What is my orchid doing?

[pinkglitteryswan]

I've had my phal for two years now, and when I bought it, it bloomed for two or three months very nicely. When the flowers were gone, I cut the flowering spike down by an inch or so, hoping for a possible re-bloom. This hasn't happened, and instead on top of the flowering spike what looks like a mini-phal has grown, with about three leaves and one new baby leaf which has appeared in the past fortnight, and lots of roots. The roots have stretched down to the pot, which I have just re-potted (not very good english I know!), and seem to be getting involved amongst the sphagnum moss. Meanwhile, the original phal seems ok, although my neglect of it meant that first it got too damp around the roots and then too dry, but new leaves have been coming fairly regularly and new roots as well. Do I have two Phals or just one? If I have two, should I separate them and pot the baby phal in its own pot? Also, I really want my phal to bloom again as it has been rather a while. Any tips? Hope this makes sense!

[pinkglitteryswan]

p.s It's my first orchid so have no idea what I am doing!

[mayres]

Yep! You got the right idea. Cut off the baby plant (commonly called a keiki) and put in its own pot. It should grow up and be an exact duplicate of mother. As far as blooming goes - give us an idea of what kind of light you are giving it and what your fertilization program is and what the temperatures are. These three together are going to influence the rebloom - not enough light and it won't bloom. Not enough temperature differential between night and day and it won't bloom. Watering with no or little fertilizer will affect rebloom. mike

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

To get flowers, it is best to cut the spike a little on the long side, above the last node before the first bloom. Cutting it short enhanced the chance of a keiki over the chance of flowers.

In addition to the drop in night temperature mentioned above, you need to let the plant experience the normal winter day length. Don't keep the plant in a room where the lights are kept on until the same time every night. It needs to know that it is winter and the temperature and length of day are the cues to let it know that it is winter and time to set bloom spikes. Cynthia

[pinkglitteryswan]

Awesome! That's quite exciting that I now have two orchids. The mother has been kept on a nightstand in front of a south facing window in the South west of England for the past year in my bedroom. I don't fertilise, should this be something I should be doing? What fertiliser should I use and how much, when etc?
In my opinion it gets jolly cold at night during the winter in my room as I don't like central heating, so the Orchid should be experiencing a nice drop in temperature - I certainly do! When it gets dark I generally burn candles rather than electric lights, but I could place the Orchid behind a blind on a dark window ledge when the winter closes in and it is dark from 4.30pm onwards so it gets more of an idea that it is winter. Would that be a good plan?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I don't think the Phal should go much below 55F (13C), so the ledge may or may not be a good idea. I would think that candle power is pretty low.

You can use any general purpse fertilizer (20, 20, 20, or 15, 15, 15 or any relative numbers close to each other), but you must use it a half strength or 1/4 strength. The only difference in 'orchid' fertilizer is that they have changed the lable to reflect the lower concentration. You can water like normal, which should be done as a lot of water thru the pot, then follow it with a cup of the fert solution. Fertilizing every other watering is good if you can find the time, less if need be. But some is a lot better than none. Cynthia

[jerrymeola]

Your growing conditions seem to be excellent based on your results.

It is quite possible that not removing the keiki caused the plant to put all its energy into growing the baby rather than flowering. After you cut it and re-pot it on its own, the mother plant will begin to flower again.

While Cynthia gives the common accepted recommendation of not going below 55 in temperature, I leave all mine outside year round and they go to 35 every year. I have never lost one to freeze. My advice to you is do not change what is working. With all the new roots and leaves you are getting the plant is very happy.

Fertilize every other watering with a weak 20-20-20 fertilizer (one teaspoon per gallon of water).

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well Jerry, I am willing to accept the fact that your Phals live a very Spartan existance. But I will bet you don't grow any of the Equitorial Phals, like violacea or sumatrana with record lows in their environments of about 68
F, and probably not their immediate hybrids, or some of the other warm growers like stuartiana and hieroglyphica, which have record lows of 63F to 65F. I would like to make sure that our newbies realize that all Phals are not the same, as I recall reading that Anton is looking for a violacea, and it would be inappropriate for him to grow this out doors in winter, even in his mild climate. And in fact, thanks for the discusion, for I now see that some of my recent purchases need to be moved to the hanging phal section in my greenhouse, like a couple of violacea seedlings I got this summer, and a leuddemanniana and hieroglyphica plant that have been doing fine at bench level while the weather was warm, but the warmth is gone now. If the violacea (blue) seedlings start to look sad, they will come into the house and go into a terrarium sitting on a hot pad set on low. Cynthia

[Anton]

Thanks Cynthia, I needed to know that you have a violacea!

Well, I may soon have MY OWN violacea, Kevin Western thinks he can source one for me.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Don't expect a lot of experienced help from me. I have been avoiding the plant because of the temp requirement. My seedlings look like they just came out of a flask and it will be many years before they bloom. I just couldn't pass up the two little seedlings of the blue variety for $10. Cynthia

[Anton]

Now that Kevin is a member of the forum maybe he can help with your seed/flasking problems, as you know his set up is quite extensive.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I am running a temporary greenhouse right now, which is so close to capacity, I can't handle any big multiples of anything, especially 20 or 30 very tender and iffy plants all of the same species and closely related. I even have a serious problem when I order a particular plant and the vendor goes to his mother plant and breakes off a handfull of pieces. I only want one plant, but what I get is a lot of little pieces, and they are all so small, that I have to keep all the pieces until I am sure at least something is going to survives. I hate it when they do that. Flasks will be fun when I can get a permanent greenhouse up and running. Cynthia