Stupid Question - is this a Phal spike?

[silken]

Originally Posted by Zabeta

Wow, I never realized that that was the case. I've had a few oncidiums rebloom, and what I've done in that case is just stop fertilizing altogether when I notice the spike. I've also gotten dendrobiums to rebloom, perhaps because I knew they needed their winter rest, etc., so I stopped fertilizing preemptively. But I've had trouble with the others. Now I know why! Thank you thank you.

I hope that helps you get some blooms. But there is nothing simple about plants and orchid growing so it may be just one of a number of things that could be causing lack of blooms. I think some of my Cattleyas like a cool winter rest, and others need a variation between day and night temperatures. But we may as well tip the scales in our favour wherever we can so trying a balanced fertilizer some of the time might do that. Good luck and post pics of blooms

[No-Pro-mwa]

Hummm, I switched to K-lite after I used up my last fert and seem to be having fairly good results. All but one of my Phals has a spike and it may still get one as it is doing well. Of course I do also use other things like kelp, fish and sea weed mix. Added cal and mag.

I'm also not so good at times about using it regularly as I get in hurry and then just use plain water. I can only say I am having better luck but I know most of that is do to my taking better care of them.

[estación seca]

Are you sure your plants are large enough to bloom? Are they supermarket plants you bought in bloom? It can take such plants a year or two to recover from their grower-to-supermarket-to-you adventure.

[Zabeta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Are you sure your plants are large enough to bloom? Are they supermarket plants you bought in bloom? It can take such plants a year or two to recover from their grower-to-supermarket-to-you adventure.

That's good to know. Some of the plants are from Trader Joe's, but some of them are from other vendors (orchid shows, Ebay sellers like Kawamoto, etc.). Come to think of it, though, of the ones that are currently spiking or that have bloomed in the past, only one is from Trader Joe's - the rest are from other vendors/nurseries. Hmm.