My Phal has lost all eight of its blooms after months of displaying them.
Where should I cut the stem back to in order to promote new blooms?

"TOM KAN PA" wrote in message
...
My Phal has lost all eight of its blooms after months of displaying them.
Where should I cut the stem back to in order to promote new blooms?

Don't bother to cut it back unless some or all of it starts to wither,
assuming the plant is in genrally good shape. (When was it last repotted?
How healthy were the roots? ) Many phals will rebloom on old
inflorescences, some don't usually do so. Some routinely cut the
inflorescence back to the first node that had not produced a bloom, and
others will cut back to a few centimetres of where it emerges from the base.
I am inclined to let the plant tell me what it wants removed.

Cheers,

Ted

Thanks Ted. The upper most part of the stem is drying up.

As long as your plant is healthy and happy, this is a matter of personal
preference. As previously mentioned, many phals will send out secondary
branches of flowers from a lower node on a previously-bloomed spike.
However, these generally aren't as nice [smaller flowers, less of them] as
the primary [first per spike] blooming. My own preference is to cut the
spike all the way down, and force the plant to put its energy into growing,
in hopes of bigger, better, more blooms the following season. But there are
many who enjoy the prolonged display provided by the secondary bloomings.

The major caveat is that if the plant should start to look stressed, you
really should cut the spike off, regardless of flowers, so that it won't
expend energy on flowers that it really needs to put into growing.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"TOM KAN PA" wrote in message
...
My Phal has lost all eight of its blooms after months of displaying them.
Where should I cut the stem back to in order to promote new blooms?

My own preference is to cut the spike all the way down, and force the plant
to put its energy into growing, in hopes of bigger, better, more blooms the
following season.
____Reply Separator_____
OK, if I decide to go this route, how do I "force the plant to put its energy
into growing?"

"TOM KAN PA" wrote in message
...
My own preference is to cut the spike all the way down, and force the
plant
to put its energy into growing, in hopes of bigger, better, more blooms
the
following season.
____Reply Separator_____
OK, if I decide to go this route, how do I "force the plant to put its
energy
into growing?"

By not allowing it to put any energy into blooming! Given proper
conditions,
it will grow.

David

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:18:54 -0700, "The Edgleys"
wrote:


"TOM KAN PA" wrote in message
...
My own preference is to cut the spike all the way down, and force the
plant
to put its energy into growing, in hopes of bigger, better, more blooms
the
following season.
____Reply Separator_____
OK, if I decide to go this route, how do I "force the plant to put its
energy
into growing?"


Tom,
If you plant has not put out the start of a new leaf or a
complete new leaf. I would suggest that you prevent it from
blooming that secondary flush of blossoms. Cut the stem back to
its base.
If you have seen growth in the center leaf area (crown) and are
sure the plant is doing well. Then just cut off the dry portion
as it dies back, how ever far it dies back.

As to the question of forcing it into growing. The act of
cutting the inflorescence down will prevent it blooming on that
spike again and thus give it no choice but to grow. You will
need to provide a differential between day and night temp of apx.
10 degrees. If your home does not naturally do this where you
keep the plant, think of another location you can keep it at
night to cool it down.


SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

= If you have seen growth in the center leaf area (crown) and are
= sure the plant is doing well. Then just cut off the dry portion
= as it dies back, how ever far it dies back.

If I may add my question to this thread, I've cut my Phal's spike somewhere in the middle,
and there are two tiny leaves growing there. Now, is that a freak occurance or do these
plants somehow reproduce in this manner? I am guessing sometime in the future, roots will
perhaps show up... I was expecting another spike with buds somewhere along the way, but
this is just as fascinating.

Regards,

John McIntyre

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 06:01:55 GMT, J X M
wrote:

= If you have seen growth in the center leaf area (crown) and are
= sure the plant is doing well. Then just cut off the dry portion
= as it dies back, how ever far it dies back.

If I may add my question to this thread, I've cut my Phal's spike somewhere in the middle,
and there are two tiny leaves growing there. Now, is that a freak occurance or do these
plants somehow reproduce in this manner? I am guessing sometime in the future, roots will
perhaps show up... I was expecting another spike with buds somewhere along the way, but
this is just as fascinating.

Regards,

John McIntyre

It appears you got lost in the sale & shopping discussions.
Sorry.

Your Phal is probably going to develop a small plant at that
point. Some species are prone to doing that rather than sending
out a second flush of flowers. I am not a Phal specialist and
can not tell you what breeding lines do or do not do it more.
The name usually applied to this small plant is Keiki which is
Hawaiian for baby. So Mom Phal is producing a baby. The baby
will be identical to Mom and should be potted on its own when the
roots and leaves have developed. You want about 2-3" of root if
you get many roots, make that sum total, if not then linear. The
Keiki should bear the same name and awards as the Mom. They are
essentially the same plant.

Have fun with your growing pair. Oh, Keiki is pronounced as
KEY-key.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Good advice up to here, Sue, but you pronounce it "KAY-key".
--
Reka
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
--Winston Churchill
"Susan Erickson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 06:01:55 GMT, J X M
wrote:

Have fun with your growing pair. Oh, Keiki is pronounced as
KEY-key.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.512 / Virus Database: 309 - Release Date: 19.08.03

I've always heard Keykey. Maybe in Hawaiian dialect it's the other way?

Diana


"Reka" wrote in message
...
Good advice up to here, Sue, but you pronounce it "KAY-key".
--
Reka
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
--Winston Churchill
"Susan Erickson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 06:01:55 GMT, J X M
wrote:

Have fun with your growing pair. Oh, Keiki is pronounced as
KEY-key.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.512 / Virus Database: 309 - Release Date: 19.08.03

Susan Erickson wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 06:01:55 GMT, J X M
wrote:


= If you have seen growth in the center leaf area (crown) and are
= sure the plant is doing well. Then just cut off the dry portion
= as it dies back, how ever far it dies back.

If I may add my question to this thread, I've cut my Phal's spike somewhere in the middle,
and there are two tiny leaves growing there. Now, is that a freak occurance or do these
plants somehow reproduce in this manner? I am guessing sometime in the future, roots will
perhaps show up... I was expecting another spike with buds somewhere along the way, but
this is just as fascinating.

So Mom Phal is producing a baby. The baby
will be identical to Mom and should be potted on its own when the
roots and leaves have developed. You want about 2-3" of root if
you get many roots, make that sum total, if not then linear. The
Keiki should bear the same name and awards as the Mom. They are
essentially the same plant.

Have fun with your growing pair. Oh, Keiki is pronounced as
KEY-key.

Thanks for that info! I actually just subscribed to this group to find
out what to do about a phal producing a baby like that - the original
plant had two flowering spikes; once the flowers dropped we did nothing
with either of them. One produced a secondary flush of small flowers,
and the other one produced the keiki. I was amazed, and now it's
growing like crazy - the root shoots are about 10 - 12" long and the
leaves are about 3". And it's still firmly attached to the spike, about
12" in the air. I'd never seen anything like it before. I guess I'll
have to figure out how to repot next (this is our only orchid, and it
was just an impulse "grocery store flower" purchase. I'm glad it's
survived.

--
Brent Harsh - KD4PBO /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign: Say
bharsh at ncroadrunner \ / NO to HTML in email and news.
------------------------X-------------------------------
Cary, NC, USA / \ Read my mail with fixed fonts.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 02:45:21 GMT, Brent Harsh
wrote:
Thanks for that info! I actually just subscribed to this group to find
out what to do about a phal producing a baby like that - the original
plant had two flowering spikes; once the flowers dropped we did nothing
with either of them. One produced a secondary flush of small flowers,
and the other one produced the keiki. I was amazed, and now it's
growing like crazy - the root shoots are about 10 - 12" long and the
leaves are about 3". And it's still firmly attached to the spike, about
12" in the air. I'd never seen anything like it before. I guess I'll
have to figure out how to repot next (this is our only orchid, and it
was just an impulse "grocery store flower" purchase. I'm glad it's
survived.
--
Brent Harsh - KD4PBO /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign: Say
bharsh at ncroadrunner \ / NO to HTML in email and news.
------------------------X-------------------------------
Cary, NC, USA / \ Read my mail with fixed fonts.

With a keiki that big, you need to gently hold Ma's spike in one
hand and the base of baby in the other; Twist gently but firmly.
They should come apart easily. On the other hand -
You can just cut the spike close to the keiki and pot it up.
Remember to name it identically to Ma, if Grocery gal has a name
tag.

Welcome. I wonder how long it will take you to catch the
addiction now that you have joined the discussion.



SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Susan Erickson wrote:

Welcome. I wonder how long it will take you to catch the
addiction now that you have joined the discussion.

Well, I seem to catch these kinds of addictions easily, so that's scary!
I always thought it was a little too warm in NC for orchids, but I
really think I was putting them (we've had a couple of these "fresh
market" specials before this one which survived) in too direct light.
We added skylights to our kitchen a year or so ago, and keeping the
orchid on a counter where the sun never spots it gets bright indirect
light - and this one lived, and produced little keiki.

From other threads, it sounds like a 10-degree temp drop from day to
night is helpful - not sure I can take the time to accomplish that
though. How about seasonal changes in care (what *are* their seasons
anyway grin)? I've been letting it get almost completely dry before
watering again. Once I added mircale-grow spike to the pot, but someone
came over that week and said that was a bad idea so it came right out -
I thought the baby might need food! I've been following the other
threads on potting mediums and will probably figure things out to repot
the baby. It's leaves now look healthier than mommas, whose seem to
have a tear/split at the end of one and hasn't grown any more from the
center and isn't putting out any more spikes either.

Thanks for the welcome; I guess I'm off for the ride!
--
Brent Harsh - KD4PBO /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign: Say
bharsh at ncroadrunner \ / NO to HTML in email and news.
------------------------X-------------------------------
Cary, NC, USA / \ Read my mail with fixed fonts.