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Phal won't stop blooming

15 years ago

I have a beautiful Phal that I rescued from the garbage at work about 6 mo ago. I can tell it needs to be repotted at some point because the bark is very old and the roots below the surface are going craaaaazy. BUT- the roots on the surface and the leaves look pretty shabby. Here's the problem- the thing won't stop blooming!!! Apparently I shouldn't disturb it while it's blooming, but since I started taking care of it and found it the perfect spot in my house, it's just blooming like crazy. I don't want it to get sick and die while I'm waiting for it to stop flowering.

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Comments (3)

nahala
15 years ago
Just repot it. The worst the plant will do is throw it's blooms. This would result in it investing more nergy in the growth of leaves and roots. Which isn't so bad either. It also might simply produce more blooms instead. Orchids can be funny that way. I've got one that after beeing repotted in bloom went into a sulk and has yet to do anything else but produce leaves and roots and another that's been blooming for three years now while being repotted more than once. The spike is starting to look kind of strange...

Good luck with your plant. :)
argusdc
15 years ago
Phals will often continue to bloom from the tips once the main flower display has faded. However, having one or two blooms at the end of a long straggly spike is not that attractive, in my opinion. You also need to give your plant a chance to rest and invest some energy in growth. I would suggest cutting off the spike at the base and then repotting it. Your plant will have a chance to get established and then should throw a new spike, or two, in the next season.
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Foliar spray with a salt solution? Why not just water at the base? If it is a deficiency the roots will take up the solution. Solution on the leaves will dry relatively quickly, doing nothing good thereafter. Age Old Organics Bloom is a high phosphorus product that doesn't otherwise list an NPK. But it does say in big letters on the label: THIS FERTILIZER IS INTENDED AS A SUPPLEMENT TO A REGULAR FERTILIZATION PROGRAM AND MAY NOT BY ITSELF PROVIDE ALL THE NUTRIENTS NORMALLY REQUIRED BY CROPS OR OTHER INTENDED PLANTS. Do you have a fan running? Dennis
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Moved the phal to the garden box for more ligjt. Got my downy rattlesnake orchids in!!! (: and picked up a really big phal on clearance for 8 bucks the spike was turning brown. The moss was soaked... So I cleaned all the moss off and cut the rotting roots. Transplanted into miricle grow orchid bark. I've lost ever orchid I've bought on clearance so hopefully this will be the one lol. 1 For soil I put a thin layer of bark down then used a 2 part miracle grow posting soil and 3 part miracle grow cactus mix. The cactus mix was a 5.5 acidic soil and had sand peat moss bark chips and perilite( or what ever those white things are) composition. Lowe's recommended blending with the potting soil so I'll see what happens I guess. It looked very close to the dirt that was still on some of the root balls.
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I know what you mean about reblooming. I have never seen so many of mine put up instant rebloom and then a week or so later put up two or more scapes. Concrete Blond has been continuously blooming for six weeks on scape after new scape and today I noticed even more shooting up. It is so hot some days that I don't even want to go look but rationalize that if they can bloom for me, I can look for them!!! All of yours are lovely and in this very strange year the reblooms look as good as the first blooming!!
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You can also go ahead and repot it her even though she's blooming. Don't worry about it. As long as the crown looks good and isn't getting too shaded and keeps growing, I agree with the others. It's more a streptocarpus thing to bloom themselves to death if they have a unifoliate species in the breeding. Bristol's Spectacular is one you have to keep an eye on for example. It'll bloom so heavily (if you let it) that it'll stop making leaves entirely. I haven't ever lost a violet from blooming itself to death and I have had some that just never stop blooming. Ann is one of those for me. She /always/ has flowers and never seems interested in taking a break year round. If you are really worried though, you can remove the flowers when you repot and get in there and remove the flower buds as well, as they form, for a little bit after repotting until you see strong new leaf growth in the crown. Then let her do what she likes best and enjoy!
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lwowk
15 years ago
Why is constant blooming an issuse be happy and enjoy! Phals don't seem to mind repotting while blooming just be careful not to knock the spike and break it.

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