Question about non-blooming Phal spikes

[OrchidThief79]

I bought a Phal. bastianii about six months ago and it had a bloom spike. Since then it has grown another spike, yet neither of the two has bloomed at all. I'm confused because I thought that if conditions were right for it to send out a spike then it should bloom as well. Does anyone have any idea why these spikes aren't blooming? Perhaps a temperature issue? Any advice would be appreciated.

[WhiteRabbit]

I don't grow this, so can't give specific advice, sorry -
how much light does it get?

[Lagoon]

LOL! Good ole phal species oooh they love to tease us like that.

Many of mine have done that at some point, even to the number of 4 spikes per plant. Its not uncommen at all. Some spikes will bloom while other spikes sit there doing nothing for months. Some spikes are keiki machines - it just depends.

The spikes can remain for years then rebloom again.
I love these guys, so interesting to watch.
If this was my orchid, I wouldn't be concerned.

You got it to spike more then once, you're doing something right

[Orchidreamer]

Same thing happening to my phal bellina spike (1/2" and not changing at all) and my phal leuddemanniana spikes (4" and stalling). I bought them last month when they were spike, and now, they haven't changed one bit. You said you bought yours 6 months ago...I wonder if changing environments caused the spikes to stall?

[OrchidThief79]

Thanks for all the info. I wasn't aware of the stalling spike phenomenon. I'm sure it has something to do with the change of conditions from seller to me. I grow orchids outdoors in Hawaii and I'm a bit worried about Phals blooming here since the temps don't vary much throughout the year.

[glengary54]

Originally Posted by OrchidThief79

Thanks for all the info. I wasn't aware of the stalling spike phenomenon. I'm sure it has something to do with the change of conditions from seller to me. I grow orchids outdoors in Hawaii and I'm a bit worried about Phals blooming here since the temps don't vary much throughout the year.

OrchidThief - I wouldn't worry too much about the temps not varying much. If the day/night temp difference weren't great enough the plant would not have initiated a spike at all.

[camille1585]

I've also had issues with spike stalling, but I've only had one phal (a hybrid) do that. What lighting/ temperature are you growing it at? This is a quite warm growing species, so one hypothesis may be that while the conditions are good enough for it to grow and set spikes, the temperature may be at the lower end of the range of temperatures that it feels comfortable with.

However I had read up a bit about stalling spikes when mine was doing that (stalled spike is still there after 2 years...) and it seems that more often than not the spike never gets going again.

[glengary54]

I don't know if this helps any or if it actually pertains to the original question but I found it fascinating.

In a Michigan State University study, it was discovered that the growth of Phal spikes is greatly affected by temperature. In the study they looked at a Phal hybrid subjected to varying temperatures and calculated the time in days from visible spike to flower.
57 degrees 266 days
63 degrees 133 days
68 degrees 87 days
73 degrees 68 days
76 degrees 52 days

[FairyInTheFlowers]

I agree with the above posts, there is nothing to worry about. It was most likely a transition in environments that caused the spike to stall. My violacea var. alba had an itty bitty spike starting when I first got it, which did nothing for a couple of months, and it is just starting to grow know.