"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Ted,

First....don't repot them yet! Enjoy the flower show for now.

OK, if I must. ;-)

There could be two explainations. First is that a dormant bud at the base
of the plant decided to grow and you have one plant with two growing
points.
Some phals are prone to this and you probably do not want to divide them
unless there is a real desire to have two plants. In this case you really
are conducting surgery on the plant and causing stress. If they have a
pleasant appearance I would leave them grow together and create a great
big
phal. This is akin to what happens when a phal gets crown rot and throws
off another plant from under the medium. It's a good thing!

They do look quite interesting and attractive: enough so that I was tempted
to leave them growing together.

The other explaination is that when someone was de-flasking the tiny
seedlings they had two of them that were entangled. In this case you have
two different plants that are growing together. Do the flowers look
identical? If they appear different then this is most likely the case. I
would not divide them until the phal has finish blooming. Since the roots
are entangled at this point. When you divide them you will break the
healthy roots and stress the plants. This will probably cause the
buds/flowers to drop. If it were my plant I'd enjoy the flowers for now
and
when I cut the spike I'd divide it then.

The flowers on the two inflorascences in each pot look identical, apart from
their orientation being screwed up by some bozo staking the inflorescences
after some buds had already opened (and shoving one of the stakes right
through the middle of a leaf). At first I thought the second was a keiki,
but I had second thoughts because the two growths are about the same size in
each pot.

You could just let them go for a long time. In nature when two phals grow
next to each other there's no gardener there to divide them. The stronger
plant will crowd out the weaker plant or they will co-exist. In your case
if they are compatible varieties (same water, light, heat requirements)
they
may live for years in the same pot.

And I'd guess they'd be more likely to coexist if given plenty of everything
they need, so they really don't have to compete for anything. Certainly it
will be straight forward to ensure there is enough light, water and
nutrients so that neither will decline. I just hope that the medium stays
in good enough shape for them to thrive until after the display is done and
I can repot.

Cheers,

Ted