Hi
My Phal has given me perfect chance to show you difference between root and spike at early stage, since they both are growing close at the same time
I know that lots of people, including myself, often can't decide what is growing on Phal, is it a spike or root. On these pictures you can see how root and spike look at their early stage
Root is on the left, not growing from center between leaves, it is rounder, and grows downwards, while spike has that "mitten-like" shape, grows from center between leaves and up
Sorry for kinda blurry pictures, I hope that it is not that bad