Do you have a stubborn orchid that refuses to grow a new flower spike? You may even have a Phalaenopsis orchid that appears very healthy, except it just refuses to flower!
Keep reading to find out 1 little known secret to "force" your moth orchid to grow a brand new flower spike. It is easier than you'd think!
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HOW TO MAKE AN ORCHID GROW A NEW SPIKE
I've been growing orchids for a very long time, and I know that this works because I have used this "trick" many times over the years.
I will have to say there are some Phalaenopsis orchids that bloom reliably every year, and others that don't.
Plants are individuals just like people, and some plants are...well...a little stubborn and need a little coaxing.
Assuming your growing conditions (namely light and watering) are ideal and you have a healthy plant, if your plant is not blooming, trying giving it a drop in nighttemperature.
I will give a summary of at the end of this post on growing conditions for these plants, but let me describe how you can achieve the necessary drop in temperature that will often quickly result in a new flower spike on your Phalaenopsis orchid!
In many cases, it is difficult to achieve a temperature drop at night inside our homes. Homes are becoming more and more energy efficient and insulated, and temperatures can often be pretty steady throughout all times of day and night.
How can you achieve a temperature drop at night? Here are some options.
PLACE YOUR ORCHIDS OUTSIDE
If your weather permits, place your orchids outside in the shade and let Mother Nature do the work for you.
Having a drop in temperature at night for a few weeks will often cause your plant to bloom.
All it takes is a few weeks of night time temperatures in the 55F to 60F range or so (give or take a couple degrees).
You'll want to keep an eye on the weather and make sure it doesn't get too cold.
If there is any risk of going below 50F, bring your plants indoors.
Here are a few of my Phalaenopsis orchids summering outdoors.
Not only will the drop in temperature trigger blooming, but your plants will also benefit from increased air circulation, better light, and rainwater which is so wonderful for them!
PLACE YOUR ORCHIDS IN A COOL LOCATION IN YOUR HOME
If you don't have an outdoor location, or if you don't want to place any plants outdoors, you can still manage a temperature drop indoors during the night time.
Many years ago while I was living in a different house, we had single paned windows in our basement. Since they were old, single paned windows, they were not very well insulated, so I used this opportunity to my benefit.
I had a couple orchids that were being stubborn and not blooming. I simply placed them right on that windowsill in the Autumn for a few weeks, and lo and behold, new flower spikes started to form!
Typically Phalaenopsis orchids will start to grow new flower spikes in late fall through late winter. Blooming is possible in other seasons as well.
If you want to learn all about how to get your orchid to rebloom reliably and have healthy, thriving moth orchid plants, don't miss my signature, online orchid care course, Become an Orchid Master. It also includes bonuses with support from me, personally, to guide you in your orchid journey!
After I noticed the flower spikes forming, I placed them back in their original growing location.
Another option is to place your plants in a location in your home where you can open your windows at night to cool the room where they are growing.
Of course you still need to follow a good care routine, especially when light and watering is concerned or your plant likely will not bloom.
Without enough light, your plant will not bloom.
Ensuring that your orchid has the appropriate growing conditions is vital for blooming as well so don't ignore this. I've created an infographic below as a quick reference guide to help you out.
Of course, when new growth starts to happen, how do you know if you have new roots vs. a bloom spike?
I hope you've enjoyed this post on how to make an orchid grow a new spike.
If you try this temperature drop trick, please comment below. I'd love to hear your successes. It's worked me for, so I'm confident that it will work for you too!
Great information on caring for orchids, especially on reblooming by placing i a cooler.area. I am struggling with reblooming the orchids The leaves are really a healthy deep green color but no flower spike. I have been watering and fertilizing.
Two months ago, I bought two beautiful Phaelonopsis orchids from a local discount grocery store. One is still blooming with no loss of flowers. The directions were to water after 14 days. It is planted in a plastic pot with no.drainage hole. The plastic pot is in.another ceramic pot. I followed these directions. The other one lost all flowers a month ago hut it's still healthy. I continue to look for the Sogo Yenlin (coffee) Orchid that continues blooming easily like African Violets. I look forward to other helpful posts.
Hi Kay, even under good conditions, if there is no flower spike on the orchid, it can be a few months or even up to a year before it grows a new flower spike. The most important factor is light Most people underestimate the amount of light where they have their orchid. I wouldn't go a calendar in watering your orchid. I don't know if your orchid is in moss or bark, but everyone's growing conditions are different, so unfortunately, standardizing watering every 14 days will not work. And the fact that there is no drainage hole isn't good either. Am I understanding correctly that the plastic pot itself that the orchid is planted in has no drainage hole? If that's true, I would cut a hole at the botton of that pot if you can. Drainage is really important.
Good afternoon
As always, thank you so much for this useful info.
I bought some resume orchids and followed your tutorial about growing
orchids mounted to a clay pot filled with water.
I ve cut the dead flowers and now I have 3 orchids that are producing new spikes. At night I keep the door ajar to get a drop in temp too.
Regards
Antonia
You're very welcome Antonia! I'm so happy that you're having success and that you tried the mounted orchid on a clay pot! 🙂 I hope it brings you a lot of joy.
Thank you for posting this. I'm just getting back into the Phalaenopsis Orchids after a period of not raising them. I'm retired now, so I have a little more time to concentrate on them. I purchased 3 from Sam's Club and they eventually lost all their flowers. I started to repot them, cutting off all the dead roots and probably a little too much. They look healthy, dark green leaves and are starting to grow new leaves. Two of the old spikes died after I repotted them. I probably cut too much off, and they died. One is seemingly doing well enough to make me think that it survived. My problem is light location. We live in a house that useable windows only face east and west. My east window is not available because it is in the kitchen. The west window is open to lots of light and in the sunnier days I pull the shade down a little so as not to burn the leaves. Would artificially light lamp work? I have never used one so I'm not sure what to look for. When I used to raise Orchids, I had a bay window in the kitchen which was right over the sink, so they even had a little humidity to help them. When we redid the kitchen, I lost my bay window. Thank you for your comments.
Hi Jim. Where do you live and approximately what time range does your Western facing windows actually get direct sun? If it's late enough in the afternoon, this is totally fine. You'd just have to acclimate your plants slowly enough (especially if they were previous in dim light) so that they don't burn. Usually when orchids burn, it's because they weren't acclimated to higher light slowly enough. I wouldn't worry at all about humidity. It's helpful, but it's not the most important thing. Light and proper watering are the most important things to start with (with light being #1). And yes, grow lights can absolutely work. I have a grow light setup in my basement. I'm planning on writing a blog post on light setups and growing orchids under lights. Stay tuned 🙂
@Raffaele Di Lallo,
Thanks for the reply. I live in the north central part of Wisconsin. The west window gives direct sunlight from about 2PM thru about 6PM when the sun kind of filters through the trees. Looking forward to the blog post on light setups.
Thanks again
Your goal should be to have a temperature difference between day and night for a few weeks, so if it stays the same cool temp all day and night, I would move it back and forth if you need to. If there is no light in the cool storage at night, then I would definitely move it back and forth.
Thank you for your article. I’ve been waiting and waiting for my orchid to grow a new stem for blooming (not sure what it’s called) since it died off. It is growing new roots and a couple of baby leaves but it doesn’t look perky. I water it once a week by soaking it in lightly fertilized water for 15-20 minutes. If I change the location to a colder room or in my basement should it be in a window? I have one south window in a cooler room in the house and one east window in the basement.
This is my first time with an orchid! My daughter purchased it for me a year ago and also purchased this beautiful emerald green (My birthstone) ceramic pot for it was rootbound in it's original pot. She'd also bought the correct mixture to transplant it into, but right now it just look blah. Leaves are just laying there, yes they're green, a new leaf has grown, but it all looks limp. Hasn't flowered or any shoots since the day she gave it to me. Help!! Sherri
Thank you for sharing the secret on how to grow orchid spike. Some of my orchids are stubborn like you said. Ill try the trick and i will keep you updated.
I have repotted, quite immediately it was s producing a new spike, Beautifully however I'm now t sure its healthy. Wish I could send you a pic. Beginner here love your article.
Hi, I’m really enjoying all your tips for growing orchids! I’m a new grower from the UK and have four orchids at the moment along my north facing but bright windowsill. I don’t have any names for my orchids so how can I tell which ones the are?
Thanks Sue
Glad you're enjoying them Sue! I'm assuming you have Phalaenopsis? If there are no labels, it's very hard to tell what cultivar or variety they are....there are loads of them....
Your new book arrived two weeks ago and I'm really enjoying it. Much to my surprise, I was not watering correctly. I'm not taking my time and watering them in the kitchen sink.
Why do you put your orchids in a clear plastic pot? I have mine in a ceramic pot with an attached saucer and it's a real pain to drain the water out. Thinking of going your route. I honestly don't think I've seen the clear pots in the stores, but I have seen the saucers.
Hi Wendy! I'm glad you're enjoying my book! Clear pots are handy because you can inspect the root system and root health. They're not required, but they can help! orchidsupply.com carries them 🙂
Only today I came across your website ... which I love so far. Incidentally, I am from the tropical zone of the Caribbean. I have only just started growing (about two years), and finding out about, orchids (fancy that!!). Unfortunately, on my island, the consensus is "orchids are troublesome to grow!" I then mention that it is a tropical plant, and quite easy. Thankfully, I am surrounded by a few orchid growing friends, and getting to know more of who are growers, and trading tips. My Phalaenopsis of almost two years has recently produced a spike and is about to bloom any day now. Most of my orchids are Dendrobiums which are sending out multitudes of keikis!! I keep all my orchids on the Eastern side of my porch (wind, rain & some sun abound), and my chosen medium are organic charcoal and small pebbles, or naturally broken up "sea rocks" (shells and coral bits), I water mostly every morning (rains permitting), and fertilise once a week, by soaking in a weak fertiliser solution. There are times when I need to hold back on watering and fertilising due to inclement weather. So far, I have lost an entire morning reading your website on orchid care - including comments and your helpful answers. I have learnt a quite a bit more ... and find ... so far, that I am on the right path to orchid care and attention. Now, to get back to an orchid I have in I.C.U. It is a bit dehydrated, and is currently soaking in a weak tea solution (this method has worked for me before with a dehydrated Phal), and needs to be re-located. I have subscribed to your website.
Hi Lyn! Thank you so much for sharing your story, and I'm so happy that you enjoy my website! And what a dream to live in the tropics! It's always been a fantasy of mine to live in a tropical climate (but I'm stuck in Ohio! hahahaha. I am getting a greenhouse soon though so I'm super excited about that!). Good luck with all your orchids!
You may want to check out Orchids by Hausermann. They're in the Chicago area 🙂
Great info on your website! I have been a serious orchid grower for about 2 years and have had great success in reblooming with phalaenopsis, lady slipper, pansy, and cattleya varieties. Even got a keiki on one of my extremely healthy phalaenopsis orchids! Any tips for encouraging an orchid to generate multiple flower spikes???
@Raffaele,
I HAVE an Orchid it bloomed after 2 years now I will need to repot .all along
It alwaysooks healtby and grows new. Leaves but always keeps losing leases as they get yellow?
I have seen this pothos method of propagation elsewhere. I had always taken end cutting before. I tried the single node method and it's great. This method results in many plants and enables me to have hanging baskets full of pothos for each summer. I'm going to try it on a heartleaf philo also next spring. I think it should work equally as well!
Great information on caring for orchids, especially on reblooming by placing i a cooler.area. I am struggling with reblooming the orchids The leaves are really a healthy deep green color but no flower spike. I have been watering and fertilizing.
Two months ago, I bought two beautiful Phaelonopsis orchids from a local discount grocery store. One is still blooming with no loss of flowers. The directions were to water after 14 days. It is planted in a plastic pot with no.drainage hole. The plastic pot is in.another ceramic pot. I followed these directions. The other one lost all flowers a month ago hut it's still healthy. I continue to look for the Sogo Yenlin (coffee) Orchid that continues blooming easily like African Violets. I look forward to other helpful posts.
Hi Kay, even under good conditions, if there is no flower spike on the orchid, it can be a few months or even up to a year before it grows a new flower spike. The most important factor is light Most people underestimate the amount of light where they have their orchid. I wouldn't go a calendar in watering your orchid. I don't know if your orchid is in moss or bark, but everyone's growing conditions are different, so unfortunately, standardizing watering every 14 days will not work. And the fact that there is no drainage hole isn't good either. Am I understanding correctly that the plastic pot itself that the orchid is planted in has no drainage hole? If that's true, I would cut a hole at the botton of that pot if you can. Drainage is really important.
Good afternoon
As always, thank you so much for this useful info.
I bought some resume orchids and followed your tutorial about growing
orchids mounted to a clay pot filled with water.
I ve cut the dead flowers and now I have 3 orchids that are producing new spikes. At night I keep the door ajar to get a drop in temp too.
Regards
Antonia
You're very welcome Antonia! I'm so happy that you're having success and that you tried the mounted orchid on a clay pot! 🙂 I hope it brings you a lot of joy.
Thank you for posting this. I'm just getting back into the Phalaenopsis Orchids after a period of not raising them. I'm retired now, so I have a little more time to concentrate on them. I purchased 3 from Sam's Club and they eventually lost all their flowers. I started to repot them, cutting off all the dead roots and probably a little too much. They look healthy, dark green leaves and are starting to grow new leaves. Two of the old spikes died after I repotted them. I probably cut too much off, and they died. One is seemingly doing well enough to make me think that it survived. My problem is light location. We live in a house that useable windows only face east and west. My east window is not available because it is in the kitchen. The west window is open to lots of light and in the sunnier days I pull the shade down a little so as not to burn the leaves. Would artificially light lamp work? I have never used one so I'm not sure what to look for. When I used to raise Orchids, I had a bay window in the kitchen which was right over the sink, so they even had a little humidity to help them. When we redid the kitchen, I lost my bay window. Thank you for your comments.
Hi Jim. Where do you live and approximately what time range does your Western facing windows actually get direct sun? If it's late enough in the afternoon, this is totally fine. You'd just have to acclimate your plants slowly enough (especially if they were previous in dim light) so that they don't burn. Usually when orchids burn, it's because they weren't acclimated to higher light slowly enough. I wouldn't worry at all about humidity. It's helpful, but it's not the most important thing. Light and proper watering are the most important things to start with (with light being #1). And yes, grow lights can absolutely work. I have a grow light setup in my basement. I'm planning on writing a blog post on light setups and growing orchids under lights. Stay tuned 🙂
@Raffaele Di Lallo,
Thanks for the reply. I live in the north central part of Wisconsin. The west window gives direct sunlight from about 2PM thru about 6PM when the sun kind of filters through the trees. Looking forward to the blog post on light setups.
Thanks again
thank you for the tips. I shall experiment in fall.
You're very welcome Sai
I use the Miracle Gro orchid spray. It works every time to produce Bloom spikes in abundance.
I’m going to put in my cold storage tonight. I guess I should bring it out during the day?
Your goal should be to have a temperature difference between day and night for a few weeks, so if it stays the same cool temp all day and night, I would move it back and forth if you need to. If there is no light in the cool storage at night, then I would definitely move it back and forth.
Drop in night temps always works like a charm for me!
Thank you for your article. I’ve been waiting and waiting for my orchid to grow a new stem for blooming (not sure what it’s called) since it died off. It is growing new roots and a couple of baby leaves but it doesn’t look perky. I water it once a week by soaking it in lightly fertilized water for 15-20 minutes. If I change the location to a colder room or in my basement should it be in a window? I have one south window in a cooler room in the house and one east window in the basement.
Thank you!
Yes, it should be in a window for sure. Is the east window cooler too? If so, try that one!
This is my first time with an orchid! My daughter purchased it for me a year ago and also purchased this beautiful emerald green (My birthstone) ceramic pot for it was rootbound in it's original pot. She'd also bought the correct mixture to transplant it into, but right now it just look blah. Leaves are just laying there, yes they're green, a new leaf has grown, but it all looks limp. Hasn't flowered or any shoots since the day she gave it to me. Help!! Sherri
Hi Sherri! Is it growing in bark or sphagnum moss? Tell me how you are watering, and where you have your plant situated. We'll get this resolved!
Thank you for sharing the secret on how to grow orchid spike. Some of my orchids are stubborn like you said. Ill try the trick and i will keep you updated.
Keep me posted Nora! 🙂
I have repotted, quite immediately it was s producing a new spike, Beautifully however I'm now t sure its healthy. Wish I could send you a pic. Beginner here love your article.
Glad you enjoyed the post Patricia!
Hi, I’m really enjoying all your tips for growing orchids! I’m a new grower from the UK and have four orchids at the moment along my north facing but bright windowsill. I don’t have any names for my orchids so how can I tell which ones the are?
Thanks Sue
Glad you're enjoying them Sue! I'm assuming you have Phalaenopsis? If there are no labels, it's very hard to tell what cultivar or variety they are....there are loads of them....
Your new book arrived two weeks ago and I'm really enjoying it. Much to my surprise, I was not watering correctly. I'm not taking my time and watering them in the kitchen sink.
Why do you put your orchids in a clear plastic pot? I have mine in a ceramic pot with an attached saucer and it's a real pain to drain the water out. Thinking of going your route. I honestly don't think I've seen the clear pots in the stores, but I have seen the saucers.
Hi Wendy! I'm glad you're enjoying my book! Clear pots are handy because you can inspect the root system and root health. They're not required, but they can help! orchidsupply.com carries them 🙂
Only today I came across your website ... which I love so far. Incidentally, I am from the tropical zone of the Caribbean. I have only just started growing (about two years), and finding out about, orchids (fancy that!!). Unfortunately, on my island, the consensus is "orchids are troublesome to grow!" I then mention that it is a tropical plant, and quite easy. Thankfully, I am surrounded by a few orchid growing friends, and getting to know more of who are growers, and trading tips. My Phalaenopsis of almost two years has recently produced a spike and is about to bloom any day now. Most of my orchids are Dendrobiums which are sending out multitudes of keikis!! I keep all my orchids on the Eastern side of my porch (wind, rain & some sun abound), and my chosen medium are organic charcoal and small pebbles, or naturally broken up "sea rocks" (shells and coral bits), I water mostly every morning (rains permitting), and fertilise once a week, by soaking in a weak fertiliser solution. There are times when I need to hold back on watering and fertilising due to inclement weather. So far, I have lost an entire morning reading your website on orchid care - including comments and your helpful answers. I have learnt a quite a bit more ... and find ... so far, that I am on the right path to orchid care and attention. Now, to get back to an orchid I have in I.C.U. It is a bit dehydrated, and is currently soaking in a weak tea solution (this method has worked for me before with a dehydrated Phal), and needs to be re-located. I have subscribed to your website.
Hi Lyn! Thank you so much for sharing your story, and I'm so happy that you enjoy my website! And what a dream to live in the tropics! It's always been a fantasy of mine to live in a tropical climate (but I'm stuck in Ohio! hahahaha. I am getting a greenhouse soon though so I'm super excited about that!). Good luck with all your orchids!
@Raffaele,
Is there a good place to buy orchids? Mine came from Home Depot. I'm also your neighbor in Indiana!!!
You may want to check out Orchids by Hausermann. They're in the Chicago area 🙂
Great info on your website! I have been a serious orchid grower for about 2 years and have had great success in reblooming with phalaenopsis, lady slipper, pansy, and cattleya varieties. Even got a keiki on one of my extremely healthy phalaenopsis orchids! Any tips for encouraging an orchid to generate multiple flower spikes???
Glad you enjoyed Judy! I don't have any specific tips for that. I feel like a lot of it can be genetic, and sometimes you may get lucky!
@Raffaele,
I HAVE an Orchid it bloomed after 2 years now I will need to repot .all along
It alwaysooks healtby and grows new. Leaves but always keeps losing leases as they get yellow?
Hi Ruth! I recommend you check out this blog post that I wrote. Read through the whole thing. It will help! https://www.ohiotropics.com/2023/03/31/orchid-leaves-falling-off/
I have seen this pothos method of propagation elsewhere. I had always taken end cutting before. I tried the single node method and it's great. This method results in many plants and enables me to have hanging baskets full of pothos for each summer. I'm going to try it on a heartleaf philo also next spring. I think it should work equally as well!