Main stem is going brown

[kostas]

Hi,
I've had a phalenopsis for the past year, it has blossomed twice and everything seemed to be going well. for the past months the main stem is turning brown and all buds on the stem have dried out. new leaves have been growing which show that the plant is not dieing on me (hopefully). I need some help on what to do in order for my phalenopsis to bloom again.

[mayres]

Cut the brown stem off at the base. Phals typically will bloom once per year. They will typically start setting bloom spikes in the late fall or early winter and it takes about three months to develop. Some varieties will be somewhat later than this - some in my area set spikes in early spring and bloom in early summer. They say that a temperature differential of 10-15 degrees between daytime and night coupled with changing light conditions is the trigger mechanism. All else being equal, if you are providing light, food & water in an appropriate manner you should be seeing a new flower spike(s) each year - anytime in the next few months potentially. mike