Green flower stalk on Phal for months!

[denvervet]

One of my phals is an older plant, it bloomed very nicely last Spring. I cut the flower stalk down a few segments to incourage more flowers and never got the flowers, never got a keiki, but its still green as ever about a foot tall and doing nothing. Should I remove this?

I still cannot figure out how to post a pic......any talk of making it user friendly?

[sweetjblue]

Rosie has some links with how tos on her profile. Just follow this link and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. Click on the links there and you should be good to go!


http://www.orchidboard.com/community...rs/rosiec.html

Judi

Oh, and as long as the spike is green there is always the chance for either more blooms or a keiki. You may have to wait for the "normal" blooming season though.

[denvervet]

Ok, I will leave it on then, its very healthy looking.

[Rowangreen]

I've had one on for a year. Just recently it's started browning though. I'm hoping that means it's thinking about starting a new spike!

I also have a Brassidium with a green spike for about 8-10 months now. The spike was last of 3 and all the buds on it blasted, but the spike itself didn't die. I know it's not usual for Brassidium spikes to rebloom, but I couldn't resist leaving it to see if anything would happen.

[KCOrchid]

Oh wow! I was just asking about this on one of my Phans. The stick is about 18-19 inches long, it's green, and I took it to mean I was treating it right. The leaves are big and a slight dark red tinge has appeared in the last few weeks. Does that mean anything?
The other two plants - smaller in size (8-10 inches) - have no stems at all. Don't know if that's good or bad. Suggestions?

[denvervet]

Has this stalk flowered and is it a new stalk? The reddish tinge probably means its getting as much light as it can, mine also have this and bloom wonderfully in the spring. Mine are under a very large skylight on a flat roof and get good light all day.

[denvervet]

Originally Posted by Rowangreen

I've had one on for a year. Just recently it's started browning though. I'm hoping that means it's thinking about starting a new spike!

I also have a Brassidium with a green spike for about 8-10 months now. The spike was last of 3 and all the buds on it blasted, but the spike itself didn't die. I know it's not usual for Brassidium spikes to rebloom, but I couldn't resist leaving it to see if anything would happen.

My general rule is not to remove anything from an orchid unless it gets brown and is dead. I think you need to figure out why your Brassia blasted. My brassia has not bloomed as much this past summer but its growing like crazy.

[KCOrchid]

Originally Posted by denvervet

Has this stalk flowered and is it a new stalk? The reddish tinge probably means its getting as much light as it can, mine also have this and bloom wonderfully in the spring. Mine are under a very large skylight on a flat roof and get good light all day.

I've never seen it flower. This is the way I purchased it. It been sitting in front of a window with 'blinds' on the side of the house that's indirect lighting.

From what you're saying, I won't see any bloom until the spring, then?

[denvervet]

Phals, as far as I know bloom in the spring. Mine do and the blooms can last for months. Last year mine was blooming for about 3 months.

[KCOrchid]

Thank you Denver for letting me know. I did something on a whim yesterday after posting. I checked the roots of my plants, and there has been new growth, but there was also some rotted. So, I trimmed it, repotted it in smaller pots (I read this was preferable), and put lightly dampened moss on the bottom and dry moss on the sides.

The end of the day I looked them and each one was perkier than they were that morning! They still look good!
I'm going to give it another day, then mix a solution of orchid fertilizer with water. I have another idea, but tell me if this is bad:
Instead of pouring water/fertilizer into the pots, what if I were to soak the moss in the solution and then wrap the root with a think layer, place in the pot and finish it off with dry moss?