I'm still a newbie at most orchids, although I have had phals off and on for many years. I completely agree with you. Despite lots of research, I'm finding my minicatts rather fussy. And I'm about out of grow light space for the catts, but one can always find a dimmer corner in which to stick yet one more phal!

I also like the terrestrial orchids such as Phaius and Phaiocalanthe a lot, for ease of care. Although they do have the same fine line between enough light and frying.

For those who want the challenge of harder orchids, great. For those who have enough challenges going on already (in my case, it's 13 tropical hibiscus and 4 tropical waterlilies indoors a good part of the year!), the phals give nice flowers for many months with relatively little effort at an affordable price. Hooray for phals!

Amen to that sister. You gotta love phals.

I'd like to add a picture that I just took of my P. stuartiana. It was a tiny seedling in a 2" pot just a year and a half ago when I got it.

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That's it exactly, clint. From tiny seedling to big guy in about 8 months or less. How can anyone ask for more from a plant? Well, it could kiss me and tell me I'm beautiful every morning, I guess.

watergal, I agree about the challenges. OK if you want them, but there are lots of times when I don't want to handle any more. I'm for the easy life.

AND, folks, they really are beautiful. Have you stood in a doorway and looked at a yellow and a purple phal from the doorway? Gorgeous! Or three different yellows together?

Plotting how to get more...

phals are all right with me.

teehee.

Pretty good joke, perfection. Actually Perfection Is is one of the phals I absolutely covet right now. Is it as fragrant as they say?

Here, where any of the unwashed can grow a Cymbidium (inter or mini type), Phals are considered to be quite difficult.
Anyway, i was expecting an ode when i read the title.

Tropical hibiscus indoors? That's why i say real gardners of any type live in the frozen north.

Sorry to disappoint, arthur. I'm not much of a poet. Next time I'll title it "a love letter"

Curious about whether you find phals difficult yourself, or if that's just what people in Oz generally think

I love phals too, and have good luck with them. Its always a thrill to see that little spike start to come.

Enjoy growing what you can grow. I agree Phals are pretty, but they turn to compost in my care, so I do them a favor and don't take them home. I enjoy the Cattleya and Vanda types that do well for me here. One day when I have a greenhouse I'll try a few Phals again.

Symbie, having a greenhouse will not help. I have two. They are death zones for Phals. In my conditions, Cats and Phals just do not go well together.
I have about 40 Phals, some are difficult, some are easy, but they are all indoors on windowsills where it never gets too hot or too cold.

oh wow! I thought it was a humidity issue. are phals more water-quality picky? I just found out that our tap water here is terrible, way too high-sodium. could that be a culprit?

It's so funny to hear. I used to hate phals. I am not sure why, I just didn't appreciate their blooms. In the past few years they have been slowly winning me over to the point that a few months ago I started going nuts over them, and they have become the stars of my collection and have taken over my house.
I even have one that hasn't bloomed for me in 4 years but is an absolutely beautiful plant. He is even my favorite I think just because his leaves are so plump aand yummy.
I hear you sister, yay for phals.

Go get em Mehitable!
I have slowly gotten rid of most of my phals over the years and just kept 3 old guys which flower without fail. They are the huge whites, long spike type. The new, multi-branched, small flowered are adorable and so colorful. Got a couple as a gift a few years ago. They are so pretty. Broke down last week and ordered one of the new hybrids from Normans. Weird flower, my husband commented that it looked like something that was fooled around with in Photoshop. Can't even describe the pattern. Will take a pic. Plus the flower is covered in diamond-dust. Unbelievable!

Jane

Symbie, you could dig around and find some old water quality posts because i am just watering once a week from the tap and do not worry about water quality.
My theory is that if you can drink it, cannot be all that bad.
The readings at the moment in the early afternoon are 78F humidity 51%. I think many people fail with Phals because they become obsessed with humidity and high temps and kill Phals with kindness.
Seeing we have a Phal thread, has anyone flowered Phal. sanderiana and were there any special tricks to achieve that feat.

I am still trying to grow a healthy leaf on a phal. This year especially, I noticed fingertip-sized brown spots which grow bigger before the whole leaf turns yellow and dies. Funny, they still bloom -even if both middle leaves are showing severe damage
I am growing about a dozen phals, which sit on a shelf near an East facing window, under fluorescent lights. Have not figured out what the problem is nor how I can circumvent it.
Close to giving up on phals.
.

I give up on phals at least once a year. Then comes spring and the new hybrids dare me not to take them home. Then the dang things I kept from last year start spiking and I'm hooked all over again. Sigh.

I was a phal snob too because my first phals were rescue plants. Poor things would come back from the dead and bloom their hearts out. I kept saying I was going to give them away to a friend but the next bloom spike came and went with me enjoying it.

THEN I discovered the newest hybrids in all the wonderful new colors, not the generic white or pinks available to the lowly masses. THEN I discovered the species and their different shapes, leaf colorations, etc. If you haven't smelled a P. violacea, then you haven't smelled an orchid. I am waiting impatiently for an order this week from Big Leaf Orchids that includes five different species and P. Princess Kaiulani - oh my, the coloration on her is spectacular. P. amabilis 'Miki' with variegated foliage is outstanding and will keep P. amabilis 'Spring Bamboo' company which is also variegated but in a different pattern. Both will be white blooms but who wouldn't enjoy looking at the foliage year round. You certainly won't have to hide them when not in bloom.

clintdawley wait until your P. stuartiana grows up. I have 'Sogo' that currently has three blooming spikes and two of them are multiple branched and again, the foliage is beautiful year round.

P. Perfection Is is also on my need to have list, I just have to wait for the $$$$$ to catch up to my list.

No phal snobbery here anymore but I'm also not going to throw out the other orchids either.

Brooke

I love both phals and catts. (Two different window areas.) I started with them, and kept with them since they always reward. YOu are so right Mehitable about the hybrids. For me, the new reds and yellows look so luscious. Must get a few. And violacea and bellina have the most wonderful scent. (Almost as good as a cattleya!)
Lovely stuartiana, clint. The only phal that has consistently given me grief!
One thing about cattleyas--for me, the minicatts are more tricky than the straight big cattleyas. I've sworn off the C. walkeriana and and the sophronitis cernua hybrids, unless the sophronitis is a great grandparent only. They just don't seem to make it in my conditions. Altogether, catts are harder in the sense that choosing them is more complicated since there are all these intergeneric complexities that really make a difference for me. Finding things that make catts mini without making them finicky is hard. Growing the "friendly" hybrids like with Brassavola nodosa is pretty easy.
But to get back to Mehitable's point: it is so worthwhile to shop around for phals now that so many wonderful new hybrids are being made.
Margo

I still don't like them.

Klevin (Kevin's evil twin)

mehitabel- Perfection Is is intensely fragrant during the day, especially with high humidity. the genetics are kind of messed up, but it is a great flower.

Of all my Orchids...I love my Phals the best!
They just give...and give...and give.
Bless their little hearts! *snork!

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Love those big whites! But then I got this...

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Dtps Montclair Valentine Picotee

Oh WOW - that goes on the list. Nice!

Brooke

Whoa!!!!!!!!
Dat baby's goin' on MY list, too! LOL!

OK, phal folk. I have recently gotten the phal bug and have bought up a bunch of species seedlings. I have read that the stuartiana and schilleriana like a bit more sun than other phals. Is this true and is it just the mottled leaf phals that do? I got too many others to list.
So I gues my question really is at a 2 inch seedling size is it more important for the higher light phals to be with the other seedlings in higher humidity etc..or in a higher light situation?
Thanks for any input, It was in part due to the stuartiana photo in the gallery that got me into this mess.
Shani

Shani,

I give P. schilleriana and stuartiana as much light as I do my blooming catts and they seem to eat it up. Granted, as seedlings start them out in lower light and gradually move them to higher light (accompanied by higher humidity). I don't have P. phillipinensis, but I assume it would like this treatment as well.

I find that species phals are really no harder to grow than the big hybrids.

Hi again, Clint.
I have been looking via the web and book stores and haven't really found any info specific to species phals. Exept the higher light with those two. So I was starting to assume there were none. If there are any books that you would recomend on species phals I would appreciate the tip.
So, for the most part, I can treat hybrids and species the same?
You rock Clint you have all of my answers, and that was your photo wasn't it?
Shani

many species can be treated similar to complex hybrids and they will tolerate it. however, certain species do have particular culture "needs".

Shani,

Perfection is right. There are some Phals that have specific cultural needs. Phal. lowii comes to mind. I grow it like my other phals, but it has a dry period in Dec-Feb when it goes leafless and rests. I'm sure Phal. parishii, lobbii, etc. have other specific needs as well.

As far as species phals, I don't have a book to recommend, but I do have a website below that ROCKS!

Here is a link that might be useful: Species Phals

Shani,
Eric A.Christenson Phalaenopsis, a monograph (Timber Press 2001) is a good book for species Phals. There's a lot of culture and taxonomy information in this book. The book helped me correctly identify one of my Phals that was mislabeled by a vender and has helped me quite a bit in taking care of my gigantea.

I've also posted a link to a website with a lot of pictures of Phal species and primary hybrids.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of species and primary hybrids

Great you guys, thanks! I had seen this book online but hadn't seen it in person. The book stores that I have hit have just had beginner books and photo books. It has taken me like ten years or so but I have finally found my one orchid to focus on. I had heard that this happens but didn't think that it would happen to me and I am shocked to find out its phals, but they got me.
Thanks for all your help. I would rather research stuff before asking for help but I just have been coming up empty.
Shani

Those are great websites, clint and audmer. Thanks a lot.

I must agree w/you mehitabel, I despised phals when I first started collecting phals. To me they were just the plants rich housewives bought to put in their bathrooms and eventually die. But then I came to appreciate the novelty type phals and the species...and I'm a convert. No more killing the most exquisite catts I can find, but growing thriving phals with FLOWERS!

thank you for those websites. I am a recent phal convert. No more tricky plants for me. Low price, wide availability and long blooming times makes them winners.

Let's hear some tips on how to re-bloom them from you pros please!

Cool temps? I believe that's the key since I've yet to reboom a phal and I've got one left, an "Earth Star". This fall she'll get cool fall temps outside...

Tom

Tommy, there is an FAQ that discusses reblooming in some detail.
Some need a cooling down.
Some need a warming up.
Some need?

This discussion of phal culture at Robert Bedard is one of the best overall that I've seen.

For reluctant bloomers, he says that you should increase the light at the same time you drop the temperature. In fact, often just increasing the light is sufficient without a temperature drop.

I have tried this, and *it works*

Here is a link that might be useful: phal culture

I'm in and out on phals. The content (colors/patterns) of the flowers themselves is often very novel, but eventually I just get tired of the look of phals. The flower shape is basically the same throughout the hybrids, and I get bored with the flower presentation: most phals tend to hold their flowers all the same way. In the end, it doesn't compare to the variation you see among, say, oncidiums or angraecums (there are more than catts to compare to phals ;) )

You got it!!

Ya'll need to delve more into phals and see what different bloom shapes they can have. The same applies to presentation of the blooms. I also love the different colorations and patterns available on the foliage. It is nice to grow a plant that is interesting even when it is not in bloom.

How interesting is the foliage of a catt grown in the proper amount of light? How interesting are shriveled pbulbs you can't remove after they bloom once? How interesting are bald canes that look like sticks most of the year? I only have two Angs and one of those I grow for the foliage. I'm not bashing other orchids because I grow many different varieties, but it makes it more interesting to water a plant with unique foliage year round than a p-yellow catt that isn't blooming.

Orchids - enough diversity to make everyone happy.

Brooke

Brooke, I agree, catt foliage isn't very pretty!

Earth Star is a summer bloomer heavy on the P. bellina. I can't resist:

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Does she smell good? My P. violacea is blooming and the smell is outstanding. A magenta bloom with 1/2 the petals green - what's not to love.

I also like the fact I can have quite a few blooming plants in summer when most orchids take that season off. Right now I have spikes on P. micholtizii and P. javanica.

Brooke

Sorry I misspoke - it is not my micholtizii that is in spike but P. amboinensis var. Common (which means white background, not yellow). Until a plant blooms, I have a hard time remembering which pot is which - I call it Old Timers disease.

Brooke

Clint, that is a yummy little plant.
Brooke, it is funny to hear you say that phals are nice looking plants without the blooms as I have just recently become to understand with all of my plants as well. I notice that at first everyone seems to buy anything you like, and most of them die and what you are left with are ones that are more or less what you can grow. And I have noticed that what I am good at are ones that I appreciate the foliage more. For me it is phals, phrags, paphs, and vandas. I do have a few stray here and there too of some favs. But the plump leaves of a happy phal and nice thick roots cheer the soul a little bit. But I do also have a succulent problem, and it is their plump leaves that get me too.
I guess I am saying that I think their is a reciprosty of fondness between plant and person. And I am thankful that we are all different in those regards because I love to see other orchids than the ones that I grow, sometimes maybe more.
Shani