Three year old noid phalaenopsis hasn't bloomed

[daisyd681]

Hello all. I'm obviously new here, so a little background. I live in a high desert region (lots of pine trees, no humidity, barely any rain) at 7,000 feet above sea level. We get into the high 90s in the summer and we'll into freezing in the winter, so more seasonal swing than regular deserts. Inside we usually keep it in the 75 degree range (depending on who's got control of the thermostat ).

Three or so years ago I received a lovely purple phalaenopsis (99% sure that's what it is. The flowers have faded from memory a bit). It was one of those "just add ice" ones. After all the flowers fell off and the spike dried out I whacked it off and stuck it in the window with the other plants. It got watered anywhere from once a week to once a month (whenever the other, mostly succulent types, looked thirsty). My husband was sure I shouldn't have cut the spike and that I had ruined it. I always cut dead dried out things off plants, but I wasn't sure. I had resigned myself to it being an architectural green thing in the window.

Fast forward to this mother's day. My son picked out a lovely phal with huge white blooms on it and brought it home for me. Now I have two orchids I know nothing about and an African violet in need of attention, so I decided to educate myself before I went to get dirt for the violet.

I had never taken the clear pot out of the vase, so I got orchid dirt as well while I was out, along with fertilizer. I wanted to do right by it so I went to the nursery instead of Wally World and purchased the only orchid stuff they had (that I was assured was the right stuff). It felt chunky through the bag and said it was for epyphites (sp), and the grow more fert that's 20-10-20. It says year round for phalaenopsis.

When I got home my MIL was visiting so I sat down and had a couple of glasses of wine (I only mention it because I would have been more cautious about the soil if totally clear headed...) I decided it was time to pot so I did the violet first to get up the gumption and then dove in. After all of the horror stories I was expecting at least enough rot to put it back in the same pot after trimming. To my surprise there was not one mushy root. They were not the bright green, more of a yellow, but the videos showed people keeping those too. The media was pretty darn chunky, even after 3 years and fell away easily. Now needing a bigger pot, I grabbed a Terra cotta and opened the bag of Black Gold Orchid.... dirt. Crap! I'm standing in my kitchen with a very naked orchid in one hand and what I would call chunky soil in the other. I should have sifted out bigger chunks and just used that, but the wine fogged me. I proceeded to plant it as loosely as I could to get stability. Then I took it to the sink and ran it through as thoroughly as possible. I had to cover the bottom with one finger to keep this stuff from coming out the bottom. So I held it there until it stopped dripping and called it good. The next day I ordered a slotted clear pot and some media that has been recommended by people here. Hopefully I don't get much rot between now and then.

Now for my question. I've seen that most people say to find a cool spot for a few weeks to stimulate a spike. I've also seen many people say the window is the place to do that (this guy had plastered himself against the window so he had to feel any cold that was there). Are there any other ideas on why I haven't gotten any spikes in three years? Will the repotting help? Did I get the right fertilizer? My other thought was to park him on top of the window ac unit, since it's basically an open window, when it cools off. For now I've moved him to the kitchen island under a big skylight so they can humidify each other a little. He'll get better air flow there too, I think.

Wow, that got really long. Hopefully it was at least a little entertaining. I really want flowers on this guy again. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please let me know if anything else I said has me on the brink of disaster.

TIA Meira