Western facing window questions

[Milk]

I have my Phals in a western facing window getting filtered afternoon light, nothing direct. Is this going to be ok ? The leaves are a medium green color and very sturdy. I got the plant a little over a week ago and the blooms dried up and fell off with in 2 days of it being in my home. I am guessing the store kept it to cold, wet, or dry before I took it home. Should I hope for new blooms or will it most likely be next season?
Also I have an Oncidium Wildcat in an eastern window that is very happy and growing like crazy, it has two Pseudobulbs with a few leaves on each, one with a spike and lots of blooms. Do the Pseudobulbs need to be seperated and repotted?

[myorchid]

I can tell you that my oncidiums and hybrids like my east facing window. They seem to grow the best there.

My Phals I grow in the east facing as well. I know here in Washington west facing gets pretty hot in the afternoon. So, just watch it and make sure it doesn't get too hot.

[norris]

Hello and welcome I would not separate the pseudobulbs on the Oncidium, if you can, post a pic and we can tell if it needs re-potted.

[11Orchid126]

Here in New Jersey I would reverse the two. The phals, shade lovers, were in an east window that got weak early morning light. The oncidiums, light lovers, were in the west window which got strong late afternoon sun.

[Milk]

The western window has a very obstructed light, lots of trees. It is like our window has a natural awning.

Here are the Oncidium pics, let me know what I should do.

[englandfx]

Wow, I actually like seeing that oncidium plant (I'm more of a phal person)

[norris]

I think your Oncidium has plenty of room in that pot for at least another years growth. As long as the mix is not broken down, I'd leave it the way it is.

[dorothea]

I have my phals on east wall of a room with south facing window, so they get the afternoon sun. they never get burned and are doing great. in the summer I move them a bit so they don't get burned

[mehitabel]

Milk, I'm in Missouri. I grow phals in a west window. They do have screens, but otherwise unshaded. No trees. As far as I can tell, it gets to about 1800 FC there, which phals can take if acclimated and also lots of air movement.

Most of the year it's not too hot there. From maybe mid-April thru summer the leaves do start to get warm there -- that's a sign it's too hot for them.

However, I still keep the phals there, just running a fan directly over the leaves from app 12:30 to 4:30 or so in summer. That cools the leaves enough so that they don't burn. These west windows are also cool at night, and it's a great place for spike setting in phals, especially from Feb thru May. This year I had 12 spikes form in these west windows in Feb and March, mostly multifloras, and some hybrids with summer bloomer ancestry.

If you have lots of trees shading your west window, it should be fine even without a fan directly on the leaves.

East may be better, can't say for your situation. I don't have east windows.

Bud drop: Buds do drop often on newly bought phals. They also drop if for some reason (underwatering or poor roots) the plant gets too dry. Keep an eye out for signs of desiccation-- watch for leaves wilting. If you see that, check the roots and act according to what you find there.

When will it bloom again? The best thing you can do for your phal to hurry it along to rebloom is to grow it as well as you can. A strong healthy phal can't wait to set spikes and will set them when it's big and strong enough and getting enough light and water. Check out Big Leaf Orchids for some tips on getting phals to spike. Click the "information" tab along the top.

Your oncid. I agree with the other posters. Don't split your oncid. Left to get big, oncids can put on a glorious show over a long period with 6 or more spikes. About repotting it-- new roots form off the new pseudobulbs. Watch for them, they are a scramble of thin white roots.

When you see these new roots, you can repot your oncid, *tho you may not need to*. When you repot, do not bury the backbulbs lower than they presently are, or they will rot. I lost some beautiful oncids before I learned this from Cynthia here.