In the winter, I bought some random orchids, and brought them home and immedietly repotted in semi-hydro, and then cut the flower spikes off. I cut the spikes off thinking that the plant would expend more energy taking care of the flowers then on growing new roots.
This is the result of my experiment: All plants thrived. very good root growth. All plants are in spike or blooming. I know this result is due to the experiment and not to my usual care. No plants died during the experiment. These are all the original "subjects."
I have a large dyed phal that will end up being white, a named phal (Talsisco Noble, which bloomed earlier than the rest, so it has only 2 flowers on it now), a small purple Noid, and a yellow green Noid. All had good roots when I bought them. I did not buy any half price from the bargain bin because I wanted to start with good roots.
What I have learned is that cutting off the spike actually does revert the plant's activities to creating roots and leaves. I guess after the shock of transport and so on, the orchid is trying its best to stay alive, and this takes some of the pressure off. True? Not True? I am not a plant expert, but that is my explanation.
These are photos of the experimental plants:
This is all together, you can see they are of different sizes.
Small greenish yellow Noid:
DTPS Talsisco Noble (Sogo Pride X Sogo Splendor) strangely had a tag:
I can't wait for the big white one to bloom. This was one of those blue dyed orchids, and I am hoping it has a little pink in the center. I was told that they actually choose very sturdy white cultivars for this process, so it should end up a very nice orchid.
My Phal Experiment!
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