Do you know what sort of daily temperature range the plants are getting when the buds fall off and what time of year does this occur?

Thanks so much for your reply. I have four phalenopsis right now all in various stages of trying to bloom. One is a teacup which budded and all the buds have fallen off in the last week or so. The second one is a rather large plant (about 10" long leaves) with a two foot tall spike with three branches, The third and fourth are still growing the spike and as of yet there are no developed buds. I also have two orchids which I don't know the names of. Each is large, planted in 12" pots which they fill pretty well in terms of the pots' diameter. The leaves are long and narrow - up to about 24"- and they have several pseudobulbs. I was given these by a neighbor who gave up on them. Each are in the process of growing a spike right now and appear to be developing a large sheathed cluster of buds at the end of the stem. They are planted in a light textured potting soil type medium which I suspect is not the proper choice. The plants are also potted in tall narrow pots, so I suspect that the plant and it's roots are only filling the top third or so of the pot in terms of volume. The house is kept at about 70 -72 degrees, and the plants are in Southern facing windows. The windows are new so I don't feel that the plants are getting a cold draft from them. Perhaps I just need a proper fertilizer or a different potting medium and pots.
I appreciate you taking the time to try to help me out. Admittedly, I am new at this. After reading several other poster's questions I realize that the topics of the forum are often far more advanced than my beginner level questions.

This is something that I don't think I have ever said to anyone who is growing orchids but, I think that possible you are not watering them enough. I would say that a phal. grown inside in a window should be watered well once a week. You should water it so that the water is pouring out of the bottom hole for at least for 10 or 15 seconds, maybe longer. If you are getting spikes they are getting enough light so water has to be the answer. I was wondering have you ever repotted them and if so what did you pot them in?

It is odd that your plants are healthy enough to 'almost' bloom and they loose their buds each time. This has been going on for years?

A few thoughts come to mind...are you fertilizing when you water? Are your plants near a gas stove, heater or fireplace? Is direct sunlight hitting the spikes?
Could you be changing the environment of the plants?

Bob might be on to something regarding underwatering.

Just doesn't make sense if this has been happening for years to apparently healthy plants. Can you post a few pictures to see the leaves?

Jane

Do you have fruit sitting out around the plant? Fruit will give off ethylene gas as it ripens which will cause flowers and buds to drop. Bananas in particular will give off a lot of gas as they ripen.

Are you a smoker? Air pollution will cause bud drop, smoke and fumes from cooking could also be the cause. Could they be exposed to fumes from a car, by a driveway or close to a street?

If the plants look healthy and are trying to flower I don't think it would be a light, water or temp issue.

Thanks for your replies. The plants are in a family room which is adjacent to the kitchen where there are sometimes fruits in the fruit bowl. However, the distance is at least ten or more feet. Yes, as someone asked before - this has been going on for years! I did ONCE get one of my plants to bloom. It was while it was outside for the summer where incidentally, it was watered often because it was in the path of the automatic sprinklers. It probably also got watered with 20-20-20 as my kids help me with those types of chores are are not particulary discerning. There are no smokers in the house and the kitchen is well ventilated with a powerful axhaust fan. In thinking about this some more, I feel that the watering and feeding may be the issue. I use an all purpose plant food at a diluted strength. Can someone recommend a proper fertilizer and how often to use it? It seems as though the plant has just enough energy to set buds, but not enough to mature them. Also, in reading other posts I'm beginning to think that some of the plants I have are not planted in the proper medium. As I said above, the ones I got from a neighbor are in something more like dirt rather than bark or moss. I will work on getting some pictures up this afternoon. Thank you to each of you for your replies.

I'm not concerned about what type of fertilizer you use. I have found I lose buds occassionally when I fertilize during flowering. Therefore, I would not fertilize at all when the buds are forming.

Are you by chance, spraying fertilizer water on the spikes?

Something is causing the buds to abort and you should look carefully at what you are doing which could cause this. If the plants are healthy, you should not be losing the buds.

Jane

Jane, that's an interesting thought. I've only begun "collecting" orchids during the past 4 years so I consider myself a beginner. I've always wondered when it's the optimal time for the fert. with the higher nitrogen count and when to start using the fert. with the higher middle number. I've been using the bloom booster when the 'chids are in bloom and just before. Those that aren't in bloom get the higher nitrogen type. I don't usually lose flowers or buds. Is this wrong?

There are some excellent long past threads on fertilizer to be found by using the search facility. I've been growing orchids for about 40 years so i'll say it again bloom booster is bulldust.
Consider the photo taken years ago. The same area looks even better this year and i'm about to spray fertilizer about. On the bench under the Tolumnia are different types of orchid at various stages in their annual cycle, blooming, starting new growth, in bud. Now i'm not about to go around using different N fertilizers . The plants are going to get the same stuff.
If you want to keep it simple why not just use a Fertilizer with a higher N number in the warmer months and one with a lower N number in the cooler months OR just use the same fertilizer all year and less of it in the cooler months.
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I agree with Arthur. I choose not to fertilize when in bloom. I've had problems with buds blasting repeatedly. I have no idea why but suspect a pH change.

You want a higher N when actively growing. I do the same as Arthur and use the same fertilizer on all my plants. I don't use bloom fertilizers (or whatever).

Jane

Bulldust, huh Arthur? Bloom Booster seems to make my other flowering type plants blossom, such as hibiscus, jasmine vine, Christmas cactus, etc. Maybe they would have anyway? I keep hitting my hibbie, now indoors, with the leftover orchid Bloom Booster and it hasn't stopped blossoming since summer. But I think I'll heed the advice and stop using it when my orchids are in bloom even though none have blasted their buds.

Here is a link that gives great detail about "Bloom Booster". If you look at the pic. above you will see my Tolumnia Wall photo taken a few years ago. No fertilizer during winter and just Miracle Gro all purpose plant food in spring plus some seaweed plus some Epsom Salts. More blooms this year that ever. Now i could say that Miracle Gro all purpose plant seemed to have produced this wonderful result, but this is as useful as when I told the ex-resident boffin that Diatomite in the potting mix seemed to make make my orchids grow better. He sniffed "Silica' and the said "Did you run a trial?" So you see, a lot of the stuff i write is bulldust. Lol!
Actually, i do think Diatomite is beneficial, maybe it improves the potting mix by slowly releasing water. It is all academic now because the mine in Queensland Australia has closed.
The point I am trying to make is that you can save a few dollars by using general garden fertilizers rather than expensive "Orchid" fertilizers and be wary of marketing terms like "Bloom Booster".

Here is a link that might be useful: Bloom Booster information

Thanks, Arthur. I read several of the articles. I'm going to switch to just a balanced fertilizer and see how things go. I've used Epsom Salts since reading about it on this forum. Maybe that's why I'm getting better blooms.