Justatypn,
I found this discussion while researching my own phal wedding promenade. I was struck by the fact that at some point you've worked for Home Depot's garden center.
My Wal-Mart doesn't sell orchids and I've never been an Ikea fan but I do buy orchids from Home Depot and Lowes and I would love your input on the box home centers. (I'm going with the assumption that these box chains aren't knowingly selling diseased orchids.)
Last spring I could ask for and get deep markdowns on spent orchids at my local Home Depot. (Orchids that have already dropped their flowers and the PSB/ pseudo-bulbs showing neglect.) This fall they changed policy. The orchids are "vendor owned" and they simply throw them away and get a credit.
My Lowes has always marked down and still marks down their spent orchids but they have this funny policy that as long as there is a single bloom on the plant it can't be marked down.
I've seen Onc's with their PSB's shrunk down to 1/4 of their normal size but they are hanging on to a few blooms so no discount. Phals so limp that their leaves are draped over the pots like curtains but until they drop that last bloom no discount.
This breaks my heart to the point that I almost never go into the Lowes garden center because I can't stand the sight of the discount orchids. It's apparent that the creator of this policy doesn't know anything about orchids or they would know that a bloom doesn't equal a healthy happy plant. (I tried to explain to one of the managers that they need to stop looking at the blooms and pay more attention to the condition of the plant but it fell on deaf ears.)
The Lowes in my mother's town doesn't mark down their orchids at all so it looks like each store can do their own thing. They told her that if they mark them down and than they die the purchaser can bring the dead plant back for a new one and they loose money that way. (They still mark down other plants though.
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I'm sorry for the long post but can you shed some light on the logic and the policies for these home centers?
P.S. the phal wedding promenade was just purchased at Lowes for $5.00 because it didn't have blooms. It's leaves were limp and drapping the pot but it had several plump green roots and a new spike coming up so I'm taking a chance that it will come around. So far the leaves have plumped up a bit but they are still way softer than they should be. Time will tell if I can turn a phal around in this condition. I did find out the hard way that I can't turn around an Onc with it's PSB 75% deflated. It hasn't died - it looks like it's starting over with new growth but it's slow going. (7 months and still counting for the new shoot to "grow up".)
Aboard, to answser your question about lighting for your paph and milt a bright filtered light is recommended. I am not particularly familiare with milts but with paph's they will tolerate low light intensity but a stronger light produces better growth and flower production.
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