spacing out blooms
Whatever time of year I visit the store, they sell blooming orchids.
But all mine seem to bloom at the same time. Is there a way for me, by controlling micro-climates or something, to affect the timing? It would be great to always have at least one of them flowering. These are mostly phals, but this topic needn't apply exclusively to them as I'm considering adding other types to the collection too. Thanks! -Munir |
spacing out blooms
Munir,
I too have mostly Phals, and I always have some that are in flower. This is what I do: I buy additional Phals in flower at different times of the year, since Phals tend to reflower at approximately the same time each year, this will help ensure that you have something in flower at different times -- both because you are always buying something that is in flower, and also because when they reflower it will be at different times. The caveat to this is that vendors can and do cause orchids to flower out of season, so just because an orchid is flowering when you buy it, may not be its natural season after all. The way to solve that, especially during the summer when fewer Phals are naturally in blooming season is (a) buy from a good vendor whom you can ask for advice as to which of the Phals he or she is selling are summer-bloomers; or (b) read up on summer-blooming phal species, and buy either these species or hybrids that contain them -- for example for the summer you could buy Dtps that are close to doritis (including Dtps Kenneth Schubert or Dtps Talitha's Gem, for example), phal violacea or phal bellina (plus their hybrids), and many yellow Phals are also summer blooming. Doing a bit of research on which phals are summer-blooming will turn up more. Some Phals have longer blooming periods than other Phals, and then having a few of those can help ensure that there is something in flower at all times, since these orchids can cover most of the year either on their own or two or three of them if they bloom for a long time at different times. Again, either ask a good vendor or do some research on which Phals are longer blooming. There are some phals like phal equestris that do not have a set flowering season, and thus are more likely to reflower at different times of year. Also mature healthy Phals may well flower twice a year, in both the fall and the spring. Adjusting one's environmental conditions to make spiking more likely in both the fall and the spring (especially providing the night and day temperature difference) is a good way of trying to get more than one season out of these Phals. Mainly however if you just go ahead and buy more Phals, you are much more likely to have something in bloom all the time with a lot of them than with just a few. :-) Hope this helps. Best, Joanna "Munir" wrote in message ups.com... Whatever time of year I visit the store, they sell blooming orchids. But all mine seem to bloom at the same time. Is there a way for me, by controlling micro-climates or something, to affect the timing? It would be great to always have at least one of them flowering. These are mostly phals, but this topic needn't apply exclusively to them as I'm considering adding other types to the collection too. Thanks! -Munir |
spacing out blooms
Adding to Joanna's advice, it is also possible that the plants have been
"forced" into different flowering periods by exposing them to day/night temperature differences of about 10°F-15°F for about ten days, as that often kicks phals into spiking. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info! "J Fortuna" wrote in message news:hkG9f.2557$0d.1639@trnddc03... Munir, I too have mostly Phals, and I always have some that are in flower. This is what I do: I buy additional Phals in flower at different times of the year, since Phals tend to reflower at approximately the same time each year, this will help ensure that you have something in flower at different times -- both because you are always buying something that is in flower, and also because when they reflower it will be at different times. The caveat to this is that vendors can and do cause orchids to flower out of season, so just because an orchid is flowering when you buy it, may not be its natural season after all. The way to solve that, especially during the summer when fewer Phals are naturally in blooming season is (a) buy from a good vendor whom you can ask for advice as to which of the Phals he or she is selling are summer-bloomers; or (b) read up on summer-blooming phal species, and buy either these species or hybrids that contain them -- for example for the summer you could buy Dtps that are close to doritis (including Dtps Kenneth Schubert or Dtps Talitha's Gem, for example), phal violacea or phal bellina (plus their hybrids), and many yellow Phals are also summer blooming. Doing a bit of research on which phals are summer-blooming will turn up more. Some Phals have longer blooming periods than other Phals, and then having a few of those can help ensure that there is something in flower at all times, since these orchids can cover most of the year either on their own or two or three of them if they bloom for a long time at different times. Again, either ask a good vendor or do some research on which Phals are longer blooming. There are some phals like phal equestris that do not have a set flowering season, and thus are more likely to reflower at different times of year. Also mature healthy Phals may well flower twice a year, in both the fall and the spring. Adjusting one's environmental conditions to make spiking more likely in both the fall and the spring (especially providing the night and day temperature difference) is a good way of trying to get more than one season out of these Phals. Mainly however if you just go ahead and buy more Phals, you are much more likely to have something in bloom all the time with a lot of them than with just a few. :-) Hope this helps. Best, Joanna "Munir" wrote in message ups.com... Whatever time of year I visit the store, they sell blooming orchids. But all mine seem to bloom at the same time. Is there a way for me, by controlling micro-climates or something, to affect the timing? It would be great to always have at least one of them flowering. These are mostly phals, but this topic needn't apply exclusively to them as I'm considering adding other types to the collection too. Thanks! -Munir |
spacing out blooms
In the home environment, it would be very difficult for you to do this.
E.g., the 10-15 temp change referenced in one of the other posts will often induce a Phal to spike, but if the spike matures and makes its buds in warm-hot conditions, it usually won't produce many flowers. From your reference to "store," I'm gathering that you've been buying your orchids at a Home Depot, Target or the like. All those chains buy from gigantic farms which do force their orchids so as to have flowers year-round. If not re-forced, they will go back to their natural blooming season. Forcing is also hard on the plant itself, especially if done repeatedly. The better way to go would be to visit your local growers, and buy a plant or two each month which is blooming in its natural season. Look in your Yellow Pages under Orchid Growers. If there are none convenient to you, then check www.orchidmall.com for some not too far away, for mail order.. Phals can keep you in bloom for 6-8 months of the year, but you probably will need to diversify to have truly year-round flowers. If you have enough light, consider Dens. They are also long-lasting, and most will bloom several times a year. Kenni "Munir" wrote in message ups.com... Whatever time of year I visit the store, they sell blooming orchids. But all mine seem to bloom at the same time. Is there a way for me, by controlling micro-climates or something, to affect the timing? It would be great to always have at least one of them flowering. These are mostly phals, but this topic needn't apply exclusively to them as I'm considering adding other types to the collection too. Thanks! -Munir |
spacing out blooms
"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
... Phals can keep you in bloom for 6-8 months of the year, but you probably will need to diversify to have truly year-round flowers. If you have enough light, consider Dens. They are also long-lasting, and most will bloom several times a year. Kenni Kenni, sorry to disagree with you, but Phals can keep one in bloom all year round. While it is certainly a good idea to diversify and have other orchids as well, but if someone wanted to have only Phals, it is certainly possible to have blooming ones all the time, even in the home environment. I looked at my records, and there are 5 Phals of mine which have covered the entire time period since March 2003 to the present, so that if I had only those 5 Phals I would still likely have at least one Phal in bloom at all times: March 2003-September 2003 ---- Phal Zuma Confection July 2003-December 2003 ---- Dtps Talitha's Gem late November 2003-end of February 2004 ---- phal equestris January 2004-May 2004 ---- No ID yellow Phal (nicknamed Canary Twin) March-August 2004 ---- Phal Zuma Confection May 2004-July 2005 ----- No ID white Phal with pink lips (nicknamed Ruby Lips) August 2004-April 2005 ---- phal equestris September 2004-December 2004 ---- Dtps Talitha's Gem September 2004-July 2005 ---- No ID yellow Phal (nicknamed Canary Twin) December 2004-July 2005 ----- No ID white Phal with pink lips (nicknamed Ruby Lips) July 2005-(still in bloom in November) ---- Dtps Talitha's Gem end of October 2005-(just starting to bloom) ---- phal equestris now (November 2005): + No ID white Phal with pink lips (nicknamed Ruby Lips) is currently in medium high new spike + Phal Zuma Confection is currently in low new spike + No ID yellow Phal (nicknamed Canary Twin) is showing continued activity on an old spike So as you see, it looks like with just these few Phals I could have Phals in bloom all year round. However, there are some caveats to this: (1) I did not know that these particular Phals would be the ones to ensure that I have something in bloom all the time, it happened by chance since I have a total of 32 Phals by now and these happen to be the ones; (2) note that two of these are No IDs that rebloom frequently and are in bloom for a long time, just very lucky with those; (3) I happen to own 2 Dtps Talitha's Gem, and the other one has yet to reflower for me -- it seems to believe that producing many new leaves is sufficient -- and these two were bought from the same vendor and I believe both come from the same seed pod, and yet one of them is a reliable bloomer and the other is not. So, I think in order to replicate similar all year round blooming coverage, you could acquire only Phals, but you would need to buy more than just 5 Phals to achieve this. Best, Joanna |
spacing out blooms
We sell blooming Phals year round. To maintain inventory we force from late
spring to fall. I turned off forcing 3 or 4 weeks ago and the last of the forced stuff will be sold in late Dec/early Jan. We force based on Wang's research which controls high temp. In the heat of the summer the day/night temperature difference will be less than 5 degrees. Next summer try placing a Phal in the coolest spot in the house. It needs some light, but the light does not need to be perfect. If you can keep the plant under 75 degrees you should see a spike in about a month. This time of year we do a lot of spike cutting. Rather then allowing all the plants to come in together in Feb/March, we go through and cut some spikes all the way down. This time of year, most will respike in 4 to 6 weeks. In late winter we will start cutting spikes half way down and reblooming spikes. These plants will hold us until the forced stuff comes on line. Pat "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... In the home environment, it would be very difficult for you to do this. E.g., the 10-15 temp change referenced in one of the other posts will often induce a Phal to spike, but if the spike matures and makes its buds in warm-hot conditions, it usually won't produce many flowers. From your reference to "store," I'm gathering that you've been buying your orchids at a Home Depot, Target or the like. All those chains buy from gigantic farms which do force their orchids so as to have flowers year-round. If not re-forced, they will go back to their natural blooming season. Forcing is also hard on the plant itself, especially if done repeatedly. The better way to go would be to visit your local growers, and buy a plant or two each month which is blooming in its natural season. Look in your Yellow Pages under Orchid Growers. If there are none convenient to you, then check www.orchidmall.com for some not too far away, for mail order.. Phals can keep you in bloom for 6-8 months of the year, but you probably will need to diversify to have truly year-round flowers. If you have enough light, consider Dens. They are also long-lasting, and most will bloom several times a year. Kenni "Munir" wrote in message ups.com... Whatever time of year I visit the store, they sell blooming orchids. But all mine seem to bloom at the same time. Is there a way for me, by controlling micro-climates or something, to affect the timing? It would be great to always have at least one of them flowering. These are mostly phals, but this topic needn't apply exclusively to them as I'm considering adding other types to the collection too. Thanks! -Munir |
spacing out blooms
Pat: Perhaps I should have been more specific. I was not considering
secondary "re-spikes" on previously-bloomed inflorescences. This is because we don't consider these to be "prime" flowers. While there are _always_ exceptions, we rarely see secondary blooms which are nearly as nice as the primaries. But I can see how your practice of cutting the primaries _before_ they bloom out could eliminate the energy expenditure of the primary blooming so that it will come out in the re-spikes. But it's a rare home-grower who will cut an even potentially viable spike, foregoing flowers sooner for better flowers later ... Kenni "Pat Brennan" wrote in message ... We sell blooming Phals year round. To maintain inventory we force from late spring to fall. I turned off forcing 3 or 4 weeks ago and the last of the forced stuff will be sold in late Dec/early Jan. We force based on Wang's research which controls high temp. In the heat of the summer the day/night temperature difference will be less than 5 degrees. Next summer try placing a Phal in the coolest spot in the house. It needs some light, but the light does not need to be perfect. If you can keep the plant under 75 degrees you should see a spike in about a month. This time of year we do a lot of spike cutting. Rather then allowing all the plants to come in together in Feb/March, we go through and cut some spikes all the way down. This time of year, most will respike in 4 to 6 weeks. In late winter we will start cutting spikes half way down and reblooming spikes. These plants will hold us until the forced stuff comes on line. Pat |
spacing out blooms
I don't think I ever had something in bloom at every time of the year
until I diversified my collection (from all paphs to a mix of different genera) and increased the size. About 200 plants of mixed genera was sufficient, if I recall. Of course now I have a lot more than that... And some seasons are better than others. Personally I think the trick to achieving 'everblooming' is to follow my rules. And go shopping at least a couple times a month. Try to avoid getting too many plants of one type, and always buy plants in bloom or spike. Preferrably ones that have been bloomed or spiked 'in house'. You pretty much have to go to an orchid specialist (or many!) for that, the big-box stores aren't much help. Assume that most plants are seasonal and will bloom once a year. More often is a bonus, but don't count on it. Some plants are everblooming. For example, I have an Slc. Tiny Titan "H&R" that has been in continuous bloom for forever now. It just doesn't stop... Those are good plants to have. A lot of phrags will bloom for a long time on a spike. Get some sequentially blooming paphs (Pinocchio is a good one), those will bloom continuously as well. Rob -- Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com 1) There is always room for one more orchid 2) There is always room for two more orchids 2a) See rule 1 3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more orchids, obtain more credit |
spacing out blooms
Hi Kenni, I agree "re-spikes" are lacking. If I get two thirds of the
flower count I am happy. But this is the route we go for our June crop. If I time it right and the Gods look down on me with favor, the plant will throw a new spike about four weeks behind the re-spike making a very pretty plant. As for the cutting of primaries, we do break down at the nub to 4" stage. Pat "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... Pat: Perhaps I should have been more specific. I was not considering secondary "re-spikes" on previously-bloomed inflorescences. This is because we don't consider these to be "prime" flowers. While there are _always_ exceptions, we rarely see secondary blooms which are nearly as nice as the primaries. But I can see how your practice of cutting the primaries _before_ they bloom out could eliminate the energy expenditure of the primary blooming so that it will come out in the re-spikes. But it's a rare home-grower who will cut an even potentially viable spike, foregoing flowers sooner for better flowers later ... Kenni "Pat Brennan" wrote in message ... We sell blooming Phals year round. To maintain inventory we force from late spring to fall. I turned off forcing 3 or 4 weeks ago and the last of the forced stuff will be sold in late Dec/early Jan. We force based on Wang's research which controls high temp. In the heat of the summer the day/night temperature difference will be less than 5 degrees. Next summer try placing a Phal in the coolest spot in the house. It needs some light, but the light does not need to be perfect. If you can keep the plant under 75 degrees you should see a spike in about a month. This time of year we do a lot of spike cutting. Rather then allowing all the plants to come in together in Feb/March, we go through and cut some spikes all the way down. This time of year, most will respike in 4 to 6 weeks. In late winter we will start cutting spikes half way down and reblooming spikes. These plants will hold us until the forced stuff comes on line. Pat |
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