| You will not have to remove anything. The flowers will just dry and fall off on their own. Once all of the flowers fall off you have a choice as to remove the spike entirely or cut back to just above the last node. Trimming back to the last node will sometimes lead to a secondary flower spike - with slightly smaller and less flowers - but flowers. Cutting the spike entirely puts 100% of the energy of the plant back into rejuvinating the plant for next year's flower spike. Having a little (silent) inexpensive 6-12" fan running on low in the vicinity of your plant can prove helpful in air movement - especially during the warmer time of the year - but anytime. Phals typically only bloom once per year - in a home/apartment environment I've found them to generally be in bloom for three months - then rebuild leaves and roots for six months - work on sending up a flower spike for approximately three months and then start the cycle over (times may vary depending upon environment and specific genetics of any individual plant). If you really get "hooked" you will enjoy the leaves and roots almost as much as the flowers! Enjoy  |