Congratulations, you did a great job. A beautiful plant should not be looked at as disposable. You can have blooms each year which will last for months and months. As the plant ages, you can have multiple spikes with loads of flowers. Good for you, you have good gardening skills. When you got your plant it was blooming in December. Your Phal is a winter bloomer. It will grow this spring and summer making leaves and roots. Fertilize with normal orchid fertilizer weakly. In the fall, the days shorten and the temps start dropping. The Phal needs about 6 weeks of cool nights to initiate spikes - not positive if its 6 weeks or 4 weeks (you can look that up). They need a temp difference between warm and cold such as day temps in the 70's, nights in the 60's. Try to give it as much light without burning the leaves. Don't overwater, but do fertilize while you see growth. I do not fertilize while in flower, but other people do. You can try it both ways. Good luck, and please post back. Jane

Sorry Here is a much better link (the previous one was just the thumbnail view) Here is a link that might be useful: Chilis 2008 (Detailed)

Also, my plan is to put a trellis inbetween the musk melon and cucumber rows.

I could be wrong about the zone - on a zip code lookup map it tells me 9-10. I am near the coast, and the weather here tends to be much more mild. Those "zones" are pretty broad classifications. Here's a fairly accurate description of where I live: "Salinas, CA climate is mild during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 60's and cool during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 50's. The warmest month of the year is September with an average maximum temperature of 74.60 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is December with an average minimum temperature of 39.40 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be fairly limited during summer with a difference that can reach 19 degrees Fahrenheit, and moderate during winter with an average difference of 22 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation at Salinas is 15.12 Inches. Rainfall in is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is January with an average rainfall of 3.00 Inches." We do get some 90 degree days, but only a handful. I had read the FAQ about blossom drop. . .I don't think too hot is going to be my biggest problem. My neighbor (who's in something like his 60th year of planting tomatoes in his backyard across the street - he's 92) said he usually doesn't even plant until around May 1 because it's not warm enough to really get 'em growing; in his words, "they just sit there and look at ya." Maybe I'm misunderstanding the term "frost date." Is it a technical term, or just the last time that you wake up to frozen stuff around you? Stupid question, I know, but I have a feeling I'm not communicating something correctly. Yes, the plants get direct sun for at least 6-8 hours a day (I need to be a little more scientific about it), but it's been a cold spring - it's been in the 50's all this last week with a high of 63 projected for the next week. On the few hot days we have had, the plants have practically grown before my eyes, but they don't grow much during these chilly times. So. . .I can put in a stake without messing up their little root systems? Thanks, Christopher