Phal spikes are sloooow growing. Better not to move it at this point. In fact, you seem to have found the right spot already.

On the flip side (as the kids say) the Phal flowers last a long time once they are open.

Don't worry, you did good.

For future reference, you can upload your picture to photo bucket or flickr.com and you will be able to post pictures. I know I am not giving a whole lot of details- I beleive this site/FAQ has instructions on posting pics.
Good luck with the spike!

Temperature will be more important than light. The spike will grow towards the light, but if its very cold (55F or so), this will make the spike grow even more slowly. If it is warmer, the spike will grow faster. So even though you want a dramatic temperature difference from day to night to initiate spike, once it has grown, this isn't necessary.

Just how slow do spikes grow? I have a spike that is growing, but its taken weeks and weeks, probably more like a month +, and its still got a ways to go. Is this something to be concerned about?

In fact, spikes that grew faster for me were very thin, and never bloomed. :(

Phals can often take months to bloom. Even though the orchid spiked, the light of a North east or west window is nowhere near sufficient to sustain the orchid without artificial lighting. In a recently acquired situation, the plant likely bloomed from the energy it received from the previous owner. The OP may have had more heat, different watering habits that initiated a bloom cycle. The concern should be energy to sustain the spike's forward momentum and the plant in the months to come.
CV

The plant doesn't need any particular fertilizer now that it has spiked. It needed the energey in order to make it spike. That said, at this time you should avoid high nitrogen fertilizers which promote green growth.

First, thank u all for the response. I can rest assured that I dont have to move the plant after all.

La countessa, so do u mean that I should move the orchid to a better lighted area? or give artificial lighting in the room for the whole day? should I turn on the room lights? Do u think that would help? or should I put it under gro-lights?
Thanks.

I would go for more light and warmth.

You got the plant to spike in the NE window, and that's a biggy. If it wasn't getting enough light it wouldn't have set spike. As Richardol says, phal spikes are slow growing. It takes 16 weeks from the beginning of the spike to flowering. And warmth isn't exactly necessary for bloom. Greenhouse growers keep the greenhouses warm when they don't want the phals to flower and 16 weeks before they want bloom they cool down the phals to encourage spikes.

Hi, Chintu. Leaving room lights on won't help-- they're too far away. Light falls off in intensity by half for every foot away from the source-- so at 8' from the light you are getting 1/126 of the light.

The best discussion of growing and flowering phals indoors that I've seen was written by Peter Lin of Big Leaf Orchids, specifically for new indoor growers. The url is below.

A few minutes spent reading (and maybe printing) Peter's remarks will repay you richly in confidence about how to care for your orchid.

As for whether your phal would benefit from grow lights -- depends on how far you want to go in this enterprise. Some of us use lights to get that bit more out of our orchids. But it isn't always necessary.

There's a good discussion of supplemental lights for phals at Bedford Orchids. Go to the site, then scroll down the page about half way for the culture notes.

I do agree with richard and others above, tho. If you've gotten it to spike in the light you have, you're doing fine and no need to change anything.

Good luck, and enjoy your success!

Here is a link that might be useful: Phal growing for new indoor growers

If you have a summer blooming phal, it takes warm temps to get spikes. Anything with violacea and bellina (and there are more) will wait for the warm up, not a cool down.

Brooke

HI all,
Finally my phal bloomed. only the first two buds have opened.The flowers r white with purple ribs...The picture is at http://picasaweb.google.com/trdhinakaran/PhaOrchid/photo?authkey=K85xlQiTY2o#5197237867473382114
I tried to find the species, but could not find an exact match of the flower. Can someone please help with that?
Also the spike has a little spike at the base of the first flower..is that common? should I cut it off?
Thanks,

Your phal looks very healthy! Congrats.

As to your question about ID, this isn't a species phal. It is a hybrid and unfortunately there are thousands of hybrids that are registered and even more that are unregistered. Many of them looks similar to this flower so ufortunately you are unlikely to ever get a positive ID on this phal unless someone else has the same identical flower and even then there's no guarantee that it's correct. This is why tags are so important!
FAQ entries:
Identifying orchids/What orchid is this?
What does all the stuff on a label or tag mean?

The little spike is a branch, many phals branch out as they bloom. Whether you want to keep it is up to you, if you want extra flowers - keep it, if you prefer the elegance of just one spike - cut it off.
~Jem