Spike Care

[peeper]

Ok, I have like 17 orchids at this point. (not addicted!) ha! And they are coming in and out of bloom, here is my question... When they drop flowers, Phals mostly, should I be cutting back spikes, or leaving them be to rebloom. All of the out of bloom plants are throwing new leaves and lots of root growth. Some of them are dropping blooms and throwing new buds, those I know to obviously keep, but the ones that drop flowers and throw leaves, is this a period were the spike should be cut?

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by peeper

Ok, I have like 17 orchids at this point. (not addicted!) ha! And they are coming in and out of bloom, here is my question... When they drop flowers, Phals mostly, should I be cutting back spikes, or leaving them be to rebloom. All of the out of bloom plants are throwing new leaves and lots of root growth. Some of them are dropping blooms and throwing new buds, those I know to obviously keep, but the ones that drop flowers and throw leaves, is this a period were the spike should be cut?

Oh .... ok.... this is a much-discussed topic-- so I'll try my best to give you the different camps.

Spike-on says:

No one cuts spikes in situ so why should we?

They also say that some phals (not sure about other orchids) will rebloom from an old spike. There are two, that I know of, categories that phals fall into here-- 1) warm-growers that have violacea or bellina or similar species genes in them that will actively grow new growth on old spikes-- these spikes are normally small anyway, so that over a few seasons of successively new spikes, you can develop a plant that is a show-stopper. 2) Phals that keep their old spike but never really bloom all that robustly from it ever again. My Baldin's Kaleidescope is like this-- it'll keep old spikes and they will rebloom but if I cut the old spikes, the next seasons' spike and blooms are so much better.

Cut the Spike Camp says:

Because of the lackluster blooming of retained spikes, cut it. Also, it's ugly when out-of-bloom. And finally, cutting a spike does seem to urge the plant into its next growth phase of new leaves and roots.

DId I miss anything?

[peeper]

Very interesting! thank you!
Now, I have seen some people say that you should wait to cut spikes until they spikes are brown... mine aren't. is there a certain time that spikes should be cut after blooming? like as soon as flowers drop, or should I wait? Assuming that I cut, that is...

'Nother question... If the spike is cut do they respike sooner or slower? or is there a difference?

Thanks again!

[PeaceLoveOrchids]

What I usally do is cut the phal 3 "notches" down the flowering part of the stem (not exactly good at describing) , urging the stem to re bloom, if you don't want it to bloom and just want it to focus on growing roots etc., I just wait untill the stem drys up and gets brown, it works for me at least. I'm not sure regarding your other types though.

[Zoi2]

For my 2 cents: I cut the spike off totally when the flowers start dropping.
Joann

[RosieC]

Ryan has summed it up.

Personally if they are green I will leave them a little while, but if after a few weeks nothing is happening I cut it off.

If they are brown and dried up they will not flower again anyway so I cut them off.

[peeper]

Thank you all for the responses! Help appreciated!

[Blueszz]

I used to cut all the spikes in the past. About 2 years ago I left them on the plant if still green... but some spikes were too long to fit under the lights... so I started to clip them just above the highest node. Ugly... IMHO... but Oh boy... those plants rebloom super! Send up 2 spikes and and bloom from 4 sub spikes (2 on each old spike from last year) - 6 good strong spikes in total!
So I'm very reluctant to clip them away these days...

Nicole

[peeper]

I rather like the idea of cutting high on the spike... I've been reading of really nice blooming this way. I am very tempted to try a few different ways, some cutting off, some leaving them and others cutting high and seeing how they all pan out. Experiment time! yay! Thank you all so much for the advice!

[Blueszz]

Recently my Mom asked where to cut the spikes from her Phal's. Often you read to cut above the second or third from below. While on the phone with my Mom I walked over to my white NOID in spike and saw that node 3 and 4 on both old spike (from previous season) had the new growths on them. Knowing this plant the spikes stay green for two seasons, than turn brown. If not, I'll cut them back again and keep all nodes that they still have on them.
BTW I also tried to cut sub spikes and leaving the nodes on them... but it seems to me that the flowers from these sub sub spikes are much smaller and the spikes much thinner and that the nodes on the main spike don't wake up as often. Only my observations, don't know if this is a rule that can be applied to all Phalaenopsis.

Also, I have plants that keep growing buds on the tip of the main spike, I don't cut these unless they are getting too long to handle for me. When I cut these back, they mostly develop sub spikes.

This year I have a plant that kept it's old spikes green but didn't grow sub spikes on previous season spikes... will watch them to see what they'll do during their second year.

Peeper, no thanks! I too like to hear about others experiences and writing down my own lets me think about my own culture practices.

Have a nice evening!
Nicole