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Old 11-01-2004, 03:04 AM
J Fortuna
 
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Default phal bud spikes

Sarah,

I commiserate with you. One of my plants spike was recently broken as well
(see my recent thread on 'frustrating morning').

Did you entirely break off the spike or did you just break off a piece of
it? If the spike still has some nodes left, it is very likely to grow a
branch out of one of those nodes. Phals do that a lot. And even though some
people claim that the blooms of such a secondary spike are not as good (not
award quality), I have had Phals rebloom beautifully on a secondary spike
branch (without any difference in bloom quality that my albeit relatively
inexperienced eye could see).

If you have broken off the entire spike or too much of it, it might still
regrow a new one since the blooming season for Phals is still far from over.
Try providing your Phal a 10-15 degree Fahrenheit day/night difference for a
week or so. That tends to stimulate spike growth.

Best wishes,
Joanna

"Sarah Huff" wrote in message
et...
Hi everyone!

While I was watering my orchids this morning, I broke off the only bud

spike
on my of my new phals. #%&$! I hate when that happens! Is there

anything
I can do to encourage the plant to develop a new spike?

Thanks!

Sarah
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