Question
QUESTION: Hello, I have an orchid under a grow light. Since there are not technically "seasons", will I have to force my orchid to bloom? It's a phal, if this helps.
Thank you,
Marie

ANSWER: Thanks you for your question Marie.  I like to set my plant light timer to about two hours more daylength than natural day length.  This would require that you purchase a 24 hour timer and set the on- time to turn the lights on about an hour before daybreak and set it to turn off about and hour after dark.  Some phals are more day length sensitive than others so your plant may flower without the timer, but by providing a longer daylength, it has more time to grow stronger and still follow the seasons in terms of changing daylength.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, again, and thanks for answering so quickly. I already had a timer, so that's no problem. Did you mean I should constantly keep the daylength two hours longer- or change the daylength with the months, making, I suppose, artificial seasons?
And one more question, a bit off topic- my orchid quit blooming about a month ago, and there were two stems. One turned brown so I cut it off, at the bottom, like people say online. But the other stem is still green- should I cut it off?
Thanks again,
Marie

Answer
If you constantly keep the daylength two hours longer than natural daylength, it will create a daylength that varies by the season.  I expect that the second flower spike will also turn brown.  However, we sometimes encounter the unexpected, and so I would cut it off just above the second node.  It may still die back which would be the natural thing to be expected.