Dying Phal...Please Help! :-(

[dani4life]

I wanted to join in the hopes of getting badly needed advice on my Phalenopsis Orchid, which hasn't been blooming for a while now...I've repotted it into a clay pot a while ago, but ever since about the 3rd blooming, I've never seen another one ...I fertilize it once a month and water it weekly with a soluble orchid food. It receives plenty of indirect sunlight. Although the leaves have been shriveled up for a while, I keep seeing new stems growing. I don't know what else to do. Could someone please offer advice????

Thanks!

[BunnytheOrchid]

Welcome to the forum dani4life
I think I'm a little confused. The leaves are shriveled, but there are new stems/spikes? Could they be aerial roots instead? If the leaves are wrinkled and leathery to the touch, your phal needs more water. If you potted it in a bark medium, then it won't hold water very well simply by pouring water from the top. Soaking the orchid in a small container of water for 10-15mins will help. Your phal will not flower if it is not happy in other respects, and you don't want it to flower unless it is happy (otherwise it spends too much energy on flowers rather than thriving). Also, phals need a temperature drop in order to bloom. I don't know the specific night temperature (if there is one), but it needs to be about a 10-15 degree difference from the morning.

[mayres]

A couple of things - could you update your profile to show where you live - this can often affect what kind of advice you are given. Also - could you take a good closeup pic of your plant. As bunny said, shriveled leaves mean your plant is not getting enough water - this can be due to not watering enough OR watering too much (or maybe the media is broken down and the media is not drying out enough - so the effect is similar to watering too much) - here the roots would be compromised - hence similar to underwatering where the plant is not getting enough water because there is not significant healthy roots to draw it up. How long has it been since you have repotted? Have you recently looked at the roots? If not I'd suggest you examine them as soon as possible and see if they are nice and plump and firm or black, mushy, stringy, etc. Depending upon the media and culture conditions watering once a week can be way too often or not enough - lots of factors can affect this.....

[dani4life]

Thanks for the feedback, all....I'll be posting pics of my orchid, soon!

[11Orchid126]

Dani4life, welcome to the forum. But I'm confused. You said "...I fertilize it once a month and water it weekly with a soluble orchid food." If you water it weekly with a soluble orchid food than you're fertilizing it weekly, and not once a month. Do you put on additional fertilizer once a month? You may be over fertilizing. Every fourth watering should be plain water to flush out any fertilizer residue.