"Keefer Milton" wrote in message
. ..
The leaves, although smaller in comparison to my newest addition seem to
be
very healthy. They are five in number, feel very firm, are a medium green,
and two of them have nearly doubled their length since being in my care.

Sounds healthy indeed. The size of the leaves may just be due to this Phal
being a hybrid of smaller-leaved Phals. The fact that two of the leaves have
doubled in size is good. Growing its leaves is indeed a sign of health.

It looks very much like this:
http://orchids.com/shop/shopCatPop.a...s&itemNo=MC729
And the petals are silky as opposed to waxy

Hmm, the photo in the linked page is a branching multi-floral. Those tend to
create new branches with no need to cut off the spike part-way to induce
them to do so. So if yours is really like this, I would just leave the spike
as is without cutting, and it may continue to grow a branch and reflower
from that or it may not. But I don't think that with a multi-floral the
cutting of the spike partway will help. My understanding (from what I have
read about this) is that in the Phals where one cuts the spike partway, the
reason why this works is since the final bud of the spike produces some sort
of hormone that prevents the dormant growths from forming into branches,
while the tip of the spike is still in tact. However, with a multifloral
Phal, it already has the tendency to develop lot of branches, and thus I
don't think this applies.

I wonder of something else. Should the spike be able to support it's own
weight? I ask this because both my Phals were bought with a bamboo stake.

Very few Phals can support the spikes weight and hold the flower spikes
upright without a stake of some sort. Some of them can, but most need to be
staked both to make the arangement more aesthetically pleasing to us humans,
and to reduce the chances of the spike accidentally breaking while you move
the plant, etc. A piece of Phal trivia: in nature Phals grow on trees, the
leaves and the spikes hang downward. So the way we grow them as houseplants
is really upside down from their natural way of growing. And thus Phals are
not really naturally inclined to hold their spikes weight.

I believe that there are two crowns here. The plant came potted in moss
and
I believe that some small roots have twisted around the moss which makes
me
hesitant to dig down deep enough to tell for sure. What I can say is that
there are definately two spikes.

The two crowns, if there indeed are two, should be visible above the moss:
do all leaves meet in one central point or not. If you think you would need
to dig underneath the moss to find out whether there are two plants here,
that does not sound like there are likely two plants of flowering size. Hmm.
Curious that. Could you take some pictures of the plant and either post a
link to this group (no picture posting here) or post a picture to
alt.binaries.pictures.orchids?

There are seven leaves total. One of it's
previous leaves was slightly yellowish when it was purchased and has since
turned more yellow and detached from the crown. Is this the normal mannor
in
which phals lose their leaves?

Was this one of the bottom leaves? If so, then yes, that is exactly how an
old leave falls off naturally. If it was an upper leaf, that may be a sign
of stress of not so good health. Phals grow new leaves from the top and
loose them from the bottom, and exceptions to that are usually a sign that
something may be wrong. I tend to watch my Phals after I observe an old leaf
falling off. If the same Phal looses another leaf or two without growing a
new leaf on the top, I tend to cut off any spikes it may have all the way
down, no matter whether they are in flower or not. I will then put the
flower spike in a vase of water, just in case it decides to continue as a
cut flower. Flowering takes energy from the plant, and thus if the plant
needs to concentrate energy on new leaf-growth, then it's better to cut off
the spike. Unless of course one cares more about its current flowering
season than about the plant's longevity.

There is no pink evident on the lips of the flowers of one spike while
there
is prominent pink shown on the lips of the flowers on the other spike.
Assuming these are two different plants and that their root structures are
entangled, would it be best to not seperate them at all?

While I have never seen a Phal with two spikes that produced flowers as
different as that, I am not sure whether it is impossible. As for whether to
keep the plants together, as long as both remain healthy, there is no rush
to separate them. The next time you repot, if indeed there are two plants,
see whether or not you can separate them with minimal damage to the roots.
But as long as all remain healthy, there is no rush.

Best,
Joanna