Home Depot Phalaenosis

[Nancy]

I bought six previously bloomed phalaenopsis from th Home Depot in August. They are all in the process of growing leaves. Can I expect them to bloom when they were forced to bloom at the wrong time all ready? I don't want to feel like I've failed when the plants just have to wait until next year until they bloom again.

[orchid_girl]

I bought one from Lowe's like that and i have been trying to see if it will too. I don't think it will. maybe someone else has another idea

[NancyG]

They will bloom again probably in the spring or summer. Just keep taking care of them using the AOS care sheets. With a good watering, light and air flow conditions you should be able to get them to bloom again.

My first purchase was from Home Depot so They get the blame or credit with my obsession.

NancyG

[snowballsarebad]

Well..I bought a phal from Lowe's last August or so...it was likely flowering during June/July, but not when I bought it. It DID flower later that year, starting right before Christmas. So maybe you will be lucky.

[mayres]

There are a number of factors that will affect if they bloom or not. Genetics and culture will play important rolls. How "happy" they are in their environment will influence another quick bloom - are they growing like crazy and loving their conditions, just maintaining or declining. The closer you come to their ideal conditions the more chance you have of reblooming them again. I have a NOID phal I purchased at Safeway in August and it is now starting another spike (of course this is the start of the "normal" spiking season for the majority of hybrid phals). On the other hand, in the past I have purchased other (forced) summer blooming phals and they skipped the entire fall spiking season before spiking on schedule the NEXT season. I think part of the difference is the length of time the plant was in bloom and how much energy it sapped from the plant. A short bloom seemed to jump right back into the expected routine while a long extended bloom (4-6 months) skipped the normal season if backed up against the late fall blooming season. At least this is my experience. mike

[kmarch]

The typical flowering cycle is initiated by autumn night-time temperature drops with the flowers blooming in winter. As your Phals were forced to bloom at the "wrong" time of year they may skip this winter's bloom cycle and wait until next autumn to spike again.

[Sara]

I have read somewhere that phals don't really have a set growing season, but blooming seems to occur after the plant has grown in a set of new leaves. So I'd say once it's had it's leaves all grown in, give it the cool treatment and hopefully you should see some blooms.
Good luck!

[pikevi]

I did buy a number of 'end-of-bloom' orchids from a Rona (not unlike home depot) about 6 weeks ago and many of them are blooming now. The old flower stalks are still intact and green. In addition they are growing new leaves as well. The spikes, however, do not appear to be that robust.

The only thing I did was to remove their potting medium( just moss) and potted them in my own mix and added some fertilizer. I also wrapped the roots in sphagnum moss ( which I found out subsequently is NOT a good idea) and the plants seem to be doing well.

I keep them moist all the time.

[Nancy]

All the phals have been growing leaves and roots, so none seem to be unhappy. I guess I will have to wait and see. Thanks for the help everyone!