It is called a basal keiki and in time you can detach it from the mother plant. It is normal for the oldest leaf to go yellow and drop off, though perhaps the orchid has lacked tender love and care from its previous owner.

@arthurm2015 How exciting!!! I was hoping it was a keiki but I wasn't too sure because all the basal keiki photos I've seen online are sort of still above the mix it's in. This one looks it's right underneath.

Would I need to do anything special to ensure the keiki keeps growing?

I was planning on repotting the mother plant after it has finished blooming (I don't like the packed sphagnum moss it came in when I bought it). Is that potentially harmful to the keiki?

I would move the bark away from it a bit to allow air flow. Someone might have repotted it without noticing the little leaf.

You haven't said where you live, zone, temps, light. That's important.

I don't like seeing an orchid in a plastic pot inside another plastic pot. The roots need air as these plants grow on trees, not in a pot. You might want to repot.

Jane

hi @jane_ny I live in Melbourne, Australia so temperate region and it's winter at the moment. Not sure what zone we would be in.

I hope I am giving the correct information! Should I add that information on my username? I've seen Arthur do that and several other people on the forum but because I wasn't sure of my information, I haven't tried it yet.

At the moment the plant lives on my desk and is a foot away from a window. On good days, it has been getting diffused light (window panes aren't completely clear), but those have been a bit rare this winter.

I think I've only owned this one for 3 weeks tops. and it has 2 main flowering spikes. One of the spikes has 2 more coming out of it.

I've watered it fortnightly and the last time I included Orchid Food in the water as per the pack instructions.

I have a bigger Phal at home that lives also near a window and I have it in a bark/sphag mix in its original plastic container then in a clay pot that's around 2 sizes bigger than the plastic one. She looks like she's very happy and is growing her 2nd new leaf and lots of aerial roots since I repotted her. Based on that, I wanted to do the same for this one so it's a similar setup minus the change in the mix that I have yet to do - it's still in the densely packed sphag moss it came in from the florist.

Is it safe to repot now that there is a keiki or just move some of the sphag moss around it?

By the way, I love how helpful everyone is! So much knowledge so generously shared. :)

I had a very stressed orchid that grew a keiki after losing most of its roots (fungus gnats destroyed the roots system before I even realized what was happening). I was able to save the plant and get it to grow new roots. It's been four years and I've never removed the keiki. I was too scared to try! Plus, it's a pretty small phal, and they both fit in a tiny pot together. The mother plant finally flowered again last year, and yesterday I noticed a spike growing from the keiki! Pretty excited about it. :)

To answer your question: you can repot now. If you're worried, try to pull some of the more densely packed sphagnum out with tweezers. That will not upset the roots too much, and they'll like the added airflow.