The flowers have all dropped off my Cymbidium orchid. What should I do?

[Alilynx]

Hello everyone.

I'm very new to orchids, but think they are beautiful plants. I bought a large Cymbidium orchid for a friend as a Christmas present, and I think we have a problem.

After a few weeks the flowers and buds had all dropped off. What should I tell my friend to do?

The florists where I bought it from gave me the following care instructions. Water the plant by spraying the soil to keep it moist. Never let it dry out, and don't spray the flowers. I was also told to feed the plant every two weeks with orchid plant food.

My friend placed the plant in her living room during the day and moved it to the cooler kitchen in the evening. The living room was occasionally warm, and sometimes humid as it's just off the kitchen.

After the buds and flowers fell off my friend searched the internet for some advice and was told to move the plant to a cooler room. It has now been placed on the windowsill in a cooler room where is it left day and night.

The plant had three stems of flowers. One had had open flowers, one had small closed flowers, and the other had small buds. I would imagine that the closed flowers and buds should have opened in time, but all the flowers and buds dropped off at the same time (before opening).

Can anyone help explain why this may have happened and what should we do to get it to flower again?

Thank you

[jjgraphix]

In my opinion, it sounds like the orchid might not be getting enough water, which can cause the unopened blooms to shrivel up and fall off. Other than the problems with the spikes, how does the health of the plant look? I have seen this problem with Phals, which was due to lack of water. Anyone else?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

My guess is that there were some incomplete combustion products in your kitchen. If it were just the buds, I would have thought that the change to a home envirionment was the cause, but the flowers should not have suffered if that was the cause. Keep the plant a little damp, don't let it dry out completely as these are simi-terrestrails.

[Alilynx]

Originally Posted by jjgraphix

In my opinion, it sounds like the orchid might not be getting enough water, which can cause the unopened blooms to shrivel up and fall off. Other than the problems with the spikes, how does the health of the plant look? I have seen this problem with Phals, which was due to lack of water. Anyone else?

Thanks. The rest of the plant (the leaves) are fine and look healthy.

I guess the best thing I should do is leave the plant where it is now and make sure the soil stays moist and fertilise it - and hope for the best for it to flower again.

[jerrymeola]

An extreme change in conditions, a chill, excessive drying out or several other things can stress a plant to where it drops everything. It will do much better next year after it adapts to your home.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

These are very high light plants, and need the light to store up energy for blooming next winter. Full morning sun while it is reasonably cool, then preferably dappled light the rest of the day. Filmy curtains for direct light in the house, but they don't like it warm and stuffy much, so try to get it outside when the weather is above freezing.