Buy a small tube of keiki paste. It works for me about 80-90% of the time. I
think it's well worth it for small numbers or to save a valuable plant. I
got mine from the Supreme Commander in CA (I think he's now in WA). I just
use a little every year and keep it in the frig. Remove the shield from the
3rd bud up from the bottom, apply a small amount of paste, and you should
notice a swelling of the bud within 1-2 weeks. You can have a keiki ready to
remove in 3-6mo depending on the plant. I have saved a few plants this way
as the parent plant died soon after I removed the keiki. It's so easy I
don't know why any phal fanatic doesn't use it routinely. I haven't tried it
on any other genera but I might this winter. Good luck.
Gary

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:x41jf.1689$3x2.1155@trnddc07...
So I have this phal schilleriana seedling, that has only one leaf left,
and
now it is in spike. Should I let it spike or not? The only reason why I am
even considering letting it spike is that I do not know whether it is
capable of growing more leaves from its crown or not, and if it is not,
then
maybe it will spike and grow a keiki on the spike? I do not have any
evidence of crown rot, but I have no evidence of new leaves from the crown
either (it has been a one-leaf plant since March). This is the phal that I
have been meaning to put into a sphag'n'bag cure, but have not gotten
around
to yet -- it has not been getting any worse nor any better since March as
far as I can tell. I assume that the spiking is a last attempt at
survival,
but if I let it spike and it does not keiki, will it be more likely to die
than if I cut the emerging spike?

Joanna