spike in glass of water lives?

[tedro]

I had to cut off my spike because my phal roots went bad.

It had loads of budding and 1 or 2 bloomed, when i cut it.

instead if throwing it away i put it in water. later i refreshed with a bit of bloom fert.

i eventually lost many of the buds. but i got about 10 flowers.

so, every week or more like 2, i trim the spike end in hopes of helping keep it sucking up water and food.

even the original far end main spike tip (it has 6 branches) is green. i think it has become more green, actually (but i haven’t been able to get its old big fat bud to open — still alive though, interestingly.

in fact, this whole spike thing has been interesting.

so, what else can i do with a phal spike?
the end in the water is green as well.

i do tend to think it’s coming to an end, as far the 4 closed big buds that even still remain.

i thought about trimming way back the branches whose buds dropped; i believe “injury” often produces internal activity that kinda sparks the plant a bit. for example, i’ve had plants (other types, i’ve only ever had this 1 orchid) whose severe injury made them come back, when they do, even stronger than they were and that strength remains.
—i’m not going to do that, just going to let it go as i have been. …unless this thing could make roots or something, or induced to make something else. (?)

btw, phal is seemingly well, but not producing any (new) roots yet, not that i can see at all.




here are some pics:

[BobcatJohnson]

Originally Posted by tedro

so, what else can i do with a phal spike?

The spike could possibly form a keiki and produce a baby plant clone of its mother.

I have a spike I tried to do this with. That spike has lived about 9 months. It continues to branch and form buds that end up blasting. Maybe some day it'll make a keiki. I understand using keiki paste increases the odds, but I don't really care that much, it was just something to do 'cuz i was bored.

[Ray]

Tedro - no fertilizer! A cut inflorescence doesn’t have the mechanism to convert the minerals into anything useful, and can upset the osmolality, actually shortening the life.

Instead, for every quart of water, add a teaspoon of sugar, about 1/4 tsp bleach, to keep fungi and bacteria from growing in the solution, and enough vinegar to keep the so,ution acidified.

[tedro]

Originally Posted by Ray

Tedro - no fertilizer! A cut inflorescence doesn’t have the mechanism to convert the minerals into anything useful, and can upset the osmolality, actually shortening the life.

Instead, for every quart of water, add a teaspoon of sugar, about 1/4 tsp bleach, to keep fungi and bacteria from growing in the solution, and enough vinegar to keep the so,ution acidified.

you know, i kinda knew that about sugar! didn’t know about bleach.
switching now.

thanks Ray! … using KelpMax on phal.

---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

Tedro - no fertilizer! A cut inflorescence doesn’t have the mechanism to convert the minerals into anything useful, and can upset the osmolality, actually shortening the life.

Instead, for every quart of water, add a teaspoon of sugar, about 1/4 tsp bleach, to keep fungi and bacteria from growing in the solution, and enough vinegar to keep the so,ution acidified.

wait… vinegar? in the quart with the sugar and bleach? how much?

or is that the action of the bleach?

—wow. i totally missed the vinegar part. …
what would a drop of lemon do to the water for a phal?
with humans, i read it became more ph alkaline as metabolized by humans, perhaps. idk

[Ray]

The sugar is what the tissue needs to extend its life.

The bleach is to prevent nasty crap from growing in the sugar water.

The vinegar is to acidify the water, facilitating sugar uptake, so I’m confident your use of lemon juice would be fine. As far as “how much”, my understanding is “enough to push the pH below 7”, which the bleach will raise.

If I’m not mistaken, that’s basically the content of those little packets of stuff for use with cut flowers- a sugar, a bleach, and an acid.

[tedro]

are these things — spike in water — supposed to live very long? or…

how long do these live?

[Ray]

How long a cut flower lasts depends upon the natural lifespan of the flower on an intact plant, how soon it was cut, how quickly it was submerged after cutting (which is why they tell you to cut an extra inch off under water, to avoid bubbles in the vasculum), and the temperature and humidity of the display area.

For phals, it could be as much as a few weeks.

[BobcatJohnson]

I have a spike that has lived for 8 months in a bed of moist moss. i mentioned in an earlier post it had been almost 9 months but I looked up the photo I took and it is dated from june 2021. That photo was taken a few weeks after the spike was cut.

That spike as mentioned is still alive and keeps trying to grow new nodes. I continue to hope that it'll push out a keiki, but so far it only tries to grow secondary spikes with buds that blast quite soon after forming.

[tedro]

thanks guys!

[claypot]

I have tried the same thing recently, but just in plain water....hence a total disaster. Lasted about a week. I'll try again later with all the above advice.