Phal blooming from end of spike?

[FlyingBrunswick]

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find some extra buds on my Phal. 'Peppermint Stripe'. I hadn't noticed the new growth as it has been obscured by the blooms! This plant has been wonderful to own - it has been blooming since since last March by blooming off of lower nodes before the existing flowers expire - but this is the first I have seen any of my phals bloom from the end of the spike.

Is it a cool genetic thing that this particular plant is prone to or is this common for phals in general? I haven't had any of my other 10 bloom like this one has!

[aviddigi]

I was just going to post something similar. Mine is starting new growth at the beginning and the end like yours. It has grown incredibly and looks like it's not going to stop. What does everyone think?

[CTB]

It just busting out all over, enjoy, mine is doing the same.

[Zoi2]

Branching is pretty normal, enjoy the blooms!
Joann

[Daethen]

I have a mini phal that is doing this. I was going to start a thread asking if this was normal. This is the first time I have ever seen it.

[RosieC]

I have some that do this quite often, other never seem to do it. I think it's genetic.

[Paul Mc]

It depends upon the type of orchid (or one's it was crossed with). This is why you never cut off a flower spike until it has completely died back, there may be new buds or new spikes coming from the old. 4 of my phal's don't do that, but the other 3 do and have been known to send out new flowers when the old one's start to wither. Those 3 have been somewhat dormant for the past 3 or 4 months but now have new buds forming and spikes coming from the nodes of the old bloom spikes.

[FlyingBrunswick]

Thanks so much for the responses!

I'm not sure if my question has been answered - I'm familiar with branching and growing off of nodes, but my actual question was about growing further blooms at the very tip of the spike. (the smallest part of the spike at the end with blooms behind it).

Is the tiny, shrunken "bud" at the end of all phal spikes another node? I always assumed that it was an undeveloped bud!

[en3rmax]

I had exactly the same thing happen with one of my phals in the picture, those two flowers grew long after all the other flowers had finished blooming.

I wanted to cut the spike back but it keeps sending out new flowers.

[tucker85]

I think you're right. I've never seen a phal start new growth from the tip. It usually branches from further down on the stem. But the longer I grow orchids, the more I realize that anything is possible. Enjoy