Hi Mini, I live in a part of California with a climate similar to yours at this time of year--low humidity, day to night temp range (indoors at the window) of 60 to 85. My Phals are in an ESE exposure, and screened from most of their direct morning sun by a semisheer curtain. They get no direct afternoon sun. They have had winter-spring conditions like these for three years and seem to "like" them just fine, so I doubt that your conditions are the direct problem. You have had the plant long enough for it to have made the adjustment from store to its new home. I'm guessing that John (aerides), in his first post above, is correct and the difficulty has to do with the watering of your plant. Knowing when to water is probably the trickiest part of learning to care for a Phal. If one waters too soon, the plant stays wet too long and is subject to rot. If one waters too late (i.e. after the media dries out) the plant selectively economizes, reducing water to some other of its parts, resulting in a desiccated leaf, wilting flowers, or blasted buds. Being at an open window can accelerate the drying of your plant. Since sunlight, temp, and humidity fluctuate, watering once a week will not always be enough, and sometimes it will be too much. The good news is that you can check. If you gently work your finger down about two inches or so into the media and it feels damp, then your Phal does not need water. If it feels barely moist, then it IS time to water. You do not want it to dry out completely, because (as John also pointed out) the flowers or buds will be the first parts to suffer. Some growers can tell if their Phals need water by lifting the pots: if they are light, they need water. But this takes a sensitive touch and a bit of experience to learn. Others use a rounded off skewer buried 2-3 inches into the media. They pull it out, touch the tip to their lip or cheek, and if it is cool or damp they don't water. Both of these are a little too subtle for me, so I use the finger method. This post may be a little too late for the saving of your blooms, but watering technique is something that you will need to keep your Phal healthy after blooming, as well. I hope it will help, and that your next blooms will give you their full complement of three or more months of joy. Sweetcicely

I do not know the answer except to tell you that I am the plant recorder at a local Orchid Society here and that in 2012 the members of that society exhibited 1880 orchids at meetings and shows. There was 1 Miltoniopsis exhibited. What you have to do is to set up your growing conditions to make that Genera happy. Nick did it by moving his plants to a cool-house in summer. No one that i know has a cool house here because there is lots of stuff you can grow without going to the expense of building and running a cool house. Now to the Bud Blast. Drafts, Gas Fires, Low humidity when flowers are about to open????? Frustrating indeed! Still waiting on some words of wisdom from growers who have had success with Milltoniopsis

B_girl: Take a look at the very end of your spike, you should see the makings of a very tiny plant there. It's very small and right on the end point. It should be green, or it may be green with a slight purple tint. If that has dried up and fallen, then I'm afraid all is lost. If you see this, cut the spike as long as possible. Cut on an angle to give the stem as much room to take up water as possible. If mom is healthy, growing, blooming and has medium green leaves, then put your vase close to mom so it's in the same conditions. Bright light for baby right from the get go. In two or three weeks (maybe sooner if kept warm) you will see the baby start to swell. It sits just like that for a while, then a very tiny leaf will make itself known. Change the water once a week or so, but if it gets cloudy, change it sooner and make a new cut to the end of the stem into the green. Once a little leaf comes in - then it's just wait and wait and wait...LOL. Once roots come in, start misting them a little once a day. Try not to wet the leaves. I use RO water to mist roots with. Once the roots are 2, 3 inches you can pot the baby in what ever works for you, for phals. And yes, all of my plants are kept in the greenhouse together, the phals have their own section so share the same conditions. This has worked most of the time for me. Sometimes the plantlet will abort (fall off) after a few days. I have lost a couple of small plants after potting. I've had one or two just sit there and do nothing. But this has worked for me more often than not by far. These little plants take off and grow quickly once they can root into something. After potting, in about three weeks or so, start with weak ferts. It's just a little fun thing to try. And if this one fails, try again next time. Nothing to loose, and maybe something to gain. Good Luck B_girl!! Pat.......

Did they all come from the same source? Years ago, there was some discussion of extremely inferior clones of The Fairy. Some bloomed as a malformed single, some set buds but didn't bloom. I don't remember any conclusion about what caused it, but the remedy was to remove the rose and try a different one. In this particular case, I'd recommend layering a cane from one of the other Fairies. Depending on how they were planted, this may have already happened, since The Fairy likes to move around a bit. When the cane has grown some roots, the bad one can be removed, and replaced with the newly propagated one.