Inducing blooms

[Fenix]

I know that the temperature should be dropped to induce blooming, but how do you know when your Phal is "ready" for reblooming?

I've had two new leaves grow and several new roots since the flowers fell off. When should I try to induce the blooming by dropping the temp?

Also Just wondering... if Phalaenopsis is a tropical plant, how come it needs to have a sudden drop in temperature to kickstart blooming? How would it bloom in the wild, since I don't think the temperature ever really drops about 15 degrees for extended periods of time although there are cooler times of the year.

[Roberta]

Commercial growers drop the night temperature (55 deg F, 14 deg C) for a week or two a few months before they want flowers. After all, the plant that blooms a week before Christmas or Mother's Day or Easter is worth a lot more than the the one that blooms a week after. For the rest of us, I doubt that it makes much difference whether you do our you don't. I suspect that where you live, if the plant is getting adequate light for enough hours, there is enough temperature difference between day and night that it will bloom when it wants to. If it sits there for more than a year with no action, you might consider a small temperature shock. But orchids don't do anything fast...

[Orchid Whisperer]

Wild Phals do experience seasonal changes in rainfall and temperature. Here is a link to one example (you can't generalize from P. lobbii to ideal temperatures for all Phals, this is just presented as one example):

Phalaenopsis lobbii Culture

Even in equatorial countries where Phalaenopsis species are native (such as Indonesia), there are subtle differences in temperature between seasons.

[estación seca]

There are mountains and highlands in the tropics, too, and it is cooler up there.

[Subrosa]

On any given day of the year, the temperature can vary quite a bit. Not as much in the tropics as in temperate zones, but it still varies. However on any given day of the year, the sun is shining for about the same length of time as it was in previous, and subsequent years. Photoperiod is usually more important than temp when it comes to plants seasonally regulating their processes.