Cutting the spikes off did not cause the leaves to die.

You can't force a Phal to have more leaves than it is genetically disposed to carry when healthy.

Give it the appropriate conditions to keep it healthy and next time enjoy the blooms.

Brooke

My experience also.

Once a phal matures, it seems to maintain the same # of leaves (regardless of spikes being cut or not) as long as growing conditions are maintained. As one leaf dies another grows to take it's place. That said, I have several older phals with 3 or 4 leaves, some with 9+ and more in between.

Good luck,

Bob

Bob west oh z6 OH, thank you for your insight. For your Phals with more than 6 leaves:

(a) Would you share the cultivar names if known?

(b) How long does it take for them to acquire that many leaves?

My best leaf grower is a "Sogo Grape 'Y'N' " with 14 leaves which is sitting at my desk here at work. At home I have a keikei from this plant that is I'll check on some other leafy ones at home this weekend.

Bob

Bob, 14 leaves! That is 7 on each side. Wow, I am in awe.

Actually, 8 on one side and 6 on the other. This one has between 13-15 at all times. It also has another small keikei still attached with 3 small leaves.

It is one of those 'constantly' blooming phals for me, but sadly it doesn't bloom as much as I'd like, usually only 1-4 blooms open at any one time.

Bob

Bob, so, could I conclude: according to your expertise, the number of leaves on each cultivar of Phal is a genetically defined feature for it.

A matter of genetics and growth conditions IMO.

FWIW: I have a Doritis pulcherrima var. champorensis that has 11 leaves on the 'main' plant and it has 2 basal keikeis that have @ 5 leaves each also. Kind of a small bush of a plant. I also have a Tyin Shin Cupid 'Cathy' that has 11 leaves and 4 spikes. But on the other hand, I have some huge leaved phals (20"+ leaves tip-tip) that only have 3 or 4 leaves. Again genetics and good culture are what causes phals to have lots of leaves IMO.

Bob

Bob,

The Phal is a less-vigorous type - an old white flowered Phal with deep purple dots finely spread all over the flowers. When I cut the spike right above the bottom leaf, the bottom-level of the plant seems to abandon itself by design. Even under good culture, the plant shifts up by one leaf.

jujujojo,

I don't think mine react that way? To the best of my memory/knowledge, the two things (cut a spike/loose a bottom leaf) aren't necessarily related. When you start to look at some phals that have their spikes for years, it wouldn't add up.

If anything, I think dropping older leaves is related to growing new leaves.

Bob

I must say westoh, sounds like you have pretty good luck yourself with phals like I do. My oldest Phal, I've had for 8 years now and if you include the years of being a baby orchid; that should make the orchid between 10-11 years old. This Phal has 8 leaves on it and if you measure tip to tip, it has a measurement of 20" across. I must say when I first bought it, it only had 3 leaves on it and barely measured 10" across. In the beginning, I was only getting 6-10 flowers per spike. In the last 2 years though, my flower output has gone from 6-10 to 12-16 flowers at the first spike and if I let the spike on the plant it pushes out the end again and has given me additional 10-12 flowers. It has changed it's ways since its matured. I haven't changed a thing since I've bought it eight years ago. I water once a week and fertilize every other week. Now with living in south central PA, this past winter has been pretty cloudy and not a whole lot of sun, I haven't had and spikes this year yet so I can only hope for a good turn out mabe a little later in the season.

dls orchids 6-A,

Did you change pot? If you did, is the new pot deeper? What are the dimensions of your current pot?

With m oldest Phal, yes over the years I have changed pots. Currently the pot my orchid has measures 10" across and probably about 10-12" deep. I was repotting ever year but with having such a big pot I'm going to try and push this repot out another year. I use only bark based media and clay based pots. I've tried plastic pots and no luck with those, keeps my media to wet and I get root rot. Honestly I don't plan on going any deeper. I'm afraid there won't be enough air flow. Now I haven't looked at my roots in this pot since I repotted last year in February. But this Phal seems to be happy with robust leaves and dark green color.

Sorry don't know if anyone else has suggested it but....What if you let it go s year without giving it it's cooling trigger in the fall. Keep it warmer so you don't get the 20 degree drop. See if you could get some more leaves then?? I don't know. gb

dlsorchids 6-A, that is a very large pot.

I use a small see-through plastic pot. I can see if the medium is dry or not. The problem is that the roots go into circles of several layers at the bottom of the pot. it seems, they want to go deeper...

I have not heard that Phal loves or resents pot-bound particularly. So, I guess, based on your experiences, I should go for larger pots. In contrast, I think a poster above suggested that pot size does not matter ...

Jujujojo no one above suggested the pot size doesn't matter. You fit the Phal roots to the appropriate pot size. You want enough space for one or two years growth. A pot too big will keep the roots too wet and that leads to root rot unless you scale back on your watering.

As I stated in my very first post to you, you cannot make a Phal grow leaves if it doesn't have the genetics to carry a ton of leaves.

Brooke

Brooke, how about making a Phal grow leaves to its full potential.

Jujujojo based on my experience I only find that going a little larger every one to two years just helps prevent the mulitiple layers of roots growing around each other. At the same time I go a little bigger with each repot only to help the plant look proportional to the pot. All the phals I have are not miniatures by any stretch but I have also found that if I keep the pot to small, when I get a spike the whole plant and pot want to tip over. Now my oldest Phal is the only one with such a big pot. The rest of the phals I have are in nothing bigger than a six inch wide pot. I completely agree with Brooke in every aspect of pot size to the plant. That's how I've always raised my phals and it seems to work. I've lost my fiar share of plants over the years and its been hard to see them die. But it's a game of win and loose. I honestly would have to say aside from providing the plants with what they need to grow and fertilizing it regularly. It will continue to grow at its own pace and with years to come it will show you what it's suppose to do as it matures.

Jujujojo,

FWIW, my phals (@35 now) are in 6" plastic pots or smaller. The 3 I mentioned above with all of the leaves are in 5" pots. I lost all of my phals (@50) to a bacterial/fungal "thing" in 2009, so I've had to rebuild the collection over the last 4 years. That said, my oldest phal is now @4 years old and it has 4 leaves and is @ 24" from tip to tip growing in a 5" pot. Most of my phals have been purchased as seedlings, but a few were mature when purchased. The three plants I mentioned above were either large seedlings or newly mature/1st bloom plants when purchased.
I like to keep my phals in the smallest pots possible, seems to work for me to keep the roots alive (media dries out fairly quickly) and vibrant. I did purchase 6/8" pots last month in preparation for up-potting a couple of the bigger phals. I've personally never had the need or the phal that required anything large than an 8" pot. I'd love to see dlsorchids big'un :-)

Bob

Jujujojo I'll refer you back to my first post again. Give your Phal what it needs regarding light, water and temps and it will grow to its potential.

It takes a few years for any Phal to achieve its adult size. They can bloom when fairly young but the blooms and leaf size will improve over the years until they hit their predetermined size.

I've never had a Phal in anything bigger than a 6" air cone pot but my biggies, gigantea and doweryensis, are all mounted.

Brooke

Ok we'll I finally figured out how to load photos. This has been taken with my iphone at this point. My laptop is out for repair. Once I get my laptop back ill load more photos from my Nikon camera. This is my oldest Phal that I've had for eight years now.

dls orchids 6-A,
Your Phal looks extremely happy and healthy. It has the same number of leaves as one of mine though. This one of mine looked just as good as yours a week ago. But, it suddenly became hot over the last week, my Phal did not change location. The second to top leaf has two dried out patches of burn near the leaf tip. The Third to top leaf has a different kind of burn. The burns took place in the thick middle section of the leaf. The burnt spots turn a lighter green. The surface of the leaf in the burnt section look different. I have moved it from a South window to a North window.

For the summer, will a big north facing window, with no tree shade, supply enough light for Phal?