Question
I have several different orchid plants in my garden. They are growing well, and I have needed to repot many that were getting too large. In the last several months, all (dendrobiums - oncidiums - phylanopsis) the blooms have included several that either died within a few days, or started to droop, and stayed that way. Other blooms on the same plant are healthy, and last for many weeks. What would cause these blooms, usually the smaller ones at the tip of the spike to die off?
Steve Leong

Answer
I'm assuming you were waiting for the plants to be done blooming before repotting. You didn't indicate how long it has been since you repotted the plants with the bloom issues.  There could be several causes but the most likely is that the plant has insufficient strength to support all those blooms and the weakest bloom spikes are likely to be the ones to abort first.  Plants often send out more bloom apikes than they can fully support. This takes many forms including fewer flowers and/or buds on the weaker spikes or spikes that have buds abort or spikes that fail to fully develop. If these plants have not been recently repotted, I recommend repotting the phals and the same with the oncidiums and dendrobiums when they start new growth.  If you wish you can send a picture.