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ssuarkc

Flowering nonstop

ssuarkc
11 years ago

Hi all, need your expert opinion.

I have 3 Phalaenopsis orchids. They're flowering themselves to death... Two really desperately need repotting into a proper orchid-bark medium as they're still in moss that they came in at the store. Thing is, the durn things won't stop blooming long enough for me to get the job done. No sooner does it appear that the flowers are starting to wane and I think to myself, "oh good"..I look closer and gahh, there's another shoot coming out complete with buds already. These 3 Phals have been blooming, nonstop, since November! I thought these were only seasonal bloomers??

They're in an east-northeast window and get a few hours of morning dappled sun, which they seem to love. Perhaps I should move them so they stop flowering?

Thoughts? Ideas?

Should I just repot them carefully in spite of the buds? The 2 Phals in question are pretty squished in their pots, it's amazing the roots can even breathe.

Comments (3)

  • arthurm
    11 years ago

    Read my reply down the page a bit. They will not flower themselves to death but they will not look great either.
    The Phal mentioned in the other thread has been out for three months and has been to an orchid show and three monthly orchid society meetings. It needs a break!
    Good to hear a success story with Phals.

  • wuness
    11 years ago

    Orchids can survive indefinitely without flowers. What can kill them is an unhealthy medium. Imho, if you're going to repot phals, they should be repotted by Aug.-Sept. in order for roots to become well established by the time the flowering cycle begins later in the year.

    For me, it's a no-brainer. Sacrifice the flowers now and repot for the benefit of the plant. (A respected member of our orchid club cuts all the flowers off her plants after the spring orchid show so that the energy goes into making the plant stronger for the following year. I'm not at that point yet as I leave my flowers on until mid-summer, but it illustrates my point.)

    I laughed to myself when you mentioned repotting into a "proper orchid-bark medium." I know people have success with a bark medium for phals, but I never did. I grow all of my 25-30 phals in straight long-fiber sphagnum (with styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of the pot for drainage). It might be possible your phals are blooming so well because they like the moss they're in, even with the over-crowding. Personally I would recommend moss in your situation since you live in Canada. Those long winters can make it difficult to keep a bark medium suitably damp for phals.

    wuness

  • mommy115
    11 years ago

    I'm new with orchids but i wanted to share this with you. I bought an orchid with lots of flowers about 6 or 8 weeks ago. It was in sphagnum so tight in a clear plastic container that was afraid to leave it in there. So I very gently removed the moss and replaced it with fresh loosely packed sphagnum. It is still blooming with not one flower dropped. I say, go for the repotting now before you lose all the roots to rot.