I've been trying to stay out of this, but it seems everyone is right and continue to argue. Shavedmonkey is correct that Texas light is not the same as zone 6-7. I know, I moved to Florida from NY. Trust me, you would fry the buds if a Phal got direct sunlight. You'd lose the buds closest to the light. Happened to me, didn't happen in NY. The bottom line, people need to learn to grow any plant in the environment they live. For some, some direct sunlight is good. For others it is destructive. None of this has anything to do with how experienced you are or how much of an expert. I grow my phals under shade cloth. Trying to grow them without shade cloth burned the leaves big time. Forget the buds. I am assuming Texas is similar to my growing situation. It certainly is not the same as growing my phals in NY. I could grow them in a SW window, third row back. My Catts and Dends got the closest position to the window. Phals were in 3rd row and got some direct sun but it was much weaker. When they started to spike and bud, they got moved back further. The spike follows the light and if the buds get strong, direct sunlight they will blast. The OP had a root problem. She bloomed this Phal in the past. Her light sounds good. Her watering and media need to be worked on. That's it! She has figured out how to bloom her plant and that is the reason we all grow these plants. Terp is right, West is right, Shavedmonkey is right. Everone is right. Just drop this ridiculous argument. Its going nowhere and confusing people. Jane

You have a Phalaenopsis. Care notes from the American Orchid Society are in the link. As to why your plant is losing blooms. Might be normal due to length of bloom time. Might be something in your care routine or something related to the conditions where you are growing your plant. Here is a link that might be useful: AOS culture notes

I'm in NE Georgia. Our average first frost comes about Oct 15th, so I'm just beginning to arrange the shelving, groom the plants, and think about what groupings will optimize winter care both for them and for me. All the phals and paphs have been moved to the indoor plant light so I can see what's left that needs GH space. I only have an 8 x 10 and I willingly violate every rule I can think of about not overcrowding. Therefore, this year the mostly catts and oncidium alliances have been systemic bug and systemic fungus treated before the move. Scale loves closed in spaces. I have to leave room for the fans. They are critical to orchid health. All the advice to avoid drafts has definitely not been my experience. The more air movement the better - as long as it doesn't come with names like Katrina, or Opal or Ivan. I downsized by about 50 plants. With 150 on the plant lite, about 380 are waiting for GH space. But back to the topic .... with the heat this summer, I was watering daily or every other day. Usually in the winter I water weekly. I'm going to try to move that to every 10 days in the GH. That means doing half the GH about every 5 days so I can keep the humidity up for the other half. I have no foggers or misters. The paphs and phals inside the house have different needs. The paphs demand fertilizer and twice-a-week watering when inside. It's almost like they think the flourescents are brighter than their outdoor shady spot. I tell them that can't be, but their leaves start to yellow until I feed them something... so I go with what works. Three are in bloom and about 5 have low buds. My heat lovers went into the GH first. The Vanda, all seedlings, angraecum, dracula, pleurothallis. Please let me know if any of these need the cold. I have too many to keep up with that very well. I was told my Cirr Elizabeth wasn't blooming for me because she needed to chill. This year she will. I'm keeping out the neo, hybrid minis with s (sophronitis) in their initials, and the paph armeniacum because I've read they need the cooler temps. Every winter the cymbidiums get farmed out to an old school turned office building that has an unheated hallway with windows. The cymbidiums bloom like crazy. I water them lightly weekly and take the bows. The buds always blasted in my 50's-at-night crowded GH. Maybe I'll add to this later as I continue to think thru the process. Sherlene

You have cymbidium(s). Very easy to grow orchids in coastal southern California. The dead looking parts are called "back bulbs". They will never grow leaves or flowers again but they are certainly a viable and alive part of the plant. As long as they are connected to the rest of the plant they won't do anything. More on that in a minute. As for fertilizers, at this time of year they don't need anything, just watered enough to keep them from drying out for too long, about every 10-14 days depending on rainfall. Nothing should be done to them while they are producing flowers. Actually the only thing you could do is use some thin bamboo stakes to tie up the flower spikes, they'll look much better when you do that. Beginning in April as long as you are done enjoying the flowers, the plant should be divided into several plants. Each plant should have at least 3 to 4 solid bulbs, with at least one of them being new from the past growing season. This is called "dividing" into "divisions". Now back to those back bulbs - if you "disconnect" them from newer parts of the plants, preferably in sets of two or three connected to each other, they will sprout new growth from dormant growing "eyes" (sort of like a potato). It may take a year or two or three to bloom again based on your growing talents but it's a great way to increase your collection cheaply. The back bulbs are surrounded by dead leaf tissue but they are loaded with green life. Peel off the dead stuff as the plant will look much better and it will eliminate places for bugs to hide. Anyway, divisions do not need to be limited to 3 or 4 bulbs, they can be a lot bigger obviously. Use black hard plastic pots just like the one pictured but give plants only enough growing room for two years. There's a lot more to repotting and these links should help. http://cymbidium.org/cymbidium.html http://orquideas.com/growing/potting/cymbpot.html http://www.orchardnursery.com/pdfs/orchids/repotcyms.pdf Have fun! Matt