epi question

[mattryan]

I posted this question on catt alliance and haven't recieved a reply..so I will ask it again here and maybe someone can help me. I have a reed stem epi Fantasy Valley 'Waskausa'. It has long since gone out of bloom and now is growing 2 new "spikes". My question is was I supposed to cut the old spikes off or do I leave them? Also will flowers naturally develope from these spikes or do I need to do something to make that happen? The pics posted when I first got it and now with the new growth. Thanks for any help...first epi for me ad glad something is still growing ))

[mattryan]

I hope this doesn't come up twice pics wouldn't upload first time. My question is what do I do with the spikes that the flowers have died....do I cut or leave them? My epi is growing 2 new spikes now and do they become flowers or is there something that I must do? Thanks all

[RosieC]

It did come up twice but I've merged them for you.

Are you meaning spikes or canes? What I can see in the pics are canes (with up the length). If that's the bit you mean then you should leave them. If there is a spike out the top of that then it should be removed, but NOT the cane.

The canes store energy for the plant which is used to sustain the new growth. Once a plant has a lot of them you can remove the oldest that have lost leaves, or even split the plant, but with your plant I would not do that, you need that stored energy to give strength to the new growth.