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.