Bloom failing phalaeonopsis

[bmilwaukee]

Hi All,

I have a plant that has sent up a flower stalk and has several blooms that I can see are going to fail before they open. This is the second time this has happened for this plant. I have other plants that have re-bloomed several times without problems.

Help! I wasn't sure which category to post in. I'm not sure if maybe this could be because of a pest (but I don't see anything), or else maybe an issue with watering, or fertilizer. I haven't fertilized it in quite a while (same story for the other plants that have re-bloomed).

Does anyone have experience with this? Is there any way that I could save the blooms that are currently on the stalk?

Thanks,
Becky

[ghuylar]

A photo would be very helpful, so we could see the plant

[bmilwaukee]

Sure, here are a few photos. Thanks!

[rbarata]

Can you, please, post closer photos of the pot an medium?

It seems a bit dry.

[bmilwaukee]

Sure, I added a photo with the pot. The plant is mostly anchoring on some driftwood and then there is a bit of bark in the bottom of the plastic pot. The plastic pot is set into a glass vase and water there can create some humidity. I usually water generously every week - week and a half and then let them dry out. I have 3 other phals this size that this has been working for (and there have been several re-blooms). I read that maybe not enough water can prevent the blooms from opening so I've been trying to give it just a bit more water than I usually do. Photo shows after I watered it today.

[rbarata]

Could be low humidity or some cold air draft.

[bmilwaukee]

Interesting! It's often right next to another plant that has also re-bloomed. In fact, they have re-bloomed together in the past, but this plant's blooms reached this same stage and failed. I wonder if this plant in particular is a bit more sensitive to cold and humidity levels.

[bmilwaukee]

Do you have any ideas?

[bmilwaukee]

Thanks for the input. I can try to work on the humidity and temp I keep them at!

[fishmom]

Although the leaves look healthy, watering once a week for plants that are mostly not in medium seems pretty infrequent. Do the roots stay green for several days? If they are drying out in a day or two, I would say you need to water more frequently. That could help the blooms stay on also. Humidity is good but it is not really a substitute for watering, in my experience.


That said, a blast of cold air is the most frequent cause of bud blast that I know.