Phal problem - the buds are drying out

[heathenpride]

Hey guys,

I got the following problem:
I bought a new phal about three weeks ago and didn't water it because the soil seemed to be pretty moist and I didn't want to exaggerate with the water now that it's cold...

This phal has two flower branches, and the un-opened buds on the blooming one have started to get dry and reddish.
I thought it was something to do with me not watering it so I gave it a few glasses of lukewarm water.

But the problem persists, and also some buds have been dried out on the non-blooming branch, although the problem is more severe on the blooming branch.

I must note that the flowers are OK, i.e. not withered.

Maybe the blooming branch does not have sufficient resources of some kind (water, light) to maintain additional buds as the branch is already pretty heavily occupied with bloom?
Maybe it's lack of humidity?
I'm also using some artificial light (40 W) above the flowers, maybe it can cause the buds to dry?

What am I doing wrong? I feel really bad!

[Ray]

There are several things that might cause such bud-blast:

• Lack of humidity is a real problem, and the fact that open flowers are unaffected would suggest this is the case.
• Blast of warm air from a heater (again, that's usually very drying)
• Sudden change in gowing conditions
• Mites, which are more common in dry environments. You'll see them on the underside of the leaves, if that's the case. They are tiny, so a magnifying lens might be a help.

[quiltergal]

It's not uncommon for a newly purchased flowering orchid to experience "bud blast". It's most likely come from greenhouse conditions and is now trying to adapt itself to a household environment. Once it gets acclimated it will be fine. Don't be surprised if you lose most of the buds this flowering cycle.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by heathenpride

I didn't want to exaggerate with the water now that it's cold...

Welcome to the "darkside" Glad you chose to join us.

Just one thing to add to the above - your statement above may also hold a clue. While many Phals will take a bit cooler temps to initiate flower spikes, I don't know any that thrive in cool to cold temps while trying to develop the buds. I can attest to that. My grow area gets down every night to approx 14-15 degrees C. This is pretty cool for most Phals. Besides that the humidity is mostly less than 40%. Day temps aren't much better. The plant leaves look fine - nice and large and plump - even green, not too dark. But the spike only developed about 8-10 buds and, while not blasting, they aren't plumping up as well as they should. I think it's the cool temps. So if you can warm the immediate area of the Phals then you may be better off. Just my