Pam Moore wrote:
I have 2 orchids, a Phalaenopsis and a cymbidium which won't
re-flower.
The cymbidium I have had for about 15 years. I bought it in flower
for my Mum, and it has never flowered since. It's huge and looks
healthy enough. The last 2 summers it has spent outside in a shady
part of the garden. It used to be in the bathroom but it's now in the
living room where it might be a bit warmer.
The phalaenopsis I've had 4 or 5 years. It had 2 flowering stems
which I cut back to the next node as top flowers faded and eventually
cut off the whole stems when they went woody. All it will produce now
ar aerial roots, which come out of each leaf joint.
Do any of you have suggestions from personal experience? I've read up
quite a bit but cannot find what I'm not doing.
Feeding? I give them an occasional (every month or so) feed of orchid
fertiliser and I think I'm watering correctly.

Pam in Bristol

Can't say about Cymbidium, as I got rid of mine many years ago as I thought
it a very scruffy and uninteretsing plant when not in flower.

My Phalaenopsis grows on a NW-facing bathroom window. It is potted in
ericaceous compost and bits of old Oasis left over from my wife's
flower-arranging (about 3:1 ratio by volume), and is in a round transparent
plastic pot which just fits in a cube-shaped glass container. If I
remember, it gets ordinary Phostrogen or Miracle Grow (or a similar type of
fertiliser) once every month or two. I water it regularly with cooled water
from the hot tap and always keep it damp. Our water is not exactly
chalk-free! About once every couple of months I drown it in water (up to
the top of the soil) for around 30 minutes, and then let it drain away
completely. It almost never stops flowering.

--
Jeff