Question
I am new to orchid growing, my wife and I simply love orchids. We have purchased 8 plants in the last year or so, mostly  Phalaenopsis. The plants were all purchased in during the end of winter and the very early part of spring last year. At the time of purchase all plants were in full bloom. When should I expect them to bloom again and i have noticed that there is a lot of new leaf growth on all of them almost at the rate of a new leaf set every 2 months or so. Is this good? the leaves dont look too dark, but has what appears to be a nice waxy health green look to them. Just wanted to know if this was ok.
Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hello Victor,

From your description, I'd say you and your wife have been growing the phalaenopsis pretty well as evidenced by all the new leaf growth.  But, being they have grown new leaves over the past year, I am a little surprised they did not bloom this past winter through spring which is the usual time most phals bloom.  

You didn't say where you live nor where and how you have been growing them.  With that said, here is what phals need in order to produce blooms: bright indirect sunlight with maybe a couple hours of direct early morning sun, temperatures between 60F to 85F all year except for 2 to 3 weeks of night temps near 55F in early fall, humidity above 50%, light air movement.  Water when the potting media becomes barely moist and feed them a balance type orchid fertilizer at about 1/4 the suggested amount.  By the way, this reminded me that the reason you have gotten lots of leaves but no blooms could be due to feeding them too much fertilizer and that it may be a high nitrogen type which promotes growth at the expense of blooms.  

As we are entering the fall season, one trick you can try to get them to bloom this winter is to feed them some epsom salt - yes, that's right epsom salt which is actually Suphate of Magnesium.  Mix one tablespoon into a gallon of lukewarm water and water the phals.  Do this over the next 3 waterings then go back to using fertilizer.  Many times, epsom salt can aid in initiating the bloom cycle of orchids, hope it does for yours.  

Hope this helps get them going for you.

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.