Phal flower stalk attacking plant!

[Paul Mc]

Now I got your attention, lol... BTW, it took me almost a month and a half to realize what was happening as well!

So, at first I noticed what I thought was either a root or a flower stalk starting to form at the base of one of my phal's. As always, I waited to see what happens. Well, in the waiting process I watched the growth go up, and then circle back down, so I thought it might be a root. Then it appeared to just stop growing, but in reality it had circled back upon itself at the base of the orchid and was "feeling" it's way up the base of the phal towards the bottom leaf looking for a weak spot I guess.

When I finally noticed baby buds, I thought it was a bit strange that they were so close to the base of the plant, but I figured that it would just be on off year for this particular phal. But when I turned it around the other day, I noticed that there was a thin flower stalk on the other side coming from what I thought was a root as well. After looking into it for a good long time attempting to figure out what was happening, I realized that the stalk wasn't as long as it usually is because it had turned on itself and broken through the base of the bottom leaf while attempting to escape the circle it had trapped itself in. The bottom leaf is split in half at the base and the flower stalk continues to push it's way through.

Needless to say, it will be an unusual blooming phal this year as all the flowers will be literally starting to bloom from inside of the phal!

When it flowers, I will post a pic so you guys can see how odd it is.