Is there a way to save a broken spike?

[phristova]

Hi guys I just bought this plant on tuesday and this morning I accidentally broke the spike to my Onc. Mendenhall “Monarch” Orchid an our ago =(







Is there any way to save it??? I've temporarily taped the tip back on.

I fear I will never get to experience its beauty since I still haven't had any luck with getting any of my other orchids to rebloom. (And I've almost tried everything, the humidity is right, there's a 10 degree difference between night and day... and my home is 85deg max during the morning. I'm only good at growing root monsters :P)

[Dazed]

Hi. Ahhhh...no. No fixing this one, sorry. Maybe you need to up the light on your 'root monsters' and see if that works.

[phristova]

oh darn, thanks for being honest with me though. Here's to hoping I can get it to re-bloom.

As for a bright window I've had my phals for a while in front of a while on a west facing window for the last year and a half It gets direct sunlight from 3 - 6pm. But with its failure to re-bloom I was starting to think that maybe that was the reason it refused to re bloom. (the leaves were a light green, long, and thin.) I only moved it to a shadier south facing window but now I'm concerned that it might not be getting enough light as the leaves are now a different shade of green from what I'm used to (definitely a cooler shade of blue from the yellow green I was used to).. (I feel like goldylocks but with orchids... this windows to bright, this windows to dark....LOL) I think I read somewhere that as long as the roots have some red on the tips the plant is getting enough light

here's my root monster on its new perch:


If this windows a bad idea please let me know I'll be happy to move it back to the sunny window.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Oops! No, that one is a goner. Sorry. (Hey, at least you did in now and not a couple month from now when the buds would start opening.

cheers,
BD

[Dazed]

To be honest I'm not sure about the red roots thing still, but there is some merit to it from what everyone else here has said. I have also found out that the roots being reddish has something to do with the colour of the blooms. Mind you, I haven't been in the orchid obsession thing long so I haven't seen a lot. Your roots aren't red, but it's a trial and error thing with these little guys, orchids are temperamental and unpredictable. Just up the light slowly over the next few months, allowing the plants to adjust in 2 or 3 week intervals. Keep an eye out for burning, some plants get really darkish red or, I've been told, really pale green. OT has a boat load of orchid veterans so help is just a click away.

[Dorsetman]

Hold on , the answers are not quite correct ; first, you won't mend that break - that part is correct , BUT many oncids end up with branched spikes . Now if any of those branches was to have started below the break, it can still happen.
I bought an Oncid ( probably, whatever the label said ) jonesianum at a show in April, and the spike was then about a foot long. When I opened th parcel when I got home ( four days later, and after a 3 hour flight too) the spike was broken. But a branch formed, and has been in flower for over a month now. True I ended up with only a dozen flowers instead of the 30 or so I might have got, but that is much better than nothing.
So throw away the semi-detached end - it will only rot and that may spread to the good part, and dry off the stem at the break with something powdery. Flowers of Sulphure is the "correct" thing, but ground cinnamon from the kitchen is generallyu reckoned to be the best substitute.
The best of luck !

[Miller]

No comment other than that tape job is the cutest thing I've seen all week! I bought a NOID a week or so ago and broke one of the spikes, luckily it had another.

Miller

[sand_tiger86]

No saving the spike, unfortunately. I remember taping my very first broken Phal. spike years ago as well. haha I've often wondered about the red root tip question also, as almost all of my orchids have them. I also grow in a west window that gets direct sun from about 3:30 to 8 and wonder if it's enough light. I believe Western light is the strongest of all windows, but the length of time the light hits our plants isn't as spread out over the day as a Southern window...so I have yet to understand/decide if a Western window is strong enough to hold up high-light plants.

[phristova]

Thanks everyone for the answers I have excepted the spikes fate now.

sand_tiger86 : This is good to know about the western window I always thought because it gets the strongest light I thought that meant that it was also the brightest. After thinking about it, I ended up moving my plants outside on the balcony. My big phall has big long but thin leaves which I recall reading had to do with light issues... I just always thought that meant it was getting too much sun. Opps. Anyways the balcony is still west facing (my apartment only has west facing windows and outdoor space) but hopefully it being outdoors will help a little. Orchids like summers outside right?? It's been high 80s here so hopefully the plants are not too hot.

Anyways thanks again I appreciate it. I've learned so much and its nice to be able to share pictures and get advice. I always felt all the books I've read failed to provide good examples.

[sand_tiger86]

I think the main issue with Western lighting, be it inside or out, is the length of time the orchids receive bright light. My cheapo light meter (which could be completely off - it was only 10 bucks after all) reads only 200-300 footcandles all day until the sun is low enough in the afternoon to hit my plants directly. The meter then struggles to move past 2,000 footcandles (my meter doesn't go higher than that). So, suffice it to say, they get rather inadequate light until the sun is literally beating down on them for the last 4 hours of daylight. Like I said, I don't know if four hours of insane light is enough to make up for rather poor light the rest of the day. At my old house I would move my plants from a south window to a west window every day so they got the maximum light but I cannot do that at my new apartment, so I'm still a bit new at these growing conditions myself.