Why cut spent spikes? & when to pot up recovering plant

[Jlie]

I'm at it with more questions!
So why do we cut spent spikes? I'm invested in the long-term health of my plant, not necessarily on cultivating blooms. I regularly prune my non-epiphytic houseplants, and wanted to know the lore and logic of leaving an orchid to its own devices in dealing with its spent spikes, or by removing the spike now (while it's still green) to force it to focus on root/leaf growths?

And my other question: I had a growth come off of a parent plant (Neofinetia) that has been in 'intensive care' for the last few weeks (mostly rootless) and it is finally growing a new nubbin of a root. It's been sitting in a humid, closed plastic container with shade and heat, opened a few times daily to rinse and check for fungus which is under control. How might I proceed with this recovering baby? Leave it alone? Seaweed soak it? Stick it in sphag? When do people pot up their recovering rootless wonders?



Thanks everyone for all of their help!

[Dendian]

I find that Phal Orchids have a different growth pattern than many short lived plants. They usually grow more slowly - and have distinct patterns to their growth - which I don't think you can change by pruning them. You can encourage them by changing light/heat/water/fertilizer - but you are only encouraging the plant to grow according to its internal code. You can sometimes get a second spike out of a spent spike by cutting it above a growing node - but that is because the plant is in flowering mode. Even when you use chemicals to try and grow additional plants (keiki paste) you will get flower spikes if the plant is in flowering mode - and not baby plants. I leave my spent spikes alone - because I believe the plant can pull the nutrients out of a spent spike while it is still green. Cutting it takes those nutrients away. I don't cut my spikes until they turn brown to the bottom.

On your "rootless wonder" does the one root it has turn green when it gets watered? If so, then it might have enough root to support the plant while it grows more. If not - I would let that small root get to a good size before you pot it up - that way you can watch for any problems early on. I don't grow my neos in moss - they rot out. I grow them in pumice rock - and only water when I see no condensation in the pot - and only in the morning so it will dry out the top growths by nightfall (its colder here at night and cold + water + top growth = rot (death)).

Hope this helps some...

[Ray]

I think you may be viewing the "guidance" backwards.

I think the intelligent approach is to avoid cutting the spike for the sake of getting it to rebloom. Removing it completely to allow the plant to focus on vegetative growth is fine.

Do keep in mind, however, that some plants naturally rebloom on old spikes, the the idea of leaving them along and taking a "wait and see" approach does have merit.

As to when to pot up recovered plants, I take the same approach as for keikies - 3"-4" of total root length, whether that s one long root, or several shorter ones.

[kmarch]

Of course, it all depends on what kind of orchid we're talking about. Some orchids like phals can re-bloom/re-spike off an okd inflorescence. Others, like some phals and some paphs, bloom sequentially, one flower after another off the same spike for up to many years. Still others flower once on a apike and then it's done. Most ondiciums and dendrobiums are like this. There is no one rule of thumb that applies to "all orchids." Different orchids with different flowering habits will be treated differently.