How do you guys grow Phals?

[FarmerDave]

In my local Home Depot I have seen many beautiful Phals on sale with multiple flower stalks on them, and I wanted to know how some of you 'experts' grew them so that maybe I could make the Phal that I choose grow for years to come.
Thanks!

 

[Clint]

I'm not an expert and if you can grow an African violet you can grow a Phalaenopsis.

I use 2/1 bark/LFS and I let it dry out between waterings. Put it in a wndowsill. No direct sun.

 

[FarmerDave]

Well, so far I have never attempted to grow an African Violet, so I'm still a little unsure, but thanks!
Do most orchids like to dry out somewhat between waterings?

 

[Clint]

Epiphytes yes.

Try it out. They are cheap and staple.

 

[FarmerDave]

what African Violets or Phals?

 

[Clint]

I was talking about phals but...well really both.

 

[FarmerDave]

I'll try both of them, because I have a local friend who's a beast when it comes to growing African Violets, she literally has her house full of them

 

[herenorthere]

I've had much more success with Phals than with African Violets.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Phals are a larger root orchid and can take having a little more water around their roots than many other orchids and are very easy to grow. The do like to dry out pretty much, but you do not have to let them go bone dry like many other orchids do. In order to get them to rebloom you have to give them a chill of around 55 degrees to set spike, but that is the easy part. They do not like much sun at all. An east or west window with with no direct sun will be good. They are considered a low light orchids. Clints mix sounds like a good one. I use alot of straight bark, but some are still planted in LFS. And like clint said the ones from lowes are cheap and great to start on. I have killed my share in the begining.

 

[herenorthere]

I keep an eye out for places that are trying to unload post-bloom Phals. My price limit is $4 or so and I'll only buy them if they come with a name tag. My most reliable source closed, hopefully not for selling such nice plants for so little money, but I still occasionally see them in a nearby grocery store. I take them home, pot them in new mix and rehabilitate them.

 

[FarmerDave]

what is a post-bloom phal?

 

[Clint]

It's a phal that's already bloomed and had it's flowers die.

No one wants to buy one if it hasn't got flowers, so they put them on sale or throw them away.

 

[jiana54]

i have my purple phals in my office. its still in a plastic pot that from when i bought it at the store. am i gonna need to repot this soon?

also, i thought orchids only bloom once a year but when i bought my plant, it was blooming and budding eventually, the flowers died and 3 weeks later new buds and new flowers bloomed. is this normal?

 

[seedjar]

My phal is almost perpetually in bloom or putting up a new spike. If you clip the spike back to a dormant node when the flowers start to drop, it'll usually convince the plant to grow another spike. Mine seems to flower without any motivation on my part, though.
~Joe

 

[herenorthere]

Some Phals, like Phal equestris, are serial bloomers and a happy one can have one or more blooms on it constantly. I prefer Phals that have a bunch of blooms at once. Even those can be encouraged to keep blooming if you do what seedjar suggested. But I don't try to force a second bloom out of Phals because I find mine do better if I cut off the spike after the bloom. That lets them rebuild their energy through the summer. Mine have pretty poor growing conditions during the winter months and growing them this way seems to help them have more flowers every year.