Makes sense to me, blossom. When the urge to bloom is on them, they just want to go, and often sprout a branch if the tip of the spike breaks off. Looks like yours is in that phase.

What I found cutting off the old spike and letting the new one go (just a few plants, tho) is that the new spike has *lots* more flowers and branches on it than the old one.

Too bad about the heat problems. You're obviously doing a lot of things right, tho. Congratulations.

When you cut the spike if it's still green you might want to try putting it in some water. It may make a keiki for you. Leave the stem long as you can and cut of any browning so it can still take up water. Takes a while for this to happen tho. Wait until it makes some roots before you pot it up. I've started several new plants this way........it's fun to try.....

sorry the pic is blurry............
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Cool pcan - I had read about this somewhere and was trying it when the plant which had lost it's crown popped a basal keiki so I dumped it. I had it in the water for a long time and the spike really stayed green forever. Now I may do it again, just cause!

blossom I hope your bud blast is under control now.

Brooke

Best thing to do Brooke is put them where you don't have to look at them daily...lol. The little plant above has been in water maybe two months or so - another mouth to roots, then another to pot up or mount. So it does take time. I've made maybe a dozen new plants this way. When someone is wowing one of the mom's in the GH, it's fun to share the little plant with them. ((My MIL got most of mine )0:
Keep the water fresh, and the stem bottom cut back to green. Give it the same light as mom right from the start. They make very sturty little plants that are adapted to your grow area from day one. Good Luck!!

Thanks, guys.
I cut back the old spike and put it in a vase of water. It would be great to get a keiki, but if nothing else at least I'll be able to keep what little bit of flowers it produced for this second flowering for a while! Hopefully now the new spike will pick up momentum and start growing again!

**Pcan, do you keep those little plants in the same conditions as your others? I mean as far as light, humidity, etc. I added this one to my plant table in another room which has gotten a bit crowded! How often do you need to change the water? How often do the old spikes actually produce a new plant? All kinds of questions :)

B_girl: Take a look at the very end of your spike, you should see the makings of a very tiny plant there. It's very small and right on the end point. It should be green, or it may be green with a slight purple tint. If that has dried up and fallen, then I'm afraid all is lost. If you see this, cut the spike as long as possible. Cut on an angle to give the stem as much room to take up water as possible. If mom is healthy, growing, blooming and has medium green leaves, then put your vase close to mom so it's in the same conditions. Bright light for baby right from the get go. In two or three weeks (maybe sooner if kept warm) you will see the baby start to swell. It sits just like that for a while, then a very tiny leaf will make itself known. Change the water once a week or so, but if it gets cloudy, change it sooner and make a new cut to the end of the stem into the green. Once a little leaf comes in - then it's just wait and wait and wait...LOL. Once roots come in, start misting them a little once a day. Try not to wet the leaves. I use RO water to mist roots with. Once the roots are 2, 3 inches you can pot the baby in what ever works for you, for phals.

And yes, all of my plants are kept in the greenhouse together, the phals have their own section so share the same conditions. This has worked most of the time for me. Sometimes the plantlet will abort (fall off) after a few days. I have lost a couple of small plants after potting. I've had one or two just sit there and do nothing. But this has worked for me more often than not by far. These little plants take off and grow quickly once they can root into something. After potting, in about three weeks or so, start with weak ferts. It's just a little fun thing to try. And if this one fails, try again next time. Nothing to loose, and maybe something to gain.
Good Luck B_girl!!
Pat.......

Huh... I tried posting a message here but I guess it got lost in internet land. Lets try again...

Pat, since you put that idea in my head I'm obsessed by it. Is there anywhere online I can read about this? Should I put a few drops of fertilizer in the water or just keep it plain? Both of the branches on the spike has purplish green tips-- does this double my chances of getting a keiki? LOL
The small flowers on the spike have perked up since I put it in a water, so that's nice :) This sounds like a fun experiment, even if it doesn't work for me this time :)

Blossom girl it appears you live in Canada. Pat is a greenhouse grower in Fla. Different conditions entirely. I've never been able to get a spike to regrow in zone 5 conditons over the winter (tried once). Too dry for one, and it just never happened. Stick it somewhere and forget about it. Maybe you'll be lucky, but its not worth spending a lot of energy on. Concentrate on growing the main plant.

Jane

OH my Goodness B_girl!! Don't be obsessed!!
Truly I've never looked on the net, don't know of any sites that explain, because my source was (gulp) my - M_I_L.
She had years ago cut a spike for center table decoration. Flowers faded, died after a while, but that little "do-dad" remained green as did the stem. She thought she'd get one more flower, and put the vase in the window.......kinda forgot about it. It plumped up, little leaves appeared, and you know that rest.

One day she spied cut down phal spikes in the garbage in my greenhouse. She faked a heart attach right then and there, right before my eyes. "DON'T throw those OUT!!!" ........she then explained the reason for the hissy fit....."Put those in water" etc. etc......

I'm thinking she's - delusional (JUST LIKE I ALWAYS THOUGHT!!!) But no, I tried it. It *sometimes* works. I've had pretty good luck with it.

My MIL has lots of orchids, doesn't have a clue what they are, doesn't care. In it for the flowers - period. She once said to me that if an "orchid isn't acting right, snatch it out of the pot, throw it across the room, stick it back and it'll either behave or DIE" so ....ah......whatever............

I've read about this on a post somewhere, can't remember if it was here or other. It's been a while. But I remember someone with a terminal bud becoming a plant using this spike in water - thing.

OK - I don't fert the water, but perhaps that's a thing to try out? No harm in trying that. I have one now making a keiki on a lower node, first time that has happened. I'll have to wait and wait and wait (lol) to see what comes of it. It's just a fun little goofy thing to try. DON'T "obsess" ...lol.
Good Luck!!
Pat..

Ok, maybe 'obsessed' was the wrong word :) But it seems like a fun thing to try, just to experiment and see what happens :) Since I felt the need to cut the spike anyway at least this way I get to still play with it! LOL

B girl if I knew how to post a link I would send you to Big Leaf orchids because I read the info about the spike/keiki on there. Should be easy to find if you use Mr. Google. (Kevin taught me to call him Mr.)

If you keep the spike in water close to the mother plant and it is thriving, it should be fine, regardless of where you live. I wouldn't use fertilizer or Super Thrive or an additive because it will foul the water quicker which necessitates more water changes. I know when I was keeping my spike in water, I only would change it when the water got cloudy. I wasn't very good about it. I wish now I had followed through but when the basal keiki appeared, I pitched it.

By the way, the basal keiki now has a spike and the mother plant is down to one leaf. I was getting ready to separate the keiki and pitch the huge pot of roots when the spike popped up.

Go for it - it is fun to do the unusual and if successful, it will be your favorite plant.

Brooke

Hey, Brooke: How to post an url.

Go to the website, and copy the url. I use Ctrl C.

Come back here. Click at the bottom of the message where it says "Optional Link URL". Hit Ctrl V to unload the url. You have to put it in the optional link url, or it won't click.

The type the name of the url in on the next line.

Your url won't *look* clickable, but it is as soon as the message appears on the board.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big Leaf Orchids -- click

Thanks Mehitabel - now to copy what you wrote word for word, put the paper someplace I don't lose it, I'll be good to go.

Brooke