Help - I'm lost in the dark!
 

I actually have a few things to touch on. I recently moved across the country from Illinois to upstate New York. I had my phals growing quite nicely and becoming more healthy back home but now since the move, so many things have changed it's hard to pinpoint what's going on.

Part 1 - my phals haven't spiked since I got them almost 2 years ago. I have one that has a Keiki on it that I need to cut and replant but other than that - NO ACTION! I fertilize weakly weekly which helped a lot with growth but not with spikes. I'm sure I have something wrong but I'm not sure what.

Part 2 - as far as the Keiki goes - that poor phal looks like it's not doing so hot. It was quite healthy when it sprouted the Keiki in the first place but not doing well since the move. I don't know much about these adorable little clones but do they drain from the parent plant? Will it help the parent plant when I replant the baby? I know there are other factors but just wondering if this might also be one. :)

Part 3 - it's winter and of course my phals need MORE light. I finally got a small grow light for Christmas from a friend but I'm not sure if it's the right thing much less how to use it. I know phals need indirect sunlight, currently, they are in a south facing window that has some mild tree cover so the light is filtered. Though it doesn't matter because in winter - DARKNESS is constant! How far does the light I have need to be away from my phals? Can it be right over them or will this also cause issues?

Thanks for any and all help :)

Welcome to the OB! I have no doubt that others will chime in here with some very good advice. There are pieces of information that I'm sure you will be asked. Such as what medium are your phals planted in? What are you feeding them? What do the roots look like? And I guess I'm a little confused. You said you just moved to Upstate New York, but it's been 2 years was no spiking or blooming for you?

Can you tell us which variables changed when you've moved? Do you have less light now? And what about temps? etc etc

In response to the Keiki question, sometimes they will throw a keiki or even a spike in a last-ditch effort before their demise. And anytime I have one of my phalaenopsis that seems to be struggling if it is in Spike and even in bloom, I bite the bullet and cut it off so that the mother plant can return to putting her energies into getting healthy again.

---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

There is a thread here called "The phal abuse ends here ". I advise you to find it and read through it. There's a lot of good information there.

Hey there! I will try to cover a few things. Currently I have my orchids in a bark, lava rock mixture which they loved that change. The roots were pretty healthy but I'm starting to notice a bit changing on them. I can't pinpoint what the problem is. I don't think it's root rot or anything like that. I've just been feeding them an Orchid mixture by miracle grow, I can't remember the exact mix off the top of my head :(. I only moved to NY within the past few months but have been trying to get my phals to bloom again for a while, figured I'd touch on that while asking a million questions. I'm still figuring out changes that are happening. I think less light is a big issue. It seems to get a bit darker here. I think in the summer the light will be great but right now, not ideal! The Temps are a bit lower than before (my plants were at work in a normal temp of 73-78) and now it's more like 66-70. I don't want to take them back to work bc they let it get much colder over the weekend and nights and I sit by a door.

Do you know anything about the level of humidity? You said the roots look pretty good. Are the tips in growth or are the tips silver?

I'm not positive but if I had to guess. Low. My hope is to get my set up fixed soon! The roots are a little of both though I'm not positive about the phal with the keiki. Though ik that plant needs help.

You said you changed to Lava Rock. And that they seem to like the change. What were they in before that. From my experience, phalaenopsis roots love air around the roots, but when I pick up a rescue phal they are often potted in packed Moss. This can suffocate the roots. When I repot them I do a more gradual change for the roots and the plant, so it can slowly acclimatize to the New Media. I grow mine in pretty much straight bark, in clear plastic pots with many aeration holes. If your orchids have a healthy root system that is a plus for the health of the entire plant. Have you looked at the sticky thread called the phal abuse ends here yet?

All other things being equal, not enough light duration is the biggest reason Phals don't bloom. They don't need a lot of intensity, but they benefit from 12 hours a day... here's the setup I ended up creating in my early orchid career, when I lived in a condo. The cheapest Home Depot shop lights, standard daylight bulbs, on a timer 12 hours per day, gave me excellent reblooming where previously I got little or
none when I depended on the light coming in an east facing window.http://orchidcentral.org/GrowingAreas/indoor.jpg

I found even with phals that they had to be at a maximum light level to bloom. They will remain alive if in a lesser light situation. can you get any fluorescent light fixtures?
Getting a light meter, or learning how to use and translate a camera light meter is a good idea. They seem to like fluorescents. I have some phals and paphs under regular fish tank light fixtures with fluorescents screwed in. Anytime I see a fish tank light at a yard sale I buy it for the orchids. Flourescents are fairly cheap lights and most low light orchids like them. CFLs are good as well. Upstate NY is really high up there (I lived near Cornell University for 3 years) but many people do well in the city of NY, so the latitude is not that much of a problem.

I have six track heads with 6 LED bulbs from Orchids Limited. They are four feet from my plants and every single one of my phalaenopsis are in Spike and Bloom reliably. They are $65 a bulb and they last for many years. They are natural white light. They are a wonderful addition to any setting and actually very effective on phalaenopsis orchids. I got them from Orchid web. Online. I got them 8 years ago. And they are still going strong. Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

I will try to address a few things here. First, as far as the "lava rock" medium goes, it's actually a lot more bark than lava rock, it's a good mixture of both. Before my phals were in some hideous moss contraption as most of them are and I didn't know any better until a year later when I repotted them. The phal with the keiki wasn't doing so hot at the time but I wanted to keiki to grow more so that is could take roots. When I repotted my plants I put them into pots that have a TON of air holes so that they could breath. When I did this, one of the phals took off and the other (with the keiki) got a little better but never really did a heck of a lot of growth, just looked less sad.

As far as fluorescents go - I didn't realize that they would work as grow lights? I need the bright daylight fluorescents? I have a small apartment with not a heck of a lot of access to do much addition and only 2 (will be 3) phals. Just want to make sure I get the right stuff. I didn't think that fluorescents gave enough light? Also - just wondering if those lights that you use for S.A.D (season affective disorder) might have the same effect? I guess I also don't understand why one is doing quite decently but the other is struggling so much.

When I was using the rig (which I made out of PVC pipe), I tried putting grow-light tubes in one fixture and comparing the results from that with the cheap, ordinary full-spectrum tubes that cost half as much. After a year i could see no difference. Now, perhaps if the fluorescents were the only light source maybe it would have made a difference. I did get some natural light in the window. Phals really don't need a lot of light - they just need it for more hours than they usually get indoors from natural light. No matter how great your window is, the sun shifts after a few hours and becomes less effective. For just a few plants, you should even get the desired effect with a desk lamp. At the time I did it, fluorescents were the only easy option. Now, you should get even better efficiency with LEDs. Sure, one of those SAD lights should work fine. The 12 hours part is key. (With a timer , you don't have to mess with it)

As far as why one makes and one doesn't... impossible to say. But it probably goes back to long before you acquired it... one may have been healthier to start with than the other, either with better (or less bad) care by the grower, shipper, seller... or plain old genetics. Some plants, like some people, are just more robust than others.