Quote:
Originally Posted by Skirril
I am really upset to find that my "first" phal orchid (the first I chose for myself, which wasn't a gift) had a terminal spike when I got it. It was in the Tesco finish range, and was spectacular with soo many flowers. I wonder if it was pushed too far to get so many? There is a leaf on the spike, will this become a keiki? Or is it just a leaf (I can take pics, but it's just a single leaf on the spike, and it doesn't come off it like a little plant, it's wrapped around it).
I have had the plant for 3 or more months now, and most of the flowers (but not all) have finished, but the leaf doesn't seem to have done anything more, and there is no sign of keikis from elsewhere. Partly because this was my first orchid (and got made me want more!) and partly because I think the flowers are so incredibly beautiful I don't want it to die without getting a baby from it. How can I best encourage it to make them?
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That's a shame
I would leave the spike on until it dries up, in the hope a keiki will form. The leaf you see is probably just the fact that Terminal spikes often have an extra leaf on the spike.
I would keep caring for the plant as normal, don't give up on it. When the crown of a phal terminates (either through damage, a terminal spike or other reason) the hormone levels in the plant change because one of the hormone's was being generated by the growing crown. That change in hormone levels can prompt dormant nodes either on base of the plant or on the spike to start growing a new crown.
If it's at the base of the plant it's called a basel keiki and you probably would leave that attached to the existing leaves, if it's on the stem then once it's got about 3" of roots it can be removed and potted on it's own.
The change in hormone levels can take a while to kick in, and so I would just keep caring for it and hope for the best.
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