Hi Xuan How large/old is the plant? How long has it been in bloom? In a young phal it may be wise to cut it short. In an adult, I don't think this is an issue.

Clara

I have had one phal in bloom continuously for 3 years. It is not just sending buds out of the same spike, it is sending out new spikes as well. The leaves are healthy and glossy. I think you have to look at the whole plant -- mine certainly doesn't look exhausted. Being in Vietnam yours should be very happy with the humidity and the sunlight.

I actually don't know how old they are as I bought them 3 years ago while they were in blooms. So at least they are now 4 years old, I suppose?
I must describe a bit: One of the phals is growing from a "second" crown because the first one (the mature one I bought it with) got rotted away probably 2 years ago. Since the roots were still firm, green... I kept it without a crown, in the same pot. Then it sent out new crown and now when the leaves are about a foot long each, it gave me this spike. This one phal leaves are very healthy and glossy, indeed.

The other two have been giving me spikes regularly, once a year around this time. But funny, for about a year now, the upper-most leaf hasn't developed properly... it did "split" where it should for new leaf to come, instead it looks like a rounded tube. So these two phals haven't got any new leaves for as long as I remember, but it spiked and bloomed.

Couldn't bear the strange sight of the leaves, I splitted them open!!! Maybe after this blooming cycle, they will send out new leaves? By the way, the leaves on these two phals aren't as glossy as the other.

Yes, my orchids look happy if I feed them, water them regularly. Otherwise, they just "exist"... funny, it's hard to kill an orchid here! Last year, I went to the States twice, 3 months at a time and the plants were left to "nature". I came back 3 months ago and they were spking and blooming until now!!!

Thanks for your time reading my post and giving me comments.

Xuan

Many phals have this ability to continually put out new branches, buds and spikes on evergreen spikes. If the plant is healthy, this is just fine. Sometimes the plant's production of flowers in the home is diminished over time (that is to say, the first blush of flowers will have many blossoms, but the others will be spotty) because the light/conditions are not as optimal. I think I covered this in the to cut the spike or not cut the spike on the FAQs...so you might want to check there, I'm just too lazy at the moment to open another window and whiz back and forth.

If I lived in Vietnam and had a phal which was putting out blossoms like that, I'd sit back and enjoy it...it would think that Vietnam would have better conditions than what I grow mine in, and therefore would be happier...but that's just my take on it. It is likely you can have lots of flowers on yours.

Arthur showed a huge old phal (at least I think it was Arthur), which was like an octopus with its spikes. I gave a phal which had Phal. amabilis in it to a friend and it too puts out more and more blossoms on the spikes as she doesn't cut them.....I think it is beginning to look funny, but she does have good flowers on it (i.e. several at a time) and since this was her first phal and she's a windowsill grower, I've just kept my mouth shut...

i have a phal like that too. everytime the flowers all go and i think that is the end of the flowering, a couple of weeks later, it would "branch" from the old spike and put out flowers. I don't cut it at all. it is one of my favourites - not much care and i don't pay much attention to its lighting or fert. needs either. i just water it about once a week and if i am fertilzing the others, it gets fert. then too.
sue

Lisa, I have forgotten who had that Phalaenopsis, but it was not a thing of beauty.

Just the other week i visited the glasshouses where a specialist Phal grower had hundreds of Phals in bloom. He cuts the spikes off at the base so that the plant puts its effort into growing another great set of blooms next flowering season.

What about the species? The general rule is not to cut the spikes off at the base, especially for violacea which will bloom again next flowering season from stalled spikes.

BUT!!! I've related the story before about a great orchid lady who had this species Phal which she would bench month after month, year after year, so she would get one Genera benching point. Not an item of great beauty with a few straggley flowers at the end of a long straggley spike with hundreds of flower scars.

Of course she followed this procedure so that she could win the end of year Champion Orchid Grower trophy at her local Orchid Society.

My large pink Standard Phal in bloom at the moment has seventeen flowers. They have been out for about six weeks and in a week or two will be past their best. So i'm going to go SNIP at the base of the spike so i can enjoy a similar display next year.

The orchid mentioned in the FAQ is still growing well despite my going snip every year. It is a primary hybrid sequential bloomer that will bloom for months and months if i let it. But there comes a point where it starts to look like some of the orchids described above.

Xuan hard to kill a phal anywhere. Tough nuts to crack. You answered age question. The phal is mature. We'll call it 2+ years since its a kind of keikei. You can get a general sense of age by # of leaves if ya haven't lost any.

Once a phal is damaged tain't right looking again. It can grow and bloom. Enjoy. The splittin' the leaves, good stuff. If ya can't beat 'em join 'em. Arthur m makes a point. If the plant wasn't deformed, ya may want to think about cutting the B.C. early. Preserves the plant. Your phal will start puttin' out a new leaf maybe sooner than end of B.C. if given enough light.
Chicken feathers to chicken soup. Right on Brother!
Mike

Thanks, Mike... only I'm a Sister!!!
Glad to know you here.

Xuan