Question
QUESTION: My husband brought home a beautiful pink phalaenopsis for Valentine's day (Thursday).  Yesterday (Friday) evening, I noticed that the bloom was starting to close up.  I watered it and made sure it got some indirect sunlight.  I don't want this beautiful plant to die right after I got it!  What should I do?  Thanks for your help!

ANSWER: Hello Katherine,

What a nice husband!

That is awfully fast for a flower to begin wilting unless it had been open for some time prior to your husband buying it.  Most phalaenopsis blooms will last over 2 months.  Things that can cause a bloom to wilt before its time are fruits close by, freshly painted walls, a gas heater that is not completely burning the fuel, sudden temperature changes and a few other lesser causes.  

Do any of the above sound like a possible cause?  

Be careful of watering as phalaenopsis do not like constant wetness around their roots.  Allow the potting mix to become almost dry between waterings, temperatures between 60F to 85F, bright indirect sunlight, humidity above 50% along with some light air movement.  

Hope this helped.  If you have other questions or would like more information about the above, write back and I'll try to help with them.

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.



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

QUESTION: Thanks for your response.  No, none of those are possible.  On Saturday the bloom fell off, so I'm hoping it was just its time to go.  I've read all the information about letting it almost dry out before watering, etc.  I guess my question now is, do you think it will bloom again?  How long does it usually take?  Thanks again for all of your help.

Answer
Hi Katherine,

You're welcome.  

If it has at least 4 healthy mature leaves, you can try seeing if it will make an offshoot or secondary flowering stem off of the current stem.  To do this, go down the stem to where the lowest flower had been, go down further until you see a bump along the stem then go back up an inch or two and cut the top off.  If all goes well, in a month or so you will see a new stem begin to grow then in 2 to 3 months it will be in bloom.  

But, keep in mind that some stems just have a death wish and will start to turn brown at the cut and slowly turn brown all the way down.  If this happens, go ahead and cut the dead stem off.  It will be next fall when you should see a new stem emerge and a few months later have it in bloom.  In the mean time, take care of it and it should make some new leaves over summer, these leaves should grow to be as large or larger than the onlder leafs.  

Hope it does make an offshoot for you!  Good luck.

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.