Mayres, this spike is for you!

[koshki]

Mike,

You may recall that I put an ailing phal in your coir mix last summer. It's been growing new roots, and because it's top-heavy, it has fallen out of the pot several times. After the most recent upheaval last week, I literally tied it into the net pot with fishing line. This is also one of the "purple leaves" phals. When I repotted it again, I noticed that it had a purple root shooting up from below the soil line.

Well, guess what, it's not a root, it's a spike!

Thank for your advice. It's working!

[Olive Cook]

nice! Great job!!

[RMW]

Way to go! Looks good.

[berniep]

G'Day Katherine

What a beaudy look forward to seeing it when it blooms.

Cheers
Bernie

[mayres]

WAY TO GO Katherine! I've had a spike shoot up like that once as well - does kind of take you by surprise. I've one or two plants with not much root mass as well that have so much leaf mass that they are top heavy and have that same tendency to want to tip the pot over and fall out. Especially when using coir mix I've noted that it is important to not have too much media where there are no roots at all - hence with little root mass you cannot use the pot that aesthetically seems to be the right size for what you see above the media line. Yep - special care is required to keep them upright and held down until they have a chance to grow into their pots. I use quite a few styrofoam peanuts if necessary fill root void rather than use media that will stay damp too long.
Looking forward to seeing your blooms - Yahoo!

[lmartiny]

Good job Koshki. I like purple spikes.

[orchidlover55]

That is nice katherine that is new on me I have never seen a purple spike come up through the orchid mixture like that, how neat. Keep us updated as it grows ok? Thanks for posting

[mehitabel]

Way to go, koshki.

[koshki]

Well, Mike, I thought you might like to see "your" phal in bloom! It hasn't completely opened yet, but I like the look of it with some buds still on it.

I'm so excited about this...it was a long journey to bring this back from the brink of death, but here it is in bloom! This wouldn't have happened without your help!

[Yiu Lin]

Woo hoo! Always great to hear success stories like this

[mayres]

Thanks for sharing! That is VERY nice............
Good photography too!