I broke the spike of one of my Phals this morning. This is actually the very
first Phal that I ever got, and if ever an orchid had bad luck, this one
does. The very first time I got it, it got decapitated by the window blinds.
Since then it has fallen off the shelf and broken its clay pot, and this is
not the first time I broke its spike during this flowering season either --
it was actually the branch off of a broken spike and it was quite long
already with many buds forming and branching.

I broke the entire thing while trying to stake it so that it would be a bit
more compact and less likely to be broken (ironic that). This time I cut off
the spike at the bottom, so that next time it will start a new spike
entirely that is hopefully a bit less unwieldy and less likely to break.

The plant itself is in great health: it has become quite a bench-hog in the
4 years that I've had it, lots of healthy roots including a lot of aerial
roots, and it's current leaf-span is 26 inches. When it does flower, it
tends to have a beautiful classic waterfall of 4+ inch white flowers. I've
got two other big whites in bloom right now, so it's not such a big deal
that I won't see this one flower, but still it's always sad to break a
spike.

I hope that it will grow a new spike sometime soon, and that I won't break
it again.

J Fortuna wrote:
I broke the spike of one of my Phals this morning.



i feel your pain. i fiddled with a brother lancer (bad bad janet) and
broke the spike; it's a tough little sucker though and not only started
a new spike on the other side of the plant, the broken spike is
branching. i'm afraid to touch it now for fear i'll break something
else.

now, if you would have your plant send some vibes to *my* big white
bench hog which absolutely REFUSES to bloom, i'd appreciate it.

--j_a