New to orchids

[huntsluck]

Hello and Good Afternoon.
Last Easter my Sweety took me to one of our local green houses and I came home with a Phalaenopsis. The only thing I was told, was "NOT" to cut the bloom branches or I would never see it bloom again . My orchid has been dormant in a north window since September of 2006. I have only lost one leaf and gained 2 on the plant base it self.
My first of many questions, {I will only ask one ? today}. On one bloom branch, I have two small leaves appearing. Will those make a new plant, or do I just enjoy the show and be glad my first Phal. is still alive?
Thank you one and all for making this sight and allowing people to join. Have a wonderful day. Huntsluck from Kansas

[Ross]

Wow! Firstly, welcome to the board.

Second, that advice was a bit extreme! While it is common to allow the old spike to devolope new blossom "spiklets" it is not mandatory. If you've never grown a Phal before I would recommend cutting off the old spike and let the plant do it's thing. There are lots of culture sheets available on Phals, but I think I can distill it down to these points:

1) Don't over water
2) Don't let the plant dry out too much (to the point where leaves shrivel)
3) Don't over water
4) Give it strong light, but NOT direct sunlight (east window is best, south window if you have a flimsy curtainy thing in window or a window screen to cut down strong light)
5) Don't over water
6) Fertilize at least once a weak with a good fertilizer meant for orchids. Many people advocate a weak solution applied quite often. For me it amounts to 125-150ppm Nitrogen every time I water (for me that is once a week).
7) Don't over water

Do you get the point? DON'T OVERWATER! Phals will rot very easily if you keep them constantly wet, yet they will shrivel and drop too many leaves if left too dry. Losing an occasional leaf from the bottom of the stack is OK - just not from near the top. Hope this helps.

[Djarum Black]

Hiya Huntsluck

Welcome!

I think your plant has a Keiki forming! It is a baby plant that is growing out of your old blooming spike! Very nifty
This is okie, it happens sometimes. In fact, some phals have a tendency to want to produce keiki's over blooms. I dono why.
Give the new little plant some time to form some nice roots of it's own. Then you can carefully cut it off the mother plant and pot it up. You'll have two plants then!
I'd suggest using a razor blade to do it but you don't have too. If you do though be careful not to cut yourself lol. I have many times
Only other info I have is make sure the razor blade or whatever you use is new, or sterile. When done cutting dust a little cinnamon on the cut areas in case of infection. (the plant btw not you )

[cb977]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Wow! Firstly, welcome to the board.

Second, that advice was a bit extreme! While it is common to allow the old spike to devolope new blossom "spiklets" it is not mandatory. If you've never grown a Phal before I would recommend cutting off the old spike and let the plant do it's thing. There are lots of culture sheets available on Phals, but I think I can distill it down to these points:

1) Don't over water
2) Don't let the plant dry out too much (to the point where leaves shrivel)
3) Don't over water
4) Give it strong light, but NOT direct sunlight (east window is best, south window if you have a flimsy curtainy thing in window or a window screen to cut down strong light)
5) Don't over water
6) Fertilize at least once a weak with a good fertilizer meant for orchids. Many people advocate a weak solution applied quite often. For me it amounts to 125-150ppm Nitrogen every time I water (for me that is once a week).
7) Don't over water

Do you get the point? DON'T OVERWATER! Phals will rot very easily if you keep them constantly wet, yet they will shrivel and drop too many leaves if left too dry. Losing an occasional leaf from the bottom of the stack is OK - just not from near the top. Hope this helps.

Ross, are you saying overwatering is no good?

Good advice

[cb977]

Hi Huntsluck...welcome to Orchidboard

Sounds like your Phal is happy
Do you have any other orchids...yet?
If not, you will...you will

and we'll all be here to help you with any questions that you have

[huntsluck]

Thank you for the replys. From looking over the site today it looks like my new hobby is going to be great. This is my first orchid due to beliveing they where hard to grow lol I think keeping one alive almost a year is a good sign.

My one orchid has two bloom spikes. Since one has a keiki on it and the plant has been dormant since Sept should I cut the other bloom spike off? The top of it is brown but the other seven inchs are green.

Agin thank you for the replys Terri and David from Kansas

[Tindomul]

Welcome to the Orchid Board. Glad you have found us to your liking. I agree, it sounds like you have taken good care of your phal. After taking care of it for a year, and not killing it, I would not change your regimen. You have a keiki to top it all off. Congrats! That means you will one day have two phals.

[justatypn]

Aboard Terry and David...it's great that you have found your way to the best orchid community on the web. We have a lot of fun here and plenty of questions are answered and please don't hesitate to join in on the post. Our members are in full range from the newbie like you and I and veterans in which they have so so many it's to die for.. If you can post some s of your little guy and share with us in the OB gallery where you can upload your orchid

Now that I have exhausted the intro... lets get to your question. If these bloom spikes are from the time of purchase and have no buds, than feel free to cut it back approximately 1 inch from the leaf axil.

I think congratulations is in order for your new arrival. Let this keiki stay on the stem of the mother plant until the roots are approximately 2 inches and than you can cut it off and place in a pot, 2 inch pot is workable. Food for thought, my opinion only, but when I cut from a mother plant I keep just a 1/2 in. of the stem on either or both ends to support the keiki in the potting mix, this helps to keep the little guy upright without falling over as well as phals have a tendency to grow in the unnatural upward way if you know what I mean.

For future blooms, after the phal has bloomed cut just above the last node on the stem and sometimes (not so lucky for myself) but just sometimes the phal will grown an extension of another stem with buds present for a 2nd round of enjoyment.

Babbled enough here....glad your here and have joined in the community...

[Ross]

Originally Posted by cb977

Ross, are you saying overwatering is no good?

Good advice

Yup! As for other advice, Keeping a Keiki going is fun, but not necessarily for the newby. Firstly, keeping the parent healthy long enough to spawn the keiki can be a challenge sometimes. Secondly, getting the keiki to mature and actually bloom can sometimes be a challenge, not so much with Phals as with other spp, though. If the grower were a self acclamed expert or accomplished, then I would recommend growing the keiki. But otherwise I would not (just my 2 cents).

[Ross]

Originally Posted by huntsluck

Thank you for the replys. From looking over the site today it looks like my new hobby is going to be great. This is my first orchid due to beliveing they where hard to grow lol I think keeping one alive almost a year is a good sign.

My one orchid has two bloom spikes. Since one has a keiki on it and the plant has been dormant since Sept should I cut the other bloom spike off? The top of it is brown but the other seven inchs are green.

Agin thank you for the replys Terri and David from Kansas

Feel free to cut off the one that is done. Feel free to cut off the keiki spike right above the keiki. But be sure to keep the parent well fertilized and properly watered.