Phal questions

[nenella]

Originally Posted by scy

Well the new spikes are branching from the original spike. I wanted to know when the last flower drops, if cutting the entire 2 spikes at the base or leaving them alone would be best for my orchid.

I've heard that cutting it at the base is better for the orchids' overall health. Would leaving the spikes alone overstress it? I will cut it if it means better blooms next time.

Just my worth...
Philip, K.O.O.G has given you excellent advice!

If It were my plant. & seeing you have repotted, and, and it keeps on growing.... I would just enjoy it! and all those flowers it's going to put out in the future!
I have a phal which bloomed for 18 months.....
As for the 'blemishes' you have on the leaves... I wouldn't worry about them too much.
the possible explanations have been given and to me that's not so much of a worry.

An eg: your leaf with the deepest vertical 'lines' is not the newest/latest leaf grown. it is actually not as 'lined' as the previous grown one, therefore, to me your plant is doing 'good'.. also, still putting out buds and they look very healthy!

As already mentioned, I'd just sit back and enjoy it!
Just keep on checking those roots and the new leaves ... make sure the roots do not rot/dry out. If you see some that have rotted I would personally take the plant out of the pot disturbing the roots the least possible cut the rotten part off, put cinnamon on cut & repot as it was... It will probably not miss a beat!
Hope this helps.

[scy]

Thanks Philip & Nenella for your help! I'm always worried that I'll kill my first plants. I will definitely keep an eye on the roots. Wow! I can't believe your phal bloomed for 18 months!

Susan

[pedidiva]

I found a site that has photos of phals growing in the wild. Looks like they're hanging upside down. Enjoy.

Pedi

Sarawak Lens: Phalaenopsis Habitat

[scy]

I had a nagging feeling something was up with this phal, because the medium was still damp and hadn't been watered since March 2. I decided to investigate and unpotted. There was a foul smell and all those green roots that showed in the photo posted were actually dead and hollow. I also noticed a tiny, barely visible black insect crawling around in the bucket where I dumped out the medium. I immediately got rid of the bark mixture and trimmed the roots with a sterilized scissors. I went from having a 5" pot packed with roots to only a cup full of roots. Oh well, I guess this will be a good learning experience.

[Paul Mc]

You might want to try a few things, but I will let others with more experience tell you if I'm right or wrong about these.

You might think about investing in some orchid rooting hormone as well as Dyna-Gro's ProTekt.

My story is that I had two phal's last year that started having some major issues with root loss. Based upon my research here on the OB, I moved them to a lower light situation for about a month or two. I also started putting about 1/4th the recommended dosage of the Dyna-Gro ProTekt into the water everytime I watered. The Dyna-Gro ProTekt is supposed to help plants survive environmental stresses by delivering (mineral unknown) to them. It worked for me so it might be a good shot for you.

I'm also wondering if you might want to consider placing the base and the roots into a root hormone mixed with water and soak for about 30 minutes or so to help stimulate new growth. I would rely on someone else's judgement on that one though as I really don't know. It was just a passing thought.

[scy]

Thank you for the suggestion! I will have to do that tomorrow! I wrapped the roots in a moist paper towel and closed it off in tuberware with a few holes to help increase the humidity. Hopefully, it'll develop new roots and then I can transfer it to s/h. I'll don't know if it will survive the next winter because of my temperatures, but hopefully the heating pad will be enough.

[silken]

I like to use K-L-N rooting hormone and/or Superthrive when I have rooting problems. Maybe my luck is just improving, but I seem to get some really good root growth when I do that.