On 24/08/2014 07:39, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-08-23 18:24:39 +0000, Spider said:

On 23/08/2014 16:29, Pam Moore wrote:
On Sat, 23 Aug 2014 12:31:26 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

"Sacha" wrote

I bought one of these some time ago and it has bloomed from around
March
until a week ago, when the flowers started to wither and drop off.
Pretty
good value, I'd say. BUT having transferred it to the 'hospital'
window in
the kitchen, I glanced at it the other day, wondering if the stem
was dying
back, To my surprise and pleasure, one withered flower was still
clinging
on but further up exactly the same stem, new buds are forming. I've
never
seen this happen before on any of my other Phals.

Quite normal. It's why you should never cut the flower stem off a Phal
unless it goes brown and dead. The show experts use this trait to
enable
them to produce lots of flowers by changing the temperature at which
the
plant is kept so extending the flower spike a number of times. You
may find
the spike branches onto a number of extended spikes before flowering, I
think that is when they are at their most beautiful.

I have 5 plants. One did just this, made new stems of buds after the
previous lot died off. However, the buds have failed to open, having
veen there a few months. Then the buds started dropping.
Could this have been the very hot weather? They are in the same place
where I always keep them. One has had a wonderful spray of flowers,
also for a few months.
Sometimes the old stems go woody and then I cut them down to the base.




Buds can abort if the plant is turned to face a different direction.
They are unable to turn with the stem, so drop off. This is why
orchids are invariably bought with flowers open. Drought and dryness
can also have the same effect.

That's interesting, Spider. I bought one recently from Morrisons, a
double-stemmed one with flowers open and with buds. Three buds have
dropped off andI was about to write here, asking why! I assume there's
nothing I can do to prevent this?




Yes, I've had that happen occasionally. When I get mine home, I look
closely to see which direction the buds are facing and try and mimic
that, so they don't have to 'travel' and dislocate themselves.
It's also possible that the supermarket has not kept up with the
watering, so check if yours needs a drink. The other possibility
(especially now that the weather is cooler and frosts are already
forecast in some areas) is that your Phal. suffered from a draught or
chill as you brought it home. Stores and gcs often put the pot in a
carrier bag, but I often take an extra bag and gently put it over the
head of the orchid until I get home. I get some odd looks at the till,
but I'm well beyond worrying about such things!

Of course, when you get home and your frozen peas thaw because you've
been tending your orchid, you'll just have to tell Ray plants have
priority (he'll understand that) and would he like pea soup for dinner?
(He may not understand that!):~))
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay