Not Blooming

[jhiland]

I really hope I am putting this in the correct area as I'm not sure whether it is a S/H issue or a general cultivation issue.

I have a handful of orchids, most of them being Phal hybrids of some sort. I do have two "Sharry Babies" though. I bought one two years ago in full bloom, and the other one I received a couple months prior (not in bloom). I haven't been able to get them to bloom since.

They were potted in normal orchid medium (I honestly can't recall if it was bark or moss anymore), and I did some research on S/H and repotted them into S/H about 18 months ago. Nothing in the flower area. They are producing new pseudo-bulbs, new roots, new leaves (and I haven't lost a single leaf on my phals...some of them are up to 7 or 8 leaves each which is a record considering before I was lucky if I had ones with 4!). When I first got my oncidiums the leaves had some dark speckling (kind of looked like freckles) that are no longer there, so I'm not sure if this is a good or bad sign.

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty laid back and not the most attentive orchid grower. My medium will completely dry out before I realize it's no longer wet, sometimes I forget to open my blinds for days on end, and I couldn't tell you to save my life what temperatures they are kept at.

I brought up the lack of blooms to the woman whom I purchase my plants from, and she told me to make sure I'm fertilizing, giving adequate light, and if that doesn't do it then re-pot (I'm assuming this is a "stresser" that some people swear by).

I just started using MSU yesterday (1/2 tsp for 1 gallon water), and made sure my blinds were open. The air conditioner is set to 70 degrees, but it's over 90 outside (and since they're right by the window I'm going to assume they are slightly warmer than where the A/C is on the other side of the room)

Is there something else I should do to encourage some blooms? How important are the temperatures? Should I allow them to dry out before adding more water (I've read that some people swear Onc's like to be completely dry before being watered). Also, how long should I wait before reassessing my culturing?