Help! bud blast on noid phal but spike stopped budding

[Orchidaceae]

Hi all,

I'm staying in the UK right now, and received this noid white phal as a gift in November. 2 days after it reached my room, it experienced bud blast, and almost all the buds dropped off. (definitely change in environment, temp of room was at 24C then)

2 months after that, most of the original flowers still have not withered, and are in fab shape. However, the tips of the spike are still dormant and I wanted to figure out how to reinduce budding in these spikes again.


Here's the condition of the plant:
Root system - excellent. Lots of thick fat green roots throughout the pot.

Leaves - green but neither dark nor light.

Spike - 2 large spikes, of which 1 has a side branch. All experienced bud blast, and all have dormant tips.

Mix - unknown?


And here's the condition of the room i placed it in:
Temp - 23-24C(73-75F) by day, can be kept at 22C(72F) by night. However i understand that phals thrive when temp fluctuates? So at night i leave it at my window, which is about 16C(60F).

Light - mostly artificial light under a fluorescent desk lamp. Not very strong, but definitely better than windowsill (west facing, in UK weather = <1h sun). Allowed to have about 12h of light per day.

Water - watering every 4-5 days, by complete dunking into pail (keeping crown dry). Is hard water ok?

Fertilising - only done once so far. Using a heavily diluted20-20-20 fertiliser.

How can i alter/improve these conditions? Pls keep the comments coming Thanks!

[priz_m]

You can try keiki pro (KeikiPro) or keiki paste on the dormant nubs, it is supposed to get you a keiki but the least thing it can do is another spike (I've never used it so I can't speak from personal experience). However phals are likely to rebloom from old spikes as long as they are not dry so you have a chance either way.

The only thing though, some of the members here at the OB like to cut back the spent spikes to get bigger and better blooms next season, as opposed to average ones throughout reblomming.

Just sayin'!

Question, on the 3rd picture... is that a basal keiki? one of the leaves looks to be too deep in the pot, maybe is the angle from which the pic was taken, hence the question.

But it looks like a very happy phal!

[Orchidaceae]

i'm not sure if that's a basal keiki though, how do you tell? But i'm quite sure 2 of the leaves are buried deeper than usual, but they're pretty old i guess.

[priz_m]

the angle from which the was taken suggested there were a couple of leaves emerging from the base, but I can't tell is a keiki that is why I was asking :P

[Orchidaceae]

i was wondering if you could id this orchid? it looks similar to ur avatar.

[priz_m]

Ooops, my avatar is a NOID, that's the thing with phal hybrids, they all look alike :'(

Sorry, maybe someone else in the OB will be able to give a more accurate name.

[Orchidaceae]

hiya there,

i've applied keikigrow plus (paste) onto the nodes, and something seems to be coming out already, i'm hoping it's either a keiki or branch spike!

however, i've applied it onto the dormant spike tips, but they dont seem to be doing much. i've just applied it over the tip without doing anything else - is that right?

it's unbelievable - the previous blooms are still fully intact after 3 full months!

[Orchidaceae]

i've just realised that there's a new leaf coming out from the crown, and it's growing much faster than the meristematic nodes on the inflorescences! Is there something i can do to encourage flowering instead of leaf growing?

[camille1585]

Leaf growing is a good thing! So is new roots. Sounds like the plant wants to get some growing done, which is important if you want some nice spikes next time it decides to bloom.

[quiltergal]

I agree with Camille. It sounds to me like it's wanting to go through a growth cycle which is good. It makes the plant stronger and gives it more energy for next year's bloom cycle. Phals will bloom off of old spikes if left alone. I'm wondering about the Keiki paste though....I think it's designed for just that....Keikis. I don't think you'll encourage more flowers by using it. I'm in the camp that prefers to cut back the spike when it's done blooming. I feel I get more, larger, better flowers the next time it blooms when I do that. Just my .