What stops the last little bud from flowering
 

Hey!

I really keen to understand why when my phal sends up a spike and grows it’s little buds, which then eventually flower, does the last little one stay tiny (dormant) and either never flower or sometimes months later grows again and begins to grow more buds?!

Thanks!
Laila

Probably insufficient stores of fuel and energy. Flowering is an energy-intensive process, so a plant will use that to determine if it will bloom, and then how extensively.

The amount stored, and the rate at which they can be replenished, are controlled by the size (mass) of the plant, and the growing conditions, respectively.

If replenishment is easy, and it has the wherewithal to start with, it'll just keep going and going. If not...

I've noticed the same thing. I think it's built into the plants to always save the next to the last bud. I had one that I got with about 8-10 blooms and that one next to the last bud. Shortly before the blooms began to fade, the next to the last bud developed into a small branch with 3 bud (and one next to the last bud in reserve). When those 3 blooms went, that was it. I bought another phal that was gorgeous with 1 stalk that had several branches and a total of about 21 blooms. Every separate branch held that next to the last bud in reserve, but I assume because the plant had bloomed so spectacularly that it didn't have enough energy to grow those blooms. I've heard that under certain circumstances you can keep a phal blooming for a very long time (18 months). I assume they just always put a next to the last out there in case the condition are just right for blooming. They've got one main goal in life which is to reproduce which is done through blooming.

Thanks! Wondering how I can make sure it has the energy it needs? Or, and this is only out of interest, is there to stimulate that little bud to start growing?

---------- Post added at 12:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 AM ----------

Thanks!!

My green one sounds similar to your first, but it would actually bloom again within a month, never dropping the last flower so I had about twenty cascading flower.
I’m wondering how I can keep the blooms going but also not zap it’s energy 🤔

The answer is give the plant exactly what it needs: the right light levels and duration, humidity, and air movement. Then use a potting medium that satisfies the needs for the roots to breathe freely, so they will become extensive, and water it a lot, with a tiny amount of nutrition.

I'll share a first-hand experience: I thought I was doing a pretty good job with my phrags in a greenhouse in PA. My Phrag. Sorcerer's Apprentice grew and bloomed well, with typically about 5-6 successive flowers per spike. When I moved to NC, it spent about 6 weeks in a box, then four months in a North-facing window, before being put out on my deck for the summer.

Out there, it gets dappled sunlight all day, and plenty of heat and humidity, but I had to water it very frequently (it's in S/H culture, so that's not an issue). It threw two spikes, and they just finished blooming, having carried 10 and 12 flowers.