so i got this noid harlequin phal from home depot a couple months ago;
it had white fuzzy stuff, the top new leaf was rotting, and i think it
had bugs. so i pulled it from the pot, swabbed the whole plant with
alcohol, poured H2O2 in the crown, repotted it one size down in sphag
(it was overpotted) and then ultrafined the whole plant. H2O2-ed again
a week later, then listerined a week after that to finally get rid of
all the rot. somewhere along the line i cut the spike off.

so the plant not only didn't fall over dead from this treatement, it's
now growing a nice new fat root. yay! no new leaf yet. -sigh- the
problem is that it's now decided to grow another spike. (looks like a
spike. could be a funky root i guess...)

so, while i'm as flower-happy as the next person, in the interests of
the long term health of the plant, should i cut this spike down as soon
as it's long enought to cut? the plant is otherwise fat, green, and
seems healthy. i don't know if it will be able to grow a new top leaf
though.

thoughts?

--j_a