My stem turned black

[soydcw]

I have a PHALAENOPSIS. First orchid ever. I've been keeping it in my office which only get fluorescent light. I've been watering once a week. It did fine for the first two months and then suddenly all the blooms fell off one stem and the stem shriveled up and turned black. Any suggestions on what this orchid is trying to tell me it needs?

[janet_a]

it is saying "i am done with blooming thank you."

are the leaves good? roots good? then snip off the stem and wait for next year.

phals can flower for a couple weeks, or up to three months. depends on the cultivar, among other things. if the plant itself seems healthy, then you're fine. if you've got floppy leaves or weird colors or critters crawling around, get back to us.

[mayres]

Janet is correct! Long term - If your phal is getting nothing but office light it will slowly wither away into oblivian. Phals need to be within a few inches of fluorescents to grow from this kind of lighting alone. If you have it near a window where it can get bright INDIRECT light it will be good - no rays of the sun on the leaves except for early morning or late afternoon - and then not enough to physically warm the leaves - otherwise it will burn.

[garynail]

I too had a phals spike turned black and died. The leaves then began to shrivel as well. The spike started out great but got about 6" long and began to turn black in the middle of the spike and proceeded to die from there. Should i cut the spike off at the base? and what to do about the shriveled leaves. I have been watering a bit more and the leaves seem to look a little better but still not what they should be.

garynail