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Phal growing new spike/baby from cut spyke instead of roots

16 years ago

Hello,

I have a phal that has two roots. It bloomed for 5 months, but now it is growing spyke/baby from cut spyke. When I bought this plant I had to cut almost all roots, because they were rotten. The leaves are all dry and falling off one by one, but one new leaf is growing and looks very good. Is it normal that it doesn't want to grow roots and growing spyke instead?

I tried to create as much humidity as possible with humidifier (usually it is 50%-60% and 80% at night). May be because of humidity it doesn't want to grow roots? Should I put the plant in more dry environment?

Thanks

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Comments (7)

claritamaria
16 years ago
The plant is growing a "kei kei". In this case with what you describe, this is not a good thing. The plant is dying and trying to pass on it's genetics. I would suspect that the plant has not been given enough light and heat

Humidity is not a critical factor. Light and heat are. Can you please tell us what type of conditions you are growing it in? What zone are you in?

What most likely will happen is that the kei kei will live and the mother plant will die. Supplimental lighting will help the kei kei become an adult plant

Clara
lara11
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi Clara,
thanks for answering.
It is actually very hot in my place (minimum 26, normally 29-30 C). I have fluorescent lights (warm and cool), plus some sun coming through the window. As for a kei kei, I am not sure if it is a kei kei and not another flower spyke.
I will post a photo later, may be it will be possible to recognize what is it exactly.
Lara
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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.
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lara11
Original Author
16 years ago
Here are photos. Can someone tell if it is spyke or kei kei, please?
[IMG]http://i035.radikal.ru/0712/b0/b16afeb14c51.jpg[/IMG]
claritamaria
16 years ago
Hi Lara
Do you have a pic of the entire plant? 26-30 is a good winter temp.What are the night temps? I also would like to ask a bit further about the lighting. How many watts and how many bulbs? What type of exposure does the plant receive. What zone are you in?

Clara
blossom_girl
16 years ago
It looks to me like it's putting out a new branch but I can't really tell. If that's the case you may get more flowers. I re-posted the link below so you don't have to copy and paste. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:205643}}
lara11
Original Author
16 years ago
I hope this will work
lara11
Original Author
16 years ago
I have two 18W (cool and warm) and on the side two 15W (cool and warm). I know it is not much of the light probably, but commercial lights will be too heavy for this stand. I am not sure about my zone...I live in Montreal, Canada. During a day for a few hours the plant is under the full sun ( when we have sun). It is very warm in my house, the highest temperature could be 32 C. I use humidifier at all times, and during a night I put a plastic cover over the stand with plants as it helps to creat humidity up to 100% (according to the humidity tester).

http://i038.radikal.ru/0712/fb/c1b8ad6a8e5a.jpg
[IMG]http://i037.radikal.ru/0712/6d/6a212c7813be.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i026.radikal.ru/0712/ff/26a3524aec2b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i010.radikal.ru/0712/9c/3ca940037947.jpg[/IMG]

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