New member from SC with a question
 

I have a collection of 12 plants that range from grocery store to some a little more exotic. Ive always had a challenge getting orchids to reflower but… i decided to put mine all outside this summer. SC in the summer is a pretty natural climate. Its cooling off now and i brought them back in the other day and now I'm seeing real flower spikes. Even from some of the more exotic. Is this normal? I didnt fertilize but made sure i didn't let completely dry to the point of harm. Should i fertilize more now that its winter?

Thanks for your reply. I have 3 Phalenopsys, 2 Dendrobium. And here the exotics.. Paph magic cherryx voodo magic. 2 yen “green genies which is one of them thats sending a spike. A arthurana Sea Snake “unforgettable” and a Dick Smith “paradise”. The rest are Cattleya. Another of the ones that has produced 2 spikes. Growth this summer has been massive for the Catt’s especially

Sorry. I guess that one photo is to big to down load well. Anyway. Thats my collection. Next to the sink because i watered yesterday but back to the east facing window tomorrow. Also, if i wrong about my ids tell me. The phalenopsis are obvious. The ones I listed specifically had tags but a few others I'm guessing on. Why this is posted in beginners..

Thanks but I'm logging out moderators. Its this that makes the rest of us leave.

your plants look great! but, did i miss something?

I was asking a couple basic questions, not looking for a taxonomy lesson proving how clueless i am and how smart he is.

He qualified his statement saying he didn't know you or your knowledge level. You posted in the beginner section. What was anyone to think? No one was trying to prove anything.

I didn't saw any reply to the question...was it deleted?

Anyway, welcome Telemarcer.:)

Im sure he was trying to help and i see that the lecture has been deleted. Understand that this is my first post. He clearly know his stuff and was trying to help but not what i was looking for. I know the plants are growing and healthy. 2 questions. Does moving them inside after it starts to get cold at night increase my chances of blooming? Second? And i wrong of my id in the close up of the one in my last post? I don't mean to be obnoxious but as informative as the deleted post was it didn't sit well at the time. Maybe we can reset? Im hear to learn but that was over my head

---------- Post added at 03:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------

Also.. I'm actually curious about a lot of those details.. and i know the difference between hear and here…

---------- Post added at 04:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 PM ----------

Also my mistake..

The chance of flowering certainly depends on various factors. Maybe the main one is adequate light levels (and assuming healthy orchid). For some plants, temperature variations might be involved with raising chances of flowering activity. Some might even respond to how long the day time duration is (roughly) --- relative to night time duration - maybe!

Some orchids may produce flowering activity all year around - regardless of temperature changes. But some orchids are known to flower in the colder times of the year. Others in warmer times of the year.

The observations you made - might hold some clues. If your orchids flowered before - such as had flowers when you bought them ----- and then for example they had no flowering activity consistently for some relatively long amount of time you had them .... eg. for 5 years or 10 years ---- or some significant amount of time. And then you see a clear change in the pattern - due to a change in growing conditions (from the previous usual ones) --- where various orchids are now producing flower spikes ------ then there's a good chance that this activity is linked to what you had done.

As for fertilising. If the temperature is relatively cold, and the orchid doesn't appear to be growing much, then there is most likely no need to apply fertiliser during those time. But - on the other hand, if you apply relatively weak fertiliser - such as what I do (where I apply once a month only, while others apply more frequently), and if the orchid handles it just fine, then it's ok to apply according to your schedule, while keeping in mind that ----- some people do report of fertiliser salts build up in the pot and on roots etc if fertilising is 'over done'.