My current Phal booms

[RosieC]

Thanks everyone.

Originally Posted by Melody

Do you have any idea why they produced spikes so late?

I kept my house quite cold last winter and I think they all went dormant instead of spiking. I was quite worried that I had no spikes at the end of last year through to early spring. Then as the weather started to warm up I got several of them spiking, and they went on to flower over the summer.

Originally Posted by rangiku

Rosie, the first one is amazing. Wonderful growing. What kind of phal is it?

I'm afraid it's a NoID. Bought it as my second ever orchid at a local garden center. It grew like crazy for the last two years and has flowered twice in the previous two years, although only the once this year... just tons of flowers and open for ages

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Lovely blooms Rosie. Some of my Phals bloomed very late this year also. I blame it on the cool, dark, damp spring we had. Things didn't really start to warm up until the end of June!.

Yeah, as I said above it was cold in my house over the winter and I think it was when it warmed up in April/May that they started spiking.

Originally Posted by quiltergal

I also think if you leave a Phal. in bloom beyond June (unless of course it's supposed to bloom in summer) that it takes the plant longer to get ready to bloom again throwing it's growth cycle off. I prefer mine to go through their growth cycle in the summer because I think the roots and new leaves are a little more robust.

I think you are right. Mine that didn't spike in the spring were those which had been in flower late last year (mostly bought last year in flower). Many of those are now spiking now after a cool spell in late August.

I like them to go through growth in the summer as well, but I think several of mine are off, and I will take what I get with flowers