Neither plant has a label. I identified them by looking at photos online. Both are the bright pink phalaenopsis. Both had no buds when I got them over a year ago. One I cut down per information I saw online about getting it them to bloom. The other, I did not cut down. The one I didn't cut down is the one that keeps growing and growing and always has new buds. The other one has not bloomed. I've repotted both and changed the orchid bark on the non blooming plant recently. What is interesting to me is that I have read to get it to bloom to place it in a dark cool area. I have also read to place it in a cooler area in bright light. Both plants are in front of a window (kind of cold) and in bright light. Should I try moving it into a dark area for awhile? Interesting how the one that I didn't follow the directions on is the one that is blooming beautifully.

I used AVID for my mite problem 6 month ago and followed the following recommendation. Spray with AVID making sure you get the under surface of the leaves which can be a pain. 1 week later with something else. I chose Malathion. Repeat the process for week 3 and 4. Since then spray with something once a month. I have used Neem oil, Malathion and one more application of AVID. The Ag pesticide expert I consulted is of the opinion that rotating different approaches prevents the development of resistant bugs. It's been 6 month and I am retiring the heavy stuff and keep spraying with Neem oil and Ag soap once a month only. So far, so good. Nick

Ginger, You need to go to the American Orchid Society Web Site and find their culture sheets for Nobile type Dendrobiums. There are other web sites that also offer detailed culture instructions for these plants. Nobile Den's. grow a bit differently from other orchids, and you will have to conform to their wants and needs to get them to bloom. First, be absolutely sure you are rid of the scale. Scale suck the juices out of the plant, and are difficult to get rid of because most contact insecticides can't get through the scale to the bug. The scale is probably not what caused the leaves to drop.....That happens to the leaves every year. Next, any of the old canes on your plant that are shriveled, and DEAD, can be removed. Sharp sterile blade, and cut them off at the base. Be sure they are completely dead, because the old canes are storing nutrients for the plant as long as they remain alive. Now, growing the thing.....In the spring when new growth starts at the base of the plant...(Nobiles are prone to producing Keikis on old canes, and that's ok. Leave them on and let them bloom then remove them and pot up as new plants.....you need to really grow the plant. Lots of sunlight, water, and 30-10-10 fertilizer. You want those new growths to really grow big and healthy. In the early fall, the leaves will begin to yellow, and fall off the plant...normal..... At this time you should stop feeding the high Nitrogen fertilizer...use 10-10-10, or just stop fertilizing until spring growth starts again. If you are not growing the plant outside, it would be best take it outside in the fall. Let the plant stay outside until it experiences several nights of very cool temperatures....even a light frost won't hurt. When the weather gets too cold, bring the plant in and enjoy the blooms. When the blooms fade, reduce the amount of water you give the plant until new growth starts in the spring, then go back to the heavy feeding/growing of the plant. Once a cane blooms, its not going to ever bloom again. All leaves fall off in the winter. Bill

Polina, Volumes have been written to answer your last paragraph. ;Arthurm, you think they will give me enough room here to try? It used to be that there were two types of really expensive orchids. One group was rare, very hard to find plants that were brought out of the wild and only a very few of them were in cultivation any where in the world. The others were those plants that had been hybridized by man over sometimes many generations to create exceptionally shaped blooms, or blooms with exceptional color, or both. These plants had been shown to highly trained judges who were accredited by recognized organizations such as the Royal Horticultural Society of England, or the American Orchid Society, and granted awards recognizing their superiority. When two orchids are crossed (pollen from one applied to the stigma of the other) a seed pod may be formed that can contain nearly a million almost microscopic seeds. If these seeds are planted on a nutrient material (agar, something near the consistency of Jell-O) in a sterile environment (to prevent mold contamination), each seed can produce a baby plant. Each of these little plants are unique...some will resemble mom, some dad, and most will be somewhere in between. Some may inherit and exhibit a trait from some ancestor many generations back. After about 7 years these plants will begin to bloom, and experienced growers pick the finest ones out of the multitude of first blooming seedlings. These plants are usually allowed to bloom once or twice more to confirm their characteristics before they are entered in shows or taken to judgings. Once the plants begin to bloom, the cross can be named. The process looks like this...Cattleya Plant A X (crossed by) Laelia Plant B = Laeliocattleya John Doe. (Lc. John Doe must never have been registered before) Now all these little plants that came out of that seed pod have the same name. If, in America one of those selected little plants is taken to a show, and the American Orchid Society judges there agree that it is exceptional, they can award it. Lets say they give it an Award of Merit. Now, the owner has the right to give that individual plant a "clonal name"...It now might become Laeliocattleya John Doe Variety 'My Best' AM/AOS. Now, that one particular plant has been singled out as better than its siblings, and has a name that defines it from all its siblings. Before Cloning was perfected, the only way you could obtain a plant of LC John Doe Var. "My Best" AM/AOS would be to purchase it from the owner. That usually would not happen, but the owner might consent to selling you a division or part of the plant once it grew large enough to be divided. I have personally seen divisions sold for as high as $3,000.00. Once cloning was perfected, a piece of our pant in question could be taken into the lab, and multiplied many hundreds of times, producing exact genetic copies of the original plant, and now, blooming sized plants of this plant can be purchased for $15 - $20.00. If you wanted to, you could purchase at very reasonable prices two plants with excellent breeding records, cross them, wait for them (7 yrs.) to begin to bloom, and if your cross had not been registered previously, you could name the cross, and take the best of the bunch to shows and see if you could get them awarded, clone (could probably begin to sell plants in flasks in about 2 years) them and make your fortune selling them. Kinda changes a fun hobby into lots of hard work, doesn't it. Bill