Methods to lower temps for Phal blooming?

[MojoShoujo]

I know that along with proper long term care and making sure they have enough energy after their last blooming period, a major part of getting a Phal to rebloom is lowering the temperature to the low 60's F (mid teens C) at night. Unfortunately I don't have any outdoor areas available to me to take advantage of natural temperatures (ah, the joys of apartment dwelling) so what methods would you suggest for getting the right temperature dips? Most sources just list the ideal temperatures without how to get them, or assume you have a greenhouse.
From my own research I've seen that putting a plant directly under a cool air vent is a bad plan because the air is way too dry and severe. It's also not practical to cool my whole apartment to that level.
I've seen a video that has an interesting idea: They put a layer of ice cubes in a shallow tray, then place the orchid on a pedestal a few inches above it so that the ice cools the air around the plant. (

[rbarata]

Tell us your temps, max/min seasonally.

[MojoShoujo]

Outside? The mins can get below -15 F in the winter and max out over 100F in the summer. (-26C to 37C) Longer term winter temperatures average around 0-10 F (-17 to -12 C) and longer term summer temperatures are around 80-90 F (26 to 32 C). Fall and spring are also getting increasingly unpredictable with the shifting climate.
My main problem is that I don't have any outdoor space, even a balcony or patio. My indoor temperatures stay around 70 F all year (21C).

[rbarata]

Outside in winter will kill them.
Is there a time of the year when temps get low to the 16°C at night?

[fishmom]

My temps don't go as low as yours, but I just crack open a window in my small office room during November. That lowers the temp enough to stimulate spikes in most of my phals. I have some species phals in another room which doesn't get quite that cool, (fasciata, bastianii) and they bloom too, so I don't think the exact temperature is critical.

[rbarata]

My mother have some Phals inside...some bloom while other never do.
I've advised her several times to put them outside around September/October but, as she never followed my advise, I couldn't test it.

[Roberta]

Commercial growers do this to get their Phals to bloom for the major holidays. (The orchid that blooms a week before Mother's Day is worth a lot more than the one that blooms the week after) They typically provide heat by circulating warm water under the benches, so it is easy to run cool water for a week or two at the appropriate time. However, for the hobby grower who is happy with blooms whenever they happen, this is really not an issue. When I lived in a condo, I found that I could greatly increase the number of Phals that rebloomed by simply providing supplemental light from the cheapest fluorescents that I could find (just generic full-spectrum bulbs,not grow lights) on a timer 12 hours a day. As the weather cooled, the indoor night temperatures dropped a little, but I doubt very much that it made much of a difference.(I had the same night temperature drop the year before without the extra hours of light and not much happened) It was increasing the duration of light that did the trick. Now, I wasn't trying to time the flowers for Christmas or Mother's Day, etc. as a commercial grower would. But I did get flowers.

[Optimist]

Are you trying to induce it to bloom at an unnatural time? Mine always bloom from mid-winter to early- spring. I've got mostly winter bloomers. The only bloom right now is a dendrobium hibiki.

[MojoShoujo]

I guess at the moment it's mostly a hypothetical question, based on a gap I've noticed in the material I've found. I've been doing research on Phals because am planning on picking up one or two at the local orchid growers sale this weekend. (Only one or two I say now, but who knows how many I'll end up with). If they're grown in accordance with the seasons, they likely won't be in bloom when I get them and I'm thinking towards how I'll handle blooming them in the future.
That being said....I can't believe I was so wrapped up in my own head that I didn't think to just open a window. Thanks fishmom.
Also thanks Roberta for the grow light idea! If I'm getting stuck I'll definitely try that.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by MojoShoujo

I guess at the moment it's mostly a hypothetical question, based on a gap I've noticed in the material I've found. I've been doing research on Phals because am planning on picking up one or two at the local orchid growers sale this weekend. (Only one or two I say now, but who knows how many I'll end up with). If they're grown in accordance with the seasons, they likely won't be in bloom when I get them

They will probably be in bloom at the show... the commercial growers dink with light and temperature to get Phals to bloom at any season. (They can't get much money for an unbloomed Phal, so you won't see them at shows unless there's a "bargain table") Under your care, they will revert to a more normal bloom cycle, but there is plenty of variability there. So just be patient. Once they go out of bloom, continue the good culture, keep them healthy, and they will re-bloom. (Whenever they feel like it)