I must know. Is it a root or a flower spike?

[Calliope]

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[fishmom]

Root. Little pointy tip, and location below any leaf node.

This is one of the plants you are trying to regenerate, right? Good job!

[Calliope]

Originally Posted by fishmom

Root. Little pointy tip, and location below any leaf node.

This is one of the plants you are trying to regenerate, right? Good job!

Thank you for clarifying that for me Fishmom. Yes, it's my first phal. It was a lot healthier before I got involved in repotting it. I'm learning by trial and error it seems. So are you saying the spike will come out above a leaf node?


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[fishmom]

Nothing is 100% with orchids, but it is most common that a spike appears between two leaves.

This is actually great. Your plant is trying to come back. Sometimes a hopeless plant will start a "desperation spike" in an effort to reproduce and thus survive.

[Calliope]

You're so right! I'll take roots if it means the poor thing is trying to survive, disputed my attempts to kill it with lavish attention. What about this then??


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[Calliope]

*despite (autocorrect you are an autopain!).


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[fishmom]

Keep watching that one. It could be a spike, or maybe a keiki.

[Calliope]

Originally Posted by fishmom

Keep watching that one. It could be a spike, or maybe a keiki.

Wow! Had to look that one up. Babies! How exciting. Thanks again for taking the time to write me back

This is a picture of what my little fair skinned lady with pretty red lipstick may look like one day.


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[Helene]

Considering the overall health of the orchid- roots are the best thing you can get at this moment.
Roots and leaves are the most important thing, the plant cant support flowers if its got no roots.
So the more roots its growing the better health the orchid will get (with time they will come further up, so hopefully you get more roots- maybe even between the leaves)

Thats a great thing, though. More roots, and the plant will grow a bit faster- and when its ready it will give you nice flowers.

Unhealthy plants that flowers I often consider doing that as a last atempt to survive- same thing with keikis.
So: if it gives you roots- be just as happy as flowers. At this point roots is what your plant needs to become a big and beautiful flowering plant later on.

I think you are doing a really good job with your orchids. You learn from asking questions and trying (and some failure aswell- thats how we learn).

So keep up the good work, and in the future you will be the one giving advices for new growers

Have a lovely day😃


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[Calliope]

Hi Helene. Pleased you've seen this as I wanted to thank you personally for all your help. Yeah, I'll take roots. Need em now cos both plants have hardly any. I can see a lot of new growth coming above the bark. Exciting! Both plants look healthy above the surface so hopefully they are not putting out stuff cos they're in their death throes.


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