How to make Orchids bloom??????

[AmandaS]

Hey everyone. I am new here and have had orchids for about 2 years now. I have a couple questions.

Phalaenopsis - I purchased this a year and a half ago with 3 blooms. This year one of them wilted and died. Towards the end of the last years season a little bud began to grow from the tip of the stalk but it is still itsy bitsy after a whole year. When will another flower grow? What can I do to encourage this? The stalk turned brown and I cut it back and another one grew with 3 on it. Any thoughts?

MY REAL QUESTION - I recently bought a cattleya at Lowe's. It was wrapped in packaging and had no blooms but had a lovely picture attached. It is healthy looking with probably 8 large leaves and I think some small pseudobulbs. When I was buying it I heard a woman say, "Oh dead already, maybe give discount". It is all green. It seems fine. So, a) it's not dead, is it? b) How do I make it bloom? Little things are growing out of the leaves/bulbs (I am not familiar with this, my phal has no bulbs), will they eventually turn to flowers? When do Cattleya ordinarily bloom? It is an ordinary white one with a purple tongue.

[Tindomul]

Hi, you have alot of common questions. First, if you Phal is growing a new flower stalk on the old one, then you will probably get a bloom from that. The tiny bud that you described is also normal. I have had many Phals do this for over a year and they just like to wait and sit until the decided its time to bloom. To encourage them, keep the plant away from full sun, make sure it has healthy roots (white and or green thick strong roots) and keep the plant moist but never ever soggy, ever. Make sure water does not accumulate at the top of the plant where the leaves form a cup, this could lead to rot if it doesn't drain out or dry out fast enough. Keep you plant away from full sun (you know I mean full sun all day). You can train it to accept some strong morning sun, but no more. Also, don't keep it too dark, like in a forgotten corner. Usually east facing windows are great.

As for your catt. Does it have roots? No orchid is truely healthy without roots. Your orchids will not bloom if they dont have roots. Only very rarely do they do this. I would get a potting mix made for orchids, usually contains bark, charcoal and bits of sphagnum moss for moisture. This will drain all the water but keep it moist. These plants like to live in trees and love getting wet, but hate staying wet. So water both your orchids when they are dry, and never let them sit in water or stay wet.
When will they bloom? Depends on the species or hybrid. They all have an idea of their own for when to bloom. Catts usually bloom when new leaves have grown and matured.

I hope I helped.

[AmandaS]

The Catt does have some small roots. Some of them were brown and I cut all those off. The remaining ones are white and green and look healthy, though few. I took some pictures of both plants.

The first two are the catt. Are the brown bits pseudobulbs? In the second image you can see there is some green growing out of the front stalk, would it bloom from there?

And then the last image is the phal, you can see the small bud at the tip between the flowers. It's been there over a year and deoesn't seem to grow yet.

[Tindomul]

Hi, the green is the sheath that covers the new growth until it is mature and turns brown. In the first pic, the sheath (brown papery stuff) is cover the pseudobulb. New blooms will emerge from the bottom of the leaf above the pseudobulb.

Here is an example with a picture of one of mine in bud.