Yellow Stem on Phal

[Charlene]

I purchased a Phal with several flowers and 2 of them withered and dropped off. What concerns me more is that the stem where the flowers were appears very yellow and I'm not sure if I should cut it or leave it alone. The second question is there are two green sprouts growing. Are these sprouts just additional roots. I've attached pics so you can see what I'm talking about.

Thanks.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The green growth are new root tips.

The spike is done. Just wait until it's completely dried out.

The potting media is in desperate need of changing out immediately it looks gnarly.

[Charlene]

I'm new to this whole thing, but I thought i wasn't supposed to repot til it finished blooming?

[camille1585]

It seems to be pretty much done blooming. Usually the yellowing doesn't start until all the blooms drop, but yours seem to have gotten a head start on things.
As for not repotting when it's in bloom, I think that more to avoid damaging the spike/blooms rather than harm the plant. I've repotting blooming phals with absolutely no problems.
But I agree, that medium is looking pretty bad! And with new roots starting, it's the perfect time to repot.

[Charlene]

Thanks for your response. So I will repot, but should I cut off the flower stem? How far down should I go--just to the bottom of the yellow portion or all the way down to the base?

I really appreciate your input--I am so "green" to all of this--guess I am environmentally perfect, if not orchid smart

[trdyl]

Hello and Welcome to OB!

When you repot if it has a good root system I would just trim off the dead portion of the spike. But if the root system looks bad cut the spike all the way off to conserve the plants energy.

[Donald]

Let the flower stem die back.

[Charlene]

Hi guys

It's me again. The general consensus was that I need to repot. I have miracle grow for orchids and a new clean pot. If you look at my pictures, one of the roots has a spike growing and it is pretty far out of the pot. Should I just let it continue or somehow try to get the spike back into the potting soil. It doesn't look like I can do that without breaking the original root.

Sorry to be a bother, but I'm pretty confused.

[Call_Me_Bob]

i dont know if its too late, or if you opened the media yet, but if possible i would return the miracle grow and get something else. miracle grow orchid mix really isnt very good. i would recommend hoffmans organic orchid mix. you should be able to get that somewhere local.

about your "spike" its a root, a spike is what the flowers come off of.

[camille1585]

If you don't think you can get that long root into the pot without breaking it, then don't. It looks pretty happy growing the way it is. Phals always have aerial roots sticking out, but in the future when it has new roots growing you can try to gently guide them into the pot as they grow if you see that they are heading up and away.
As for the pot, you can probably just reuse the one it's currently in after rinsing it out.

If you're stuck with the miracle grow orchid mix and can't get anything else, then one thing I recommend is to seive out the soil and small bits and try to use only the bark in it.