What’s Next? The blooms just fell off of my Mom’s orchid....
5ft to light, indirect
5” pot with drainage
Last watered 2 years ago
4
With a phal you’ve got options 👍. If the stalk is dead it’s best to cut all the way back down. If not this orchid can produce more flowers on the same stalk! If it’s a healthy green stalk you can cut above the node just below the lowest flower. You could get another flowering off the stalk this way. The flowers won’t be as grand as the original blooms but it’s a shorter wait than cutting all the way down. Here’s a helpful link! https://orchidbliss.com/orchids-cutting-the-spike/
Another option is to leave it altogether - I’ve had phals rebloom from the very end of the spike - if the end of the spike looks green and there hasn’t been another bloom there before. You can also do the suggestions above. If the spike goes brown and twig-like, the plant has decided to kill it off and the spike will never flower again. I tend to wait until the spike is completely dead before cutting because the plant will draw the remaining nutrients from the spike and use them elsewhere in the plant. Once it’s dead, I cut close to the base of the stem to remove it. You don’t have to do this - it won’t harm the plant if you remove it earlier, though if cutting into live tissue it’s best to dab cinnamon powder on the cut - it seals the wound and prevents infection getting in.
There are two schools of thought: if you leave the spike it could rebloom. Since blooming takes a huge amount of energy, not having to make a spike can be beneficial to the plant. I’ve found that the flowers on re blooms are as bold and beautiful and last as long as they do on new spikes (the photo is of a spike that rebloomed this year), though you often don’t get as many blooms. The other side of the argument is that if there is a remaining spike, you’ll only get one new flower spike on the plant when blooming season comes when you might otherwise get two new spikes. Miss Orchid Girl on Youtube has done some experimenting on this with her phals and that’s been her experience and it’s been my experience so far too. I do have a couple of phals that I plan to remove the existing spikes from and see if I get two spikes this year - I’ve only had one spike from them so far. It really is down to what you prefer! Now that the blooms have finished, the plant will go into a period of vegetative growth in which it will focus on making new roots and leaves and this is really important for the future health of the plant! Using good quality orchid fertiliser during this stage of active growth can be helpful. If it’s a new orchid and has never been repotted before, now is a good time - they cope with repots much better in the vegetative growth phase. New phals tend to be planted in sponge nursery plugs and sometimes plastic cages. The sponge plug is great in nursery conditions but causes problems in the home as when we water the bark and sponge dry out at different rates which makes watering harder and can lead to rot problems as the orchid matures. It’s always best to remove the sponge plug and plastic cage. If it hasn’t been repotted before or in a while, the media breaks down, leaving fewer air pockets which affects root health and can suffocate them and the acidity in the pot increases too, which affects root health. Sometimes when we purchase an orchid, the media is 2-3 years old and is past its best, so a repot is always helpful after a new orchid has finished blooming.
There are two schools of thought: if you leave the spike it could rebloom. Since blooming takes a huge amount of energy, not having to make a spike can be beneficial to the plant. I’ve found that the flowers on re blooms are as bold and beautiful and last as long as they do on new spikes (the photo is of a spike that rebloomed this year), though you often don’t get as many blooms. The other side of the argument is that if there is a remaining spike, you’ll only get one new flower spike on the plant when blooming season comes when you might otherwise get two new spikes. Miss Orchid Girl on Youtube has done some experimenting on this with her phals and that’s been her experience and it’s been my experience so far too. I do have a couple of phals that I plan to remove the existing spikes from and see if I get two spikes this year - I’ve only had one spike from them so far. It really is down to what you prefer! Now that the blooms have finished, the plant will go into a period of vegetative growth in which it will focus on making new roots and leaves and this is really important for the future health of the plant! Using good quality orchid fertiliser during this stage of active growth can be helpful. If it’s a new orchid and has never been repotted before, now is a good time - they cope with repots much better in the vegetative growth phase. New phals tend to be planted in sponge nursery plugs and sometimes plastic cages. The sponge plug is great in nursery conditions but causes problems in the home as when we water the bark and sponge dry out at different rates which makes watering harder and can lead to rot problems as the orchid matures. It’s always best to remove the sponge plug and plastic cage. If it hasn’t been repotted before or in a while, the media breaks down, leaving fewer air pockets which affects root health and can suffocate them and the acidity in the pot increases too, which affects root health. Sometimes when we purchase an orchid, the media is 2-3 years old and is past its best, so a repot is always helpful after a new orchid has finished blooming.
I leave the spike unless it browns or the leaves start to look stressed. Sometimes the spike will form more flowers or I’ve even had a baby plant (keiki) form from a node.
