short spiked Phalaenopsis orchid

[cthomps1]

Hi there, I am new to this post but I wanted to see if anyone had some answers for me. I have 3 Phalaenopsis and coincidentally all of them baffle me. The first orchid I purchased at a local shop to save him from the trash. He was sick and so sad so I took him home and with some tlc he came around to become beautiful......however he shot off this spike, around a year ago, and all the flowers died eventually, but he keeps re-blooming. Every time his one lonely flower finally falls off, another is just about to bloom. My question is, should I give the poor guy a rest already and cut his spike?

My second orchid, also saved, has put off his first spike, but it is awfully short. He has 5 almost 6 buds, one so close to opening, but the spike seems so short compared to my other orchid spike. I have him staked, maybe it was too early for him though?

My last question is pertaining to my third orchid. He put off a spike as well, but it is also short annnd as soon as a little baby bloom starts to grow, it turns brown and falls off, it never even pushes itself out from the spike. It stays nestled right next to it, and then dies The spike is still growing taller, but the blooms keep dying.


Any help would be so greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Courtney

[kid a]

Hi Courtney I'm Kortney Welcome to the forum! Way to go on the awesome rescues! Do you know what the names of your phals are? Some naturally have shorter spikes or have spikes with less flowers (or eve one flower). What kind of conditions are you growing them in? The one that looses the buds as soon as they start to grow that could be from a few differnt things, its just a matter of figuring out which one, it could be humidity too much light or sunburn or too much fertilizer or something, possibly even that it needs better air flow. Do you fertilize them? If you can post pictures that would probaly help too. I think you have to post at lest 5 posts before you can add pictures. I also I don't think steaking will make much of a difference in the spike height unless it is steaked heavy duty and being restriceted from growing but you would likely notice if that was the case lol.

[CharliesAngel51]

Hello and Welcome Courtney, you must have been doing something right to get rescued orchids to spike. I don't know what the problem could be now. I don't have much experience with orchids, I'm just trying to learn how to grow them. Someone will be able to help you. There are lots of friendly , knowledgeable people here willing to share their experience. Good luck and again, welcome.

[trinigirl]

Hello and welcome.

You are already doing great getting rescued phals to perk up enough to flower!

As far as the spikes, the phals may just need a little bit more energy to get the blooms to open up. I would suggest cutting the spikes and letting the phal put its energy into getting healthier. They could be healthy enough already, a picture would help to know just what condition the plants are in.

[FLBob]

I normally cut Phal spikes after the initial bloom cycle on first and second season Phals. Once the Phal is big and strong I'll leave the spike and allow it to rebloom. You need to listen to the plant if it's growing and happy let it bloom if it's troubled cut the spike.

The plant that is blasting buds is troublesome. I always look at the pot when a plant is unhappy. Happy plant = nice roots in sweet medium, unhappy = roots not in good shape medium is sour.

Phals love to be repotted so popping the plant out of the pot and inspecting the root won't set it back.

[cthomps1]

Wow thanks so much for your help! I never imagined anyone would answer, so this is great. I will try to get some pictures up, I will see if I know how to do it first though. I repotted all of my orchids when I bought them, which was around a year ago. They are in clay pots (with 2 extra drainage holes that I drilled), small pebbles at the bottom, the medium consists of orchid bark (the kind you get at the store) and I have spread orchid moss over the tops of all of them for added humidity. I will check the roots, but they all seem to have healthy systems, rigorously growing. They all recieve the same amount of fertilizer ( I alternate between better grow orchid plus with no urea 20-14-13 and a orchid bloom booster 11-35-15), as all are set on a schedule. I dont fertilize too often, I mostly use our well water and maybe once a month feed them.

[cthomps1]

They do however differ in the amount of light they receive. The re-bloomers are to the right of a window that receives direct sunlight, while the sad bloomer is slightly farther and more spaced to the right. Could sunlight be the issue? ...pictures soon to follow

[cthomps1]

okay here are my pictures...the first is the one that likes to push out one bloom at a time, on the old spike. The second and third pictures are of my second sad orchid. He has only one leaf, his other did not make it after I got him home. This is the orchid that put up a spike, but his blooms never make it past the baby stage, they turn brown and fall off.

[cthomps1]

Here is my last orchid in question. This is the short spike....I know this is not the best picture of it (good help is hard to find apparently.) The first is both the leaved and the spike; what is interesting is how firm and upright this Phalaenopsis leaves are. My others are more floppy, but who knows, maybe thats not even nomal?

[kmarch]

They all look normal to me so I don't think there's much cause for concern. Enjoy your flowers!!!