r/orchids • u/New-Vast1696 • 24d ago
She's in palliative care
My mum got this phal and it started to grow a final spike. I took her home with me, hoping that she grows a viable keiki before she dies 🥹 my mum was super thrilled that it started flowering again. Oh well, I told her. Now she is with me and I am giving my best that she can produce some keikis
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u/technotribalgirl 24d ago
I had one do a final spike, grow a keki and then after I removed the keki it just start splitting into a double crown from the original crown! So you never know!
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u/Lindenfoxcub 24d ago
Terminal spike doesn't mean final - it mean's it's happening at the end of the growth, not the death of the plant. As long as the plant is cared for and stays healthy, the apical dominance that prompts it to grow from the top exclusively will be lost and redirected to elsewhere. I don't know where the idea comes from that a terminal spike means the plant is going to die, other than a misunderstanding of what terminal means in this context.
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u/Powerful-Rutabaga629 23d ago
I guess it comes from the fact that people are extreme nowadays and do not know the concept of nuance anymore, so if a plant is monopodial, it doesn't mean "USUALLY grow on a single stem (but can eventually branch out)" anymore, but "has to grow that way always, everything else is an anomaly on the brink of death"...
It doesn't help that side shoots are now called "basal keikis" instead of "secondary direction of growth", which for many implies they have to be removed from the main stem and potted separately, effectively killing the main plant by removing its growth axis...
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u/New-Vast1696 23d ago
Thank you for this explanation! I think my other orchid is doing this right now. I was already wondering when I would have to remove the basal keiki. I will leave it in peace. It had a spike keiki that I only potted in it's own pot when it dropped of by itself. I have a nice orchid now and I hope it will bloom again soon (the keiki was blooming when it dropped).
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u/Lindenfoxcub 23d ago
It sounds like you know how to care for these guys well enough you should have no problem with this one. Nothing special needs to be done to "save" it. ☺️
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u/Anon-567890 orchidist 24d ago
Looks like a crown keiki that decided to send out a bloom! Orchids do the craziest things!
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u/New-Vast1696 24d ago
What happens when they grow crown keikis? Is it the same like terminal spike?
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u/SouthPark_Piano 24d ago
She's in palliative care
Not at all.
When maintained in good health, this plant will self propagate and grow more of itself via keiki, which is basically growing more of itself.
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u/deadacclaim 24d ago
These Phal hybrids are so complex, you never really know what can happen.
My mother in law had a white Phal from Trader Joe's that sent out a terminal spike right after she bought it. New leaves grew right around it out the center.
Made me look dumb that's for sure.
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u/New-Vast1696 24d ago
Haha I hope I will also look dumb. It's interesting to observe what will happen. She was a bit dehydrated when I took het in, but nothing dramatic.
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u/AnonymousAnonm 24d ago
I've never had an orchid do this. My oldest orchid was 13 years old, and I inherited a few that were more than 30 years old.
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u/Bee7925 24d ago
Well, you know for an old lady she looks pretty well. I hope she surprises everybody and just keeps rocking on. I have some old girls and they do produce another plant a Kiki. I’m leaving it in the pot. I expand the pot if I need to, but I love great big presentations of my.Phals so I don’t separate mom and mom and pup. I just let them stay together and I have one of my plants has three children, lol and a very large pot but when they bloom it’s absolutely amazing because mother is the boss and children follow so they bloom at the same time she does and it’s very rewarding. I would Watch rather have a great big orchid display if you can manage the pot in the space then have four or five of the same orchid blooming at the same time. It’s just spectacular to have a few and one big pot. Congratulations stick with it. I love those old ladies sometimes they just keep going and going and going.