Please give more info. We need to know how you are growing it, what light, temps, indoors, outdoors??

I can make a wild guess and say it probably isn't getting the cool down in the fall or not enough light. Either of those two could cause the problem.

Jane

It's indoors with the rest of the orchids, full south sun window. Indoor temps about 60 - 85 depending on the season. What kind of fall cool down should I try?

I will give it a try this fall, but I'm also going to ask for a couple more mini phals for my upcoming birthday too...there's enough room for a few more teenies ;-)

There is always enough room! You are addicted!

Good luck and remember they need that cool down. Put them outside, at least in August through September.

Jane

Why would just this one phal need special care? I have other phals that always bloom without needing to be moved to a different temp (which is what is so annoying about this one).

It's frustrating, but I think most orchid enthusiasts know there's always that one finicky one! If it's otherwise healthy, I join the chorus of opinions that it's probably not getting enough of a temperature swing. If it can live outside or near an open window, especially when things start cooling down at night, getting that daily temperature swing from day to night for 2-3 weeks might give it that kick in the pants.

Good luck!

I had never had any re-blooms until last fall. I added artificial light and a humidifier (during lower night temps) and two weeks later I had a spike.

I have to say that I'm taking back what I wrote. I'm in Florida, the days are in the high 90'sF daily. Horribly hot and humid. Daily thunderstorms and downpours. Orchids are soaked daily.

Today I noticed that three Phals are spiking. Long spikes so they must have started a month or longer ago.

No temp drops. Night temps still in the 80'sF. Have no explanation except for shorter daylight hours. I have approx eight other Phals which are not spiking.

I take care of Phals for people who come down to Florida in the winter for 6 months and go back north in springtime. They return in November/December. I usually have their Phals blooming when they return.

I thought it odd to find these Phals spiking. No temp change at all, just shorter days.

Jane

Jane, some of the species bloom in summer so the temperature drop thingo is a mostly thing depending on the ancestry.

I know, except these always bloomed in January. Winter bloomers. Found it odd to see they are spiking. Long spikes, probably started July, August. They will bloom November- December, as always, but did not receive the cool-down to initiate spikes. I'm guessing, light hours.

I live in savannah GA.. I have yet to have a new spike grow from my phals. I don't think it gets cool enough in fall. Hell, I'm sitting on my porch now sweating because it's 80° and so humid. My sun room (about 10 feet by 6 feet where most of my orchids are) has a window AC unit in it because there is no central air vent in that room... the AC unit can can be set all the way down to 61°. (I'm sure it blows out air much colder than that). Do you think turning the window ac unit all the way down would be a sufficient imitation of a temperature dropping fall evening & night?

I know now this doesn't answer your question, I apologize...I just saw all the comments about the temp drop and how it's necessary for orchids to produce spikes so I wanted to ask.

Thanks guys. You always are so quick to help, and always give such good advice. It's hard to find friends my age (24) that are orchid fanatics, even garden fanatics like myself. :)

gotta admire your perseverance, pls post pictures of the plant if you can.. would be interesting to see...

Your night temps will drop next month. That's all you need. It gets cold in Georgia, you even get frost.

Just keep your Phal outside until the temps start dropping at night. That's all it takes. The day temperatures can be hot but the nights start to get cooler.

I'm in South Florida and our night temps begin to drop a bit next month. We are sweating like you are right now.

My other Phals are not spiking yet, but they will. They flower every year.

Jane

Update!

I didn't end up moving the phal or doing anything differently, and the other day I noticed it has a 2" long flower spike. This past year I was a lot better about the weekly/weakly (well, more like weakly/monthly) fertilizing during spring/summer growth, so maybe that made the difference. Can't believe I've had it 10 years and this is the first re-bloom. Hopefully the first of many more years to come :-)

Any specific orchid, even with excellent history of blooming, your plant could be a dud. Like people or animals, their could be a litter of pups all strong and healthy. But one runt that is sick and finally dies. All the same breeding but one failed. Same is true in plants. I think there is more consistency in plants than animals but still there may be an odd plant that did not cary forward the quality generic traits. And it's divisions or seeds would be poor too. Breeders look for the best traits to use for breeding. If not there will be more misfires.

If I remember right, this pal had huge white flowers. I guess it wasn't anything that exciting, but it didn't look like a dud. My next update will show it in bloom :-D

The dud part is not blooming for 10 years, not the bloom that finally showed up.