Question
Hi there!  I bought my mom an Everspring King Musachino(?) (pardon my spelling) for her birthday the first week of April.  It has two long stalks attached with clips to supports and each stalk has several flowers.  One of the flowers is drooping and the stem of the flower has changed colors, but it's not yellow or brown.  It's almost a deep purple color.  Mom ADORES this plant and she's absolutely paranoid, wondering if this is in some way draining the rest of the plant, or if, God forbid, it's dying.  We're completely new at this and we really don't know what to expect.  Is this normal and, if so, what should be look for in this plant?  Will it go completely bald and dormant? If so, when will it re-bloom?  Sorry, that's really more than one question.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Natalie,

I did a quick Google search on the name Everspring King Musachino and found Phalaenopsis (Everspring King x Musachino).  From this, it appears your phal. is a still unnamed hybrid between Phal. Everspring King and Phal. Musachino.  With that bit of information, I'll try to answer your questions.  

A droopy flower could mean nothing or it could mean there may be a problem.  While phal. flowers can last for over 2 months, the droopy flower might have already been open for over a month prior to your buying it and it is just time for it to go to orchid heaven.  But, if it is a flower that had opened since you bought it, that could indicate a problem with where it is growing or something else is wrong with it.  

Since you seem to indicate this is a recent development, my question is if there are some fruits sitting nearby.  Ripening fruits emit ethylene gas which can be fatal to flowers, the plant will survive but the flowers will die off prematurely.  

Other possibilities would be that it is growing in too much direct sunlight, phals love bright but indirect sunlight but if it is in mid day or later direct sunlight, that could cause the flowers to die prematurely and also cause the stem to turn a deep purple color.  Your phal. has a red or purple flower color and many times such phals. will have a reddish color to the stem.  If sun exposure is not the case, it could be due to the temperature where it is growing in a place that gets very warm due to reflected heat and light from the surface it is sitting on.  Lastly, it could be caused by too frequent watering.  Phals. love moisture around their roots but do not like to be constantly wet.  It is best to allow the potting mix to become barely moist between waterings, this allows the roots to breath.  Kept constantly wet and it is like drowning the roots.  

Finally, is there some air movement where it is growing?  Air movement is critical to the health and well-being of most orchids.  In the wild they grow in shady forests where they get some good air movement around them.  They also are surrounded by fairly high humidity, above 50%.  

Eventually the flowers will die and fall off but the plant is still alive.  If the tip of the stem does not turn brown after the flowers are gone, leave the stems alone as some phals. will rebloom on the same stem next year.  But, if the tip begins to turn brown that means it will not rebloom on it next year and you can cut off the stem and wait for next years blooming.  

Hope this helps.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.