Removing New Flower Spike to Promote Growth?

[epiphyte]

I currently have 3 fairly recently mounted divisions that are about to bloom or are in bloom... Coelogyne cristata, Dendrobium linguiforme and Sarcochilus ceciliae. The cristata has 4 leaves and 4 withered pseudobulbs with few to no roots, the linguiforme has two "leaves" with few roots and the Sarcochilus ceciliae has around 6 leaves with few roots.

What I was wondering was whether I should cut the spikes off in order to hopefully redirect stored energy towards the development of new vegetative growth and/or roots.

I would be interested in hearing people's in opinions on the matter. Would you say that...

A. removing new spikes does NOT encourage new growth

B. removing new spikes does encourage new growth

C. the effect depends on the species

I've heard of some orchids blooming themselves to death so it seems fairly intuitive that blooming requires a significant amount of energy expenditure and should the spike(s) be removed before all that energy is spent then the remaining energy would be redirected towards the formation of new and/or more vigorous growth.

[Andrew]

Flowering does require a considerable amount of energy expenditure for the plant. I don't know if I'd say that removing spike encourages new growths but it has the potential to prevent an ailing plant from exhaustion before the growth season begins. Personally, I wouldn't let the cristista or the linguiforme bloom. Sarco. ceciliae will happily bloom on small plants and so long as the leaves and roots are in good condition it should be OK.

[patlee]

I had a phal that was really struggling. PhalPal told me to cut the spike to give the plant more energy for growth. It was a really hard thing to do, but now I have five new,healthy leaves. Like Andrew said, I'm not sure if this actually promotes new growth or just lets the plant recover from stress. Whatever, the end results were what I wanted and now everybody is happy and healthy

[digitalgate]

nah, it all depend on plant.. They decide what to do , not you. I tried that before and
mayer tried that before. When they want to bloom, they bloom. Even if you cut the spike
off . They regrow another...., cut it and they regrow....
However, low light does encourage growing of keiki for Dendrobium. If that is what you
want.

[Hummer344]

Now I don't know about orchids but agree with Andrew. It takes a lot of energy for a plant to put out flowers. Cutting off spikes on struggling plants is something I would do. Thats what I do on other plants. For instance, I grafted several roses last fall. Now that some of the grafts have taken I pinch off any flower buds. Stone fruit is the same way. New plants are always stripped of fruit the first year or two so it grows hardy.