I dont know mutch about stem propagation, but i had a phal with leaf on the spike, just like yours.
In my case, the spike was growing from the crown, a terminal spike.
The phal made several keikis, not on the spike, and the mother-plant eventually died.
The keiki survived, and bloomed not long after. *s*
Wow yeah that is great to know!!! Yeah it is probably like a survival instinct type thing where for some reason the main plant thought it was gonna die and did that and used up all the main plants energy doing that and the big one died and the little ones we're left with them big root mass to help them grow pretty quickly and mature !!! Thanks alot I am glad I am not the only one !!! But by chance do you still have any pictures!!??
I have few pics, this was a phal i tried(sucsessfully) to resque for an old lady, but here are the one pic i have *s*
The mother-phal is underneath, and you can spot the spike and the leafs on it growing up from the crown, but the crown is covered by the keikis leaf.
The mother is dying here, so you can see the yellowing leaf underneath. The three leafs on top is the keiki, the rest is the mother.