropped. That's why I never cut old spent spikes (on my phals that have that tendency) until they start to yellow, I never know what the plant will do!

[annacf]

Very helpful! Thank you everybody!