Baroness, if there are some nodes on the stalk with the broken end you might get a side branch to spike, otherwise it probably will do nothing. "in situ, who cuts the spikes off of the phals?" That statement applies to any aspect of any branch of horticulture. I could stop all work on my messy garden (casual cottage) and what would be the result? I'll be a an orchid show in a few weeks time and if the customer is just buying a Phal. as a cheap bunch of flowers, i'll tell them the cut down to the node stuff, but, i like to think that people asking questions here are interested in growing better flowers. Here is the story of Betty (again). Betty was a great orchid grower. she had a collection of thousands of orchids and won the annual championship at several orchid societies many times. Now those Championships are won by people who have big collections across many Genera and you get points for just benching a plant. She had this species Phal. that bloomed for years and years. It had a long, long spike with hundreds of flower scars and a few sad dispirited flowers at the end. It was benched in the species other section year after year just to gain that one precious point. Brooke, not sure of the latest name for Phal. decumbens. It seems to have had many names over the years. The plant pictured in an above post is a mini 3 inches high with 3 inch leaves, just the ticket for the narrow windowsill in the kitchen. The flower spike is not very long, but is a sequential bloomer, so i go SNIP at the base after enjoying the display for three months or so. Blooms like clockwork, every summer.

Never, ever put your Phals outside comments i've made in the past apply to here, not necessarily NE USA. As far as getting flowers, if you read the first post plus the in depth FAQ on the subject it all begins to make sense . There are the two groups of Phals. those that need a cool down and those that need a warm up to flower. (though perhaps day length might apply to some species) Some that need a warm up (here) are Phal.violacea and Doritis pulcherrima Phal.equestris blooming seems to be triggered by a cooling down. Cheating. (Phal.equestris x Dor. pulcherrima) x Kingiella philippense bloomed late summer for years in my conditions. After reading various posts i though i would try to make it bloom in the spring so i moved it to my warmer growing conditions in Autumn. Worked like a charm. I agree with the comments about increased light but of course it all depends where you are. No Phal will survive summer or winter outside here, Too hot (sometimes) Too cold (sometimes) and low humidity when the wind blows from the interior of the Continent. Leaf Burn is a function of light plus high temperatures.

I think chill for us and chill for the plants are two different things sometimes. They like to have a 20 degree drop from daytime temps and nighttime temps. When it's uber-hot, sounds really good to me. I'm glad somebody else has found Osmocote fert. to be useful. I use the Dynamite version (the one in the red package). I just have way too many things going on all at one time to stop and mix up fertilizer everytime I water. The only ones I don't use it on are the Dends.Just remember the more leaves you grow during the summer is a potential for more flowers on the spike next flowering season. Some plants naturally put out more spikes than others,they are just more floriferous.Happy growing. ginnibug

TJ, I do keep the AC at 69 or so at night, but during the day it gets up to 77-78 degrees. It sits on a windowsill and sometimes when the sun hits the pot it feels warm to the touch. I'm wondering if it was just the 15 degree drop in temps between night and day (maybe with the sun warming the roots it gets to 85?). I thought it needed to be more like 55-60 to spike...we definitely have not had those temps yet.