hmm that looks pretty badly rotted...how much do you care for this plant? Is it worth rescuing? Cutting the spikes may help the plant devote more energy to growing new leaves, but it doesn't look that optimistic, so you might as well enjoy the last of the blooms! Sorry for the grim diagnostic. If you really want to save this plant, you should probably cut the spikes off, spray with some sort of fungicide, and put it into a sealed bag with some moist sphag. I've not been very succesful in reviving phals though so someone will probably have a more detailed schematic for you

Seeing the picture, I suggest just enjoying the flowers.

I kept thinking this was a case of a plant losing it's crown. The rot happened months ago, the "aftermath" that you see is very dry and hard and there are viable roots below although many of the surface roots did rot away; I put the top of the plant into sphag/bag and it was s l o w l y growing a new leaf and a new root but it doesn't appear to have made much progress. The plant has some sentimental value inasmuch as it was a gift for my 30th b-day.

Cutting the spikes wouldn't be too disappointing, they are long and hanging over. I think I'll do it!

Thanks for the advice :-)

I think there may be hope yet for that plant. I have a similar phal that didn't rot but just decided to give up growing from its crown. Eventually, it ended up sending up a new plant from the base, from one of the leaf axils. As long as the roots are healthy and the rot has ceased, it still has a chance.

I used to have one phal like this, i.e. the whole upper part of the plant got rotten away but the root system was firm and good. So I let it be. Eventually, it put out healthy crown. It now has 5 big leaves and I'm expecting a spike soon (I hope!)

Xuan

I agree with Xuan - a new healthy crown is a possibility. This winter, one of my phals had a case of crown rot. I applied fungicide, and after the treatment, one leaf remained (a bottom one)
A few months later, a new crown emerged, and is now growing nicely. Luckily, phals bloom fast, so I do not think I will have to wait forever for it to bloom from the new crown....

Unless you have no room, keeping the plant alive to see what happens wont hurt.

Olya

billbt, one of my phals is growing 2 new leaves from the main stem on the bottom of the center-less plant. What did you do with yours? Did you have any lower leaves on the old plant left - as I do?

Thanks.

Helga.

Thanks for the stories regarding positive outcomes. I feel similarly: I have room so keep the plant going. I cut the spikes and repotted in sphag/bark mix--definitely some decent roots on the plant.

helga, I did have a lot of leaves left which probably helped provide energy for the new shoots. The plant was otherwise healthy, but it just decided for some odd reason to stop growing from the top.

billbt, same here. The plant has 3 older leaves and the new leaves are growing. I just wonder if at some time they can be separated from the mother plant -or should be left alone? Would make for a funny looking plant, wouldn't it?

Would be interested to know if anyone else had this phenomena happen to them, and what they did or suggest to do. I wonder, if the old plant ever gets going again?

Thanks for responding.

H.

I had the same happen as billbt. I rescued a tossed out plant from work,which had been subjected to crown rot. It had already dried, but it was not going to put any more leaves out of this crown. The leaves did not fall off, and they're still there three years on. It had tried to spike just after I got it home, but my stupid dog ate the lead on the spike. This in turn diverted its energy to a whole new plant. The new plant it put out from the side has over six leaves of its own, and flowered within months of putting out the new growth! It is one of my largest plants!

I revived this thread since the same thing happened to me yesterday. I have a quick question though, the crown that fell off looks really healthy, is it possible to place it in a plastic bag with some sphagnum moss and let it form its own roots? I will try to keep the original plant since its flower size was the largest I have ever seen on a phal, up to 3.5 inches! The original plant has a healthy leaf and a rather large spike as well.

Since the thread is revived, here's an update regarding my phal!

The base, with the rotted (but very dry) top, started to grow a new leaf within a few weeks or a month of me removing the spike. Then, before the new leaf was full size, it started growing a second new leaf! It has been re-growing healthy roots all along, so I think that helped as well. It grows in a mixture of bark and sphag and seems to be doing better than when it was in tightly-packed 100% sphag. It's Brother Sara Gold 'Peach'

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The top, which does have a dry spot from rot, has been in sphag and bag for a while, much longer than the thread you revived. Almost a year! It started out w/two full size leaves that grew a tiny leaf and root start. I took it out of the bag to look at it and I guess that stalled everything. Eventually one of the large leaves came off one day when I was adding water to the set-up (it still looked healthy but didn't have any stem). Shortly after, the tiny leaf start on the single remaining leaf began to grow again and I only *hope* the root is finally growing as well--I won't make the mistake of checking it and stalling the process a second time.

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Hope this helps you make a decision; I think cutting off the spike will help your plant fight the rot and recover.

Melanie