Phal spikes dying...should i cut??!! HELP!

[Christina]

Hi everyone. I was hoping someone could help me out on this one. Well, I had repotted my phal while it was in bloom about a week and a half ago due to rotting roots. Since then, the blooms have all fallen off. I am left with no flowers The leaves are still healthy (knock on wood) and a new leaf is even sprouting up. And it seems to be growing one or more plump & healthy aerial roots (which is good since there were only a few healthy long roots left after cutting some rotting ones and repotting) The very tips of my two long spikes are turning yellow, like at the top. So far, about 2 inches of the way down are yellow.

Some places I have read said that I should cut 3 inches from the base of both spikes, yet some say I should cut off only what is dying and others say to let it be.

My question is, should I leave it alone and wait for the spikes to completely yellow/die all the way down until it gets near the base (or possibly wait for them to recover--I have high hopes); cut off the 2 inches that is already yellow, or just go ahead and cut them off near the base?? Both spikes are dying at the same pace. They both are slowly yellowing about 2 inches down now.

HELP!! I need you guys, I want my chid to rebloom or be healthy to bloom again next year.

[psyc1210]

I don't think it really matters. I let mine go til they dry up all the way, and then I cut. My one Phal had a spike that began to dry, but then the 2nd node from the top started a new subspike. So if I had cut it when it first started to dry up, I would have missed out on those blooms.

[Christina]

Ok, wow, I am glad you told me that. Because that means there still is hope. :-)
I didn't want to have to cut it, so you made my decision much easier.

This may sound dumb, but are the nodes the places on the spike where the individual flowers grow out?

[Orchidementia]

The nodes are more like the 'joints' on the spike where flowers haven't developed. Sometimes these develop into new subspikes. Sometimes new buds will develop at the very end of a spike, but those really don't come out of nodes; not sure what the right term is ... could be node for all I know, come to think about it!

[Christina]

Thanks for the help. I understand what you're talking about. I just looked at my plant and can see the difference and can deffinitly see these nodes.