Yay for the orchid Dr. (with pictures)

[Atriel]

I made a trip out to the Orchid Dr. today. (If this guy wasn't already married I'd probably propose.)
These are the two beauties that made it home with me :

Phal. Sacramento



Phal. Takeya



I noticed some thing interesting after I got it home. It looks as though it's bloomed at least twice before but the old spikes look as if they came out of the crown of the plant.
I thought that when that happened it was a death spike?
I'll try to get a clearer picture to show exactly what I mean.



Orchids make me happy.

[charleyismydog]

Orchids make me happy too! That Phal. Sacramento is a beauty. I love it! I have no idea about death spikes. Maybe someone else does?

[Tobi]

Beautiful Phals Atriel. You're making me jealous. Got to visit my orchid doctor
soon!!!

[kmarch]

There have been many posts on the forum about the spikes coming form the middle beign a death knell for the plant but Phals can start new growths from the base of the plant or from the flower stem after blooming has finished. Bacause of this I'd encourage you to keep the plant that bloomed form the middle and grow it on to see what happens. Your post has shown us that a Phal that spikes form the crown can go on to rebloom. It will be interesting to see if it goes on to start a new growth.

Please keep us posted.

[Atriel]

Thanks Kmarch,
As of right now, the plant is doing well. It's a monster of a plant and very healthy. The last of the blooms on the spike have opened and it has a ton of unopened buds on another spike.
The spike is forked. I guess this hybrid does that?
Sometimes I feel like I could research orchids forever and still never know everything.

[BillC]

Atriel, it does not matter how long a person has been involved with Orchids we can never know everthing. Please post when your plant starts new growth.

Bill

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Atriel

The spike is forked. I guess this hybrid does that?

Branched spikes are possible in Phal hybrids since there are several Phal species that have branched spikes, schilleriana, stuartiana, aphrodite, just to name a few.

[pikevi]

BillC: I think this Phal NOID did just that.. I think I bought this one way back in Feb of this year ( judging by the number on the pot) and since I was very new to orchids I could not save it. Perhaps the spike in the middle caused its demise.

I had it in some corner of the mini GH and surprisingly I saw some green showing up a few weeks ago and I took it out re-potted it (the growth was almost parallel to the ground) and left it outside with the other orchids on the 'swinging' platform. It is turning out to be a reasonably healthy plant since I see a second ( and a third) leaf coming out. The third leaf may be due to the interruption caused by my re-potting (or so I think).

I am annexing a photo.