Weird growing spike on phal *Help*

[Lene Th.]

What is going on with this Phal???





This is the second phal that grows the spike like this... On the other i cut the spike twice before it finally grew out like it is supposed to...

With this one i decided to just let it grow the way it wanted, i was curious what it would do...

The spike is growing inside the phal, and im really curious what will happen when the flowering starts.... there are even buds inside there...

This is a phal i have had a while, and i cant remember seeing this before. The last blooming was all normal.
Its been in S/H over a year, and its the only one with this long air-roots as well. It had some problems adjusting the S/H, and still has little roots. But this is the second flowering after the replant into S/H.
The other flowering went fine.

The other phal with simulare spike-growing looks even more healthy than this one does, and when the spike finally grew the rigth way, there where several flowers on two spikes.

What am i doing wrong here?

[camille1585]

Someone else posted about a problem like this last week. For some reason, the spike decides to turn around and grow into the plant. Looks like yours did that, then turned around again to face outward, and did another 180° turn to go back to the plant!
I honestly have no clue why it is doing that, and I had never heard of it until last week. Maybe I should ask my commercial phal breeder friend, he might know.

[Bird Song Farm]

I guess the first thing I would ask myself is "what have I done different with this plant that I didn't do to others". Any difference in fert.? Have you use a growth hormone? Did you change the plants orientation toward the light? If you can't come up with an answer then I guess you have to chock it up to Mother nature.......she can do strange things!

Al

[Lene Th.]

Originally Posted by Bird Song Farm

I guess the first thing I would ask myself is "what have I done different with this plant that I didn't do to others". Any difference in fert.? Have you use a growth hormone? Did you change the plants orientation toward the light? If you can't come up with an answer then I guess you have to chock it up to Mother nature.......she can do strange things!

Al

Thats just it, Al...
I use the same amount of fertilizer on all my Phals, and its been on the same location as most of the others...
No changing oriontation, no moving around elswhere either....
And ive got two Phals spiking like this!
The other one finally come thru after i cut the spike of twize... It grew the spikes between two different leafs, before it made the right choice in spike-direction on its third try...

Both the Phals have bloomed just fine before, with two spikes every time...

I just dont understand what has happend... *lol*

Freaks of Nature, it seems like....

Edit becourse i forgot to tell this Phal has another spike as well... and that one is also growing like this, first normal, its growing inside the plant, with just a "lump" growing out...
Its going to be interresting to see if it really tries to bloom.... And by now, it looks like it will give it a shot...

[Sandy4453]

PLEASE post the progress on this! I'm very curious (as I'm sure, most of us are) to see what happens, here. I can't imagine the outcome on this.

[Lene Th.]

Originally Posted by Sandy4453

PLEASE post the progress on this! I'm very curious (as I'm sure, most of us are) to see what happens, here. I can't imagine the outcome on this.

I sure will....
Im really curious about the outcome here as well!

And... im hoping the phal itselves survives, but to be honest, im just going to let this go even if the Phal begins to struggle...
This is just too exiting!

[tuvoc]

Hi Lene. I'm the one Camille was referring to. I've been growing phals for a long time, and have seen some wierd stuff, but nothing quite like this. Take a look here http://www.orchidboard.com/community...sed-spike.html. I don't think your plant is in any real trouble, just having a bad hair year.

Kim

[Lene Th.]

Hi tuvoc

Your Phal seems to have the same problem as mine...
This is the second Phal on a short time that grows like this, so im really confused as well here.

The other one finally managed to grow right, after three failed attempts. Now its got two spikes, and together they have 9 flowers.

This one, on the pic, has two spikes growing like this for me. The first, on the pic, has actually several buds...inside the steam.. And one and a half on the outside...

What i really find confucing, is that they have both been blooming before, without any troubles at all.
And what are the odds that i get two samples of "freaks of nature" at the same time...?

Its got to be a reason for this...?
Something that went wrong, somehow...
I just cant figure out what?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Where is the light source for your Phals? The flower spike will face the light source of your plants. This was one of the first few things I was taught about growing Phals commercially. Commercial Phalaenopsis growers will take into account where the light source is, where the sun rises, where the sun sets, using something to train the spike to grow upright, and where the young spike will form and eventually grow in respect to the leaves.

Maybe you're orienting the Phal in such a way that the light source is causing the spike to grow towards the light and the plant itself.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

What I'm saying is, try and place your Phal so that the spike will grow towards the light and away from your plant.