help! my 1st orchid! Bud fall!
 

Very sadly, this morning I found a bud fell from the Phal, my first
orchid! Really heartaching. :-(

I bought this Phal on Feb. 14. It came with 3 leaves on each side and
a long long stalk with 7 buds on the main stalk and 3 buds on a
branch. The first bloom came about 5 days later in my home. Then this
bud, the second largest one, appeared shrivel and finally fell today.
:-(

It is in a 6" pot. The media appear to be bark. Last Saturday, I took
the plant out of the pot, cut the dead root (the soft brown ones with
a wire in the middle and only leave the green stiff ones) then I plant
it back to the pot and soak the pot in water until no bubble comes out
and then let it drain well. I then feed some 30-10-10 MirocalGro
solution at half concentration ( not sure if the media can still
absorb nutrition after being saturated by the soaking, I saw the
liquid flow through.). Then I place it back to a pebble tray by a
northeast facing window (the kind of big windows that you cannot
open). The pebble tray is not too much larger than the pot. Could this
be the reason that there is no enough humidity? But in the past two
weeks, here in SF bay area, it rained a lot and the hygrometer at home
always has a reading 55%. Oh, when this Phal first came in, I placed
it in a bright hallway. One side of the hallway has 3 huge un-openable
windows, the other side is wall. So it was on a stand by the wall
first. Then, several days later, the bud appeared shrivel. So I
switched its position with a 6" Azalea and placed it to the window
side which is brighter than the wall side but no direct sun.

What goes wrong? It's really sad to see the bud lying next to the
plant when I stepped out of my bedroom this morning. :-((( My 2nd
orchid, a cymbidium, stays in my office, one WITHOUT window. The buds
bloom one by one and I can see new growth at the bottom, with two or
even three more POSSIBLE stalks! My plan is to water orchids once each
week. Since only one weekend passed, so I just watered this cymbidium
once. It seems ok. I had thought condition at home would be better
than that in my office. But why does my Phal suffer? Isn't that Phal
suppose to be easier to raise than cymbidium?

What can I do to help my Phal?

Thanks a lot!

Tiff