Is my orchid killing itself. What is it doing

[yeoshua88]

So I have had this phal schilleriana for almost 2 years now and it has grown well for me. It came to me in spike and did not flower last year but I suspect that is due to a combination of me moving and being forced to repot around the time it would have flowered. This year it put up a wonderful leaf and is in the process of putting up another. Today when I watered it I noticed this abnormality in the crown. *see attached pictures*. I am not sure what this is but it is growing through the crown and I think its destroying it. I have heard of some orchids putting up flower spikes that grow right through the crown and kill the orchid and I am worried that is what is happening here. I have never seen anything like this with any of the other orchids I grow and could use some advice from anyone who has seen something like this before.

[Roberta]

The name "terminal spike" sounds fatal but it isn't. If a spike comes from the crown, it's a sign that the orchid probably won't grow any more from that point, but very likely will produce basal growths (not really "keikis", they aren't independent plants but rather part of the "clump"). And of course, each of those new growths can bloom. So if the plant has a good root system and develops new basal growths, it will just get better and better.

This is reasonable for a Phal to limit its upward growth at some point and start producing offshoots. If it kept growing forever from that one point (the crown) you would see tree-sized Phalaenopsis... and that doesn't happen.

[Louis_W]

It could also just be a new leaf. Sometimes the old leaf tears to make way. Doesn't usually harm it too much. Roots and spikes also burst through leaves, tearing them open. No biggie

[Dalachin]

Yes, it looks to me like the large new leaf has stretched a hole in an older leaf. It also looks like it is producing a new baby leaf. All normal, and it looks very healthy! I haven’t bloomed my schillerianas yet but I have bloomed related species and more light or a couple weeks of colder temps might help a reluctant bloomer.