Temperature Experiment

[orchidsarefun]

I have 2 equestris ( 1 hybrid and 1 species ) that haven't bloomed in a year. I know equestris is blooming now.
I have placed them on my North-facing porch ( they get late afternoon sun ) and I am going to leave them there until they start spiking. I hope for their sake its before freezing weather sets in.....
Anyway, its a proof experiment to see if day/night change in temps and seasonal light has any effect on the blooming cycle for these hard-for-me-to-rebloom orchids.


I checked my records on Happy Helo. I got it in bloom on 8/7/12 - so that one has been 2 years since reblooming!

[Hiester]

Good luck. I wouldn't let them freeze. It may only take about a month of increasingly cooler temperatures in autumn in order for them to initiate blooming, but you might not see the spikes until long after they would need protection indoors over winter.

I'm kinda lucky in that this old house has a walk in attic with four windows which almost face the four cardinal points of the compass. Plus there's a kitchenette and bath on that floor for water, so I don't have to tote water up a staircase.

[Ray]

It is neither a diurnal temperature drop nor a change in day length that pushes phals to initiate spikes. It is exposure to a couple of weeks of a 10°-15°F reduction in average growing temperature that does it.

And - supporting Hiester's comment - after that exposure, the plant needs to be returned to normal, warmer conditions so that the spike will develop normally.

[quiltergal]

My 3 equestris are free blooming. I get spikes from two of them at least 2-3 times a year. I have a f. aurea that is currently blooming on two new spikes in the middle of a hot summer. Spikes initiated several months ago but it was not particularly cool. I think it's hard to apply this theory to equestris. If the plant is healthy, getting adequate light & food, it should bloom.

[orchidsarefun]

these are the 3 culprits. ( added a 3rd )
Equestris
Happy Helo
Liu's Triprince
Unlike all my other phals - by the way my house is airconditioned and heated to a constant temperature - these have not bloomed in at least 18 months, in some cases longer.

[Brooke]

What kind of light are they getting? You should be able to get a temp differential if you grow in front of a window or under lights.

When the sun shines close to the window, the temp will be higher than the thermostat number. When you shut off your grow lights, the temp will drop for the night.

Usually when something doesn't bloom increasing the light helps. Your 'chids look very healthy so I would increase the light.

Brooke

[Gage]

Ray is right. Drop in average temp is the trigger for phalaenopsis spiking. If someone still has the link to the study that was done it would be a good refresher. This is how the commercial growers initiate spike and can control exactly what will be blooming when. I have an equestris hybrid that I had growing on the window sill for a couple of years, and it would bloom for me 3+ times per year. After I moved it outside permanently (I live in south Florida) it has since only bloomed once a year following the winter drops in temp. The reason it was blooming so often indoors was because of the wild swings in temperature that happen from one week to the next. In the spring and fall it might be comfy enough not to run the ac for a couple of weeks, then it heats up and we turn on the ac. The house is coldest in the heat of the summer and the coldest part of the winter. Anyway, that's my input.

[orchidsarefun]

I don't grow my adult phals under lights. All are windowsill grown, facing the same direction - south. All the others flower regularly and these 3 were interspersed ( and changed around ) with the regularly flowering ones. I think windowsill growers have unique conditions, more so than greenhouse growers. For example - leaky windows. I don't have those as all my windows were replaced in the last few years....and are air-tight.
Obviously some environmental factor is impacting these only - hence my experiment. My other phals have remained indoors. I have read that Happy UFO, a parent of Happy Helo is a difficult rebloomer. So - mine my be genetically influenced. Also Liu's Triprince - difficult to rebloom, seems like it needs greenhouse conditions. My equestris 'riverbend' is the odd one out as I have no info on this being a problem rebloomer.
Hopefully my experiment is successful. At least I would know then to put these outside in late summer.

I would like to know if anyone else has had similar situations - some bloom, some don't - with no apparent reason.

* meant to add that my equestris carried a seedpod. I have read anecdotal evidence that this sometimes causes reblooming issues - but this hasn't happened on any of my other phals that I have used to seed propagate.

[Brooke]

Growing in a south window will give you a temp differential. When the sun shines in the temp will increase and at night when it is dark, the temp will decrease.

Before my g/h magically appeared on my property, I grew in windowsills, which got crowded, so I moved to under lights with no natural light. When I couldn't force anymore under lights, the g/h became a reality.

If these were mine and they refuse to bloom, I would move them closer to the south window.

Brooke

[orchidsarefun]

barely a month later it looks like a spike is developing on one of my phals ! I hope it is ! This is Happy Helo which hasn't rebloomed for me since August 2012.
see green "mitten" in middle of picture between the 2 new root growths, in same arc.
The plants are all in a North facing site, exposed to all the elements except direct Sun.
No sign of any spikes on the others, but its early days yet.
Being outdoors has done wonders for root and new leaf growth too ! Temps have swung from the 100's to the 60's and everything in-between.