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#1
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Is this real (7 flower spikes on phaelenopsis)
I need reassurance. I have a Phael that has been resurrected from the dead. It
has kiekis (2) and as far as I can see 7 (seven) flower spikes which are growing from partially dead stalks and from the base of the kiekis, which are also multi leafed and on the patrially dead stalks. There appears to be buds on these flower spikes. Are these actually flower spikes? Bob |
#2
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Hello!
It could be! Can you post a picture on ABPO? Do you know the name of the plant? Some Phal, specially from the ludemmanianna family, can be very very active in growing keikis and flowers spikes! Sounds like a very happy plant to me! Good growing Claude "Drbob92031" wrote in message ... |I need reassurance. I have a Phael that has been resurrected from the dead. It | has kiekis (2) and as far as I can see 7 (seven) flower spikes which are | growing from partially dead stalks and from the base of the kiekis, which are | also multi leafed and on the patrially dead stalks. There appears to be buds on | these flower spikes. Are these actually flower spikes? | Bob |
#3
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Bob,
As Claude suggested already, please post a picture either on alt.binaries.pictures.orchids or on a Web site and send us a link to it. If it's got buds, then it's a flower spike, since roots don't grow buds. However, roots (especially at the beginning) sometimes do have an appearance that uncannily resembles flower spikes to those who have not seen many of them. However, one mistake that people often make at the very beginning is to count branches of one spike as separate flower spikes. Are you counting only from the base of the plant? If so then 7 spikes that's a lot! Branched spikes are much more common then separate spikes. A Phal with 7 separate spikes is very rare, so I would be reluctant to believe it without positive ID by someone who can say for sure that these are actually 7 separate flower spikes. An anecdote from my own experience: I once bought a Phal at a plant nursery and the sales person tried to tell me that the plant had 3 flower spikes. I knew enough about Phals already by then to identify which were spikes and which were roots, and so I told her that it had only one spike and two aerial roots. I bought this plant for my mother-in-law, who a few months later told me that her orchid now had 5 spikes. It turned out however that it had only 2 spikes, but these two spikes had a total of 5 branches on these two spikes. .. I assume you do not happen to know what kind of Phal it is? Did it come with a label? For example, I know that phal equestris and close hybrids of it tend to keikie more freely than many other Phals, and phal equestris also has a branching habit, as do other phal species and hybrids. If you do not know the ID of your Phal, then it will be more difficult to determine whether what it is doing is unusual for this type of Phal or not. When you speak of partially dead stalks, what do you mean? Do you mean only that these are old spikes? If so, many Phals, especially yellow ones or hybrids of phal violacea for example, will reflower from old spikes on which they had flowers before. Do you mean that there are parts of the spikes that are yellow and dry? One possibility is that a part of the spike may go dry, but then it might grow a branch or multiple branches from another part of the spike, is that it? That happens fairly frequently? How healthy is the mother plant now? You say that it has been "resurrected from the dead". How many leaves does the mother plant have? Can it sustain this level of activity? Or is this more likely a last effort to procreate before it dies? If so, you might consider cutting off the flower spikes to let the plant concentrate on growing healthy. Flower spikes take effort to grow, and a plant may spend too much energy on it, and flower itself to death. Then it's a matter of deciding whether the risk of loosing the plant is worth this one flowering season. For example: I have a Phal now that has flowered earlier this year already, and now its continuing to grow the flower spike both from the tip and also from a branch. But this plant has only 3 grown leaves, and while it has started a new leaf it is not progressing on it fast, and one of its existing leaves has started growing yellow, so it will soon have only two leaves (which in my book is cause for alarm). I have decided that this weekend I am going to cut off this flower spike, since I want this plant to concentrate its energy on growing the new leaf. I don't want to loose the plant just to have more flowers on this old spike, even though the plant obviously has other ideas. I hope this helps. Best, Joanna "Drbob92031" wrote in message ... I need reassurance. I have a Phael that has been resurrected from the dead. It has kiekis (2) and as far as I can see 7 (seven) flower spikes which are growing from partially dead stalks and from the base of the kiekis, which are also multi leafed and on the patrially dead stalks. There appears to be buds on these flower spikes. Are these actually flower spikes? Bob |
#4
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I can think of a couple of scenarios in which a rescued plant might
throw seven spikes: 1) It is still in fear of losing its life from the previous mistreatment, so is throwing out all of the stops in order to attempt to flower, reproduce, and extend its lineage. or 2) It is no longer in fear of losing its life from the previous mistreatment, so is throwing out all of the stops in order to attempt to celebrate! -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info! .. "J Fortuna" wrote in message news:46EFd.14701$hc7.12438@trnddc08... Bob, As Claude suggested already, please post a picture either on alt.binaries.pictures.orchids or on a Web site and send us a link to it. If it's got buds, then it's a flower spike, since roots don't grow buds. However, roots (especially at the beginning) sometimes do have an appearance that uncannily resembles flower spikes to those who have not seen many of them. However, one mistake that people often make at the very beginning is to count branches of one spike as separate flower spikes. Are you counting only from the base of the plant? If so then 7 spikes that's a lot! Branched spikes are much more common then separate spikes. A Phal with 7 separate spikes is very rare, so I would be reluctant to believe it without positive ID by someone who can say for sure that these are actually 7 separate flower spikes. An anecdote from my own experience: I once bought a Phal at a plant nursery and the sales person tried to tell me that the plant had 3 flower spikes. I knew enough about Phals already by then to identify which were spikes and which were roots, and so I told her that it had only one spike and two aerial roots. I bought this plant for my mother-in-law, who a few months later told me that her orchid now had 5 spikes. It turned out however that it had only 2 spikes, but these two spikes had a total of 5 branches on these two spikes. . I assume you do not happen to know what kind of Phal it is? Did it come with a label? For example, I know that phal equestris and close hybrids of it tend to keikie more freely than many other Phals, and phal equestris also has a branching habit, as do other phal species and hybrids. If you do not know the ID of your Phal, then it will be more difficult to determine whether what it is doing is unusual for this type of Phal or not. When you speak of partially dead stalks, what do you mean? Do you mean only that these are old spikes? If so, many Phals, especially yellow ones or hybrids of phal violacea for example, will reflower from old spikes on which they had flowers before. Do you mean that there are parts of the spikes that are yellow and dry? One possibility is that a part of the spike may go dry, but then it might grow a branch or multiple branches from another part of the spike, is that it? That happens fairly frequently? How healthy is the mother plant now? You say that it has been "resurrected from the dead". How many leaves does the mother plant have? Can it sustain this level of activity? Or is this more likely a last effort to procreate before it dies? If so, you might consider cutting off the flower spikes to let the plant concentrate on growing healthy. Flower spikes take effort to grow, and a plant may spend too much energy on it, and flower itself to death. Then it's a matter of deciding whether the risk of loosing the plant is worth this one flowering season. For example: I have a Phal now that has flowered earlier this year already, and now its continuing to grow the flower spike both from the tip and also from a branch. But this plant has only 3 grown leaves, and while it has started a new leaf it is not progressing on it fast, and one of its existing leaves has started growing yellow, so it will soon have only two leaves (which in my book is cause for alarm). I have decided that this weekend I am going to cut off this flower spike, since I want this plant to concentrate its energy on growing the new leaf. I don't want to loose the plant just to have more flowers on this old spike, even though the plant obviously has other ideas. I hope this helps. Best, Joanna "Drbob92031" wrote in message ... I need reassurance. I have a Phael that has been resurrected from the dead. It has kiekis (2) and as far as I can see 7 (seven) flower spikes which are growing from partially dead stalks and from the base of the kiekis, which are also multi leafed and on the patrially dead stalks. There appears to be buds on these flower spikes. Are these actually flower spikes? Bob |
#5
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Are these actually flower spikes?
Bob These are probably secondary flower spikes. If the plant is truly recovered it might be ok to let them flower but if not you might want to consider cutting back the old spikes and remove and repot the kiekis assuming they have roots. Blooming does take away some of the energy of the plant. |
#6
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Are these actually flower spikes?
Bob These are probably secondary flower spikes. If the plant is truly recovered it might be ok to let them flower but if not you might want to consider cutting back the old spikes and remove and repot the kiekis assuming they have roots. Blooming does take away some of the energy of the plant. |
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