Minimal buds on phals

[NYCorchidman]

So far, all my phals are behaving alright except for one large purple phal which is doing what you descibed. It is walking out of the pot! lol
I have no idea what to do with that thing but I gotta do something about it.

So back to the thread originator, give more light. Maximum just short of burning to get abudant flowering.

My white phal is a great example (well, all my phals are making more buds than ever since I moved).

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

So far, all my phals are behaving alright except for one large purple phal which is doing what you descibed. It is walking out of the pot! lol
I have no idea what to do with that thing but I gotta do something about it.

So back to the thread originator, give more light. Maximum just short of burning to get abudant flowering.

My white phal is a great example (well, all my phals are making more buds than ever since I moved).

I just left mine...
It's going crazy and is much happier since I did... I even replanted it sideways lol...

Yes! Back to the poster!
More light is my consensus as well.

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[upnorthorchids]

I have a question about fertilizer. I know that increasing the light for the plant is a primary factor in getting flowers, but so far no one has mentioned fertilizer.

For the past 8 years, I have been neglectful on fertilizing -- about every other month, or two. But with my phals, I have just recently begun to freeze icecube trays of 1/2 strength fertilizer water and use that on my phals to hopefully promote bigger, more numberour, and more colorful flowers.

Whaddya think?

upnorth~

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by upnorthorchids

I have a question about fertilizer. I know that increasing the light for the plant is a primary factor in getting flowers, but so far no one has mentioned fertilizer.

For the past 8 years, I have been neglectful on fertilizing -- about every other month, or two. But with my phals, I have just recently begun to freeze icecube trays of 1/2 strength fertilizer water and use that on my phals to hopefully promote bigger, more numberour, and more colorful flowers.

Whaddya think?

upnorth~

I fertilize about once a month.... at 1/4 strength.

Are you melting the icecubes first?
I've found melting icecubes a great way to kill phals.
Or rather my family found out for me.
They insisted that I could "just add ice".
I donated a couple white NOIDs to their cause. It resulted in the very quick formation of a spike shortly followed by death...
Well as short as an orchid can make dying.

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[upnorthorchids]

Hey Ordphien,

Thanks for your insight! I do not melt them prior to putting them in the pots. I was so skeptical of this method at first, that I never recommended it to my friends who complain that their great fault is watering practices.

Then I tried it, even letting the cubes rest on the roots (NOT the growing tips), and even at times the portions of the leaves. No death here. So far I have complete success, and adding the fertilizer in the h2o before freezing is the easiest way to keep on track of fertilizing. (as long as we don't us the ice cubes in beverages!) I have a teacup orchid (phal) in the kitchen window that has a new spike and a regrowth coming out right now, and cubes are the primary way I water it.

However, sudden death isn't something I want to let happen on my named varieties! So I think I'll only continue this method on my cheapo Home Despot and Wallyworld NOID phals for the time being. :-)

Upnorth~

[NYCorchidman]

I don't really see benefits of fertilizing. With the way you are doing, I think it's good enough.

No matter how much you fertilize, without enough light, blooming WILL always be not so great.

By the way, I wouldn't use ice cube watering method either, but if you like it, why not?

[zygostates]

Hello,
One variable that controls the number of buds produced on a flower spike is temperature. These nurseries that produce these Phals with a dozen or more flower per spike keep the temp in their greenhouses to 72 degrees or slightly cooler. This keeps the spike tip growing and producing more buds. When the number of buds is enough...they raise the temp...the tip slows or stops...and the buds begin to grow much faster. I have gotten 5 more buds on a blooming spike by keeping the plant in a room that never got above 72 degrees. It works.

[NYCorchidman]

That is interesting information.
I do know nurseries control temperature to initiate spike on certain phal hybrids. But once spike has initiated, they up the temperature.

Also, it is incorrectly known that phals need "cooling" to initiate spike. It is an increased difference of day and night temperature that they need to initiate spikes.
However, when the temperature start to fall in the autumn, this increased day and night temperature difference is almost naturally achieved unless there is a heating going on that may distrupt this natural change.

I have some that flower in the heat of summer.

Again, the most important factor in abundant blooming is the maximum possible light.

I grow all my phals in a regular home with no temperature control, so my phals take seasonal temperature change as their cue to bloom.
My observation is that with higher light, noticeably higher flower counts. This goes true for other orchids I grow except for paphs (all mine produce one flower at a time and that will not change ever!

Also, not all phal hybrids make 15-20 flowers per spike. Average seems to be somewhere around 10.
some make less and some make a lot more. This is just in their gene.

[zygostates]

As I said...temp is just one variable of many in order to get great growth and bloom. I have a friend who is an orchid breeder and travels to Taiwan to see the Phal nurseries there every year. They told him their "greenhouse" technique of using temperature to initiate spiking, development of buds, and the for the timing of when they should open in order to time their peak flowering for delivery. Light, fertilizer, and water are of course involved. It may be hard for some to control temp inside homes or even in hobby greenhouse on the scale of the commercial growers, but if you approximate them a bit...it will certainly help in the bud count. Hope it helped.

[quiltergal]

You can throw all the light you want at a weak unhealthy plant and it will not increase the flower count. The overall health and strength of the plant is the biggest contributor to high flower counts. That would include good light, nutrition and vegetative growth.

As an example I have a hybrid Phal that I have had for years. Last year it was in desperate need of a repot, and I had also slacked off on fertilizing. It produced a spike last fall and when it bloomed out it had 10 flowers on it. In the spring I repotted and resumed regular fertilizing. This fall it produced a new spike again with 2 branches off the main spike and has a total of 18 flowers. The light this year vs last year is exactly the same. I grow under T5HO lights. The plant is in the same spot and the same distance from the lights as it was before. I believe the difference is that after repotting it grew a boatload of new roots, and 2 nice new leaves over the summer. It has energy to spare so it's throwing it at flowers.

I'm interested in the 72 degrees mentioned. It seems somewhat logical. Our house rarely gets to 70 in the winter months. That could be part of what I am seeing in this year's bloom.