arthurm Sydney, NSW AUST, Why do you cut the spike off the base? Does this improve the survival of the keiki? I had keiki's before and I cut them right off as small plants. Most did not survive after I cut them off. They turn yellow, possibly due to too much light or water.

I agree that it's about preference. However, I believe some people don't want to cut because they are reluctant to give up what they have-- a flower or two-- for some pie in the sky about "next year's" beautiful spike. So I want to add that last May I bought three in bloom phals from Odoms and Norman's. Very beautiful, but after about two months two started to have only a few flowers on the ends of the spike. I thought them ugly and cut them off. That was about July. The third had only dying flowers when I got it and that spike was cut right away. With good light all summer, all three put out *two* new spikes in the fall and are blooming now. One has been blooming since January on two spikes. Another bloomed for four months last October thru February, and then put out two more spikes. The one with spent flower last May has been blooming on two beautiful spikes since about February, and the spikes are still full and beautiful after three months. The longest I had to wait for new spikes to start was three or four months. The longest I had to wait for flowers was about 9 months. So my point is that if you cut the spike back on a nice big plant like the one you have, *and give it plenty of light*, you will get new spikes starting in a *few months*, not necessarily "next year", and those spikes will stay full and beautiful for at least a couple of months, or with all those branches, maybe longer. I personally think you'll enjoy the thrill of your very own new spike, and the beauty of a fully branching spike, but it's your call.

Violacea (the phal you linked to) is definitely one of the species that continues to bloom off the same spike for several years. It is one of the ancestors of many of the novelty "reds" I mentioned. The light green leaves are characteristic, and so is the short spike. I would keep the spike as long as the plant looks healthy and continues to put out new leaves. I have cut the spike off a couple of this type when the roots were compromised and the leaves got wilty, but leave the spike alone otherwise. Good luck. These are my favorite type of phal. I absolutely love them. I would also like to add that I cut the spikes off phals for aesthetic reasons-- a tall spike starts to look really ugly with just one or two flowers on it. But that isn't true of short-spike plants. They look fine with just one or two flowers on the short spike. Enjoy your flowers.

Hi! ^ ^ I think it could be of use to someone if I type out my experience. Perhaps a collection of experiences will lead to some form of conclusion of the hypothesis about lighting etc. It began when one of my two orchids had a nasty little pussy cat tip over it's pot. The orchid's spike severed completely off. Since my orchids both bloom at the same time I cut the spike off the other orchid. Of both the spikes, the yellow had 2 blooms (1 bud spike was 6 inches long). The purple had 8 buds (one bloom spike was 10 inches long) which is the one the cat had tipped over. I will also note that I put the purple stem immediately into water since I had heard the plant crash. I have had both spikes into a clear glass vase (about 1-1.5 cup of water) in a pitch black game room except light from the teli and monitors. To be more specific the vase is in the shadow of the "light". The temp is always around 78 degrees fahrenheit. I enjoyed the blooms for a couple of weeks and the large bloomed ones finally started to look fatigued so I pinched those off (about 4-5). The rest dropped off by themselves. I totally forgot about these stems/spikes. Here is where it gets interesting, about 2-3 month later I was dusting and cleaning up the "mess" at the sink when I noticed the yellow spike was still green at the end, the purple was brown so I cut it under water to a healthy green looking point. I had decided regardless of the various postings on the intraweb saying that a spike couldn't grow roots I would still let these two try. It now has been 5 months, the yellow has a small root growing at the end, the purple is still green. They are in the pitch black room, I change the water sporadically from every 4 days to 3 weeks with tepid from faucet. Basically when I remember the poor babies but more so at the beginning than now (which changes now I see a little root). I will also mention I was using the cities icky chlorinated fluoride injected tap water, I will now change to bottled water and watch the results.