[harris]

hi funkychips,

I think for all the taiwan hybrid phal, they need a big drop in temperature to flower but for normal phal, it will be a great help but not essential. my phal usually bloom after i change the fertiliser. i usually feed them high N fertiliser for 3-4 months and then change it to high P and K fertiliser until it blooms. i'm using organic fertiliser b'green seaweed for growth and b'green fruits and blooms to trigger the flowering.

but having said that, my orchid's house temperature at night can drop to 23-25 C depending on the seasons. What I did to help bring the temperature down is having a lot of green plants near the orchid house. when these plants transpire at night, it will release water vapor and help bring the temperature down. it is also my habit to wet my orchid's house floor before i go to sleep. the cement flooring stores heat during the day and releasing it at night. so, when there are water on the floor, when it releses the heat it will create higher humidity thus lowering the temperature.

a nursery owner teach me a technique but i haven't tried it yet. waiting for my automatic watering system to be ready before experimenting with it. he says that by misting the orchid house at 4 am, it will bring the temperature to the lowest possible on particular day. please be cautious, i said misting and not watering! watering the plants at night can create basal/crown rot for phal because the water will take longer to dissipate when it is trapped in the crown.