Thanks for the info. The mom bloomed 3 spikes in two overlapping stages over the 18 months. New buds appeared on a new sub-spike before the old set dropped off, and it is finally losing the second set of blooms. One of the spent spikes immediatly grew an
other length of budds. And another grew the keiki.

here are two photos:
http://www.barkless.com/pics/dscn0413a.jpg
http://www.barkless.com/pics/dscn0409.jpg

The moms leaves look healthy but the roots look a little skanky. It is planted in bark & pumice.

I keep it abover a humidifier and under flouresent grow light in my office in the winter and put them outside in the summer. So it gets more temerature extremes in the summer. The Keiki started at the end of winter right with the second bloom.

I will plan to repot it.

George


Susan Erickson wrote:

The Keiki is a baby of Mom and when the root mass sum is 6" or
greater the plant can be separated. If you firmly (gentle now)
grasp the keiki and gently twist and pull it should snap off the
spike. I would wait as long as possible before doing this. If
your not sure, you can also bend the spike down until you can
plant the keiki in a pot of its own and allow it to grow on while
still attached. It has roots and you are leery of snapping it
off the stem, cut the spike on both sides of the keiki and pot
the new plant up.

Now that you know your alternatives, YES, this is the same DNA
and a clone of the original. So give the new little guy the same
name and tag markings as the original plant.

Phals put out keikis for various reasons. Mom is dying? Mom was
shocked by something, genetics (as in some do it often) and for
reasons we will not understand. So if the keiki is big enough
remove it and when you do, especially as Mom has been blooming
for 18 months, Repot her and check the roots. Is your big plant
looking good? Has it put out a leaf or three during this
extended bloom cycle? YOu need to put some effort into making
sure the large plant will continue to grow. If it is stressed by
bad roots, make sure the keiki is at least trying to support its
own growth with roots planted, even if it is still attached.

Yes, I lost a lovely big Phal after 18 months of constant bloom.
It had not grown a new leaf and I was not paying enough attention
to its health. I was too lost in the beauty of the flowers to
look to plant itself.
Good luck and good growing.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php