[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Cool temps are a big help to stimulate blooms for the average (not the very warm growing types) Phal. But, there are several other items that can encourage or discourage blooming. The first is the length of the day. Winter and very short days is important. If you have been keeping a light on in the room where they grow to the same time every night, you could be preventing the Phals from blooming. During winter, the plants are expecting to get more light than they do in summer, don't know if it is because they grow on deciduous trees or that the cloud cover is less in winter. One last thing to try, if all else fails, is to restrict their watering so that they dry out a little more than they normally should. Getting any stress helps them to bloom, but don't carry the drying out to the point of shrivelling the leaves. Good luck.