Help my Phal!

[satishsherikar]

Recently I bought a phal with 2 spikes full of buds. It has now started to bloom. However, I noticed that few buds have turned pink and are drooping and couple of them just fell down (almost like 30% of the buds are having this problem). Also, I noticed some pests when I tried to run down water as I was suspicious that there were some pests. Most of them seem to be in medium (charcoal and bark). I've not seen anything come up onto the leaves (only when I watered them down to clean up did I notice the pests).

Please help! Right now, I keep them indoors only.

[Hummer344]

Your buds my be having "bud blast". this happens for a variety of reason but most likely its responding to the change in evironments since you bought it. there is not much you can do about it. As for your pests, we all have the problem. You can drown most of the them out by putting the plant in a bucket of water for a few minutes. See if that works

[thebest]

You also might have watered your orchid too much.

[satishsherikar]

I generally just spray my phal, so that I do not over water it. Can you please share how much water should normally be sufficient? I have it potted in a medium of charcoal and bark. Does the bark by any chance cause some of this pests??

[norris]

I water my Phals by giving them a good soaking. Generally twice a week in summer and once a week in winter, but that depends on the weather also.

[mayres]

You cannot overwater your phal during a single watering. Whether you soak the entire pot/media and all in a bucket of water for a period or run gallons of water through the pot. The challenge is figuring out the frequency of watering for your environment and conditions - for your plant(s). Check out this link for using bamboo skewers as guides for learning when to water - Skewer use for watering of orchids