Cut and repot Phal keiki when it's blooming?

[Lizgeo]

I have this Phal (brother fancy x equestris). It has two keikis at the end of previously bloomed spikes, both have leaves and roots. One keiki is blooming, one is developing bud and another spike is developing in the middle of the same old spike (see the second picture).

Here is my worry: the mother plant looks really sad, like it is drying up. I also noticed that another basal keiki is growing. I really hate to cut keikis off and afraid that I will loose the bloom/buds. Do you think the mother plant can survive that long?

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I lost resolution during re-sizing.

[Cjcorner]

I just acquired a shilleriana phal awhile back and it had a similar problem. I ended up cutting the pretty flowers off and enjoying them in a crystal vase and cut the keikeis off and repotted them. I left one spike of flowers but ended up cutting it off to allow the plant to grow more easily. All three have improved drastically, even the parent has firmer leaves that stand up again now. All three had leaves wilted and going downward instead of their normal graceful arch. Two weeks later they are thriving. I sacrifice flowers for the health of the plant on newly acquired sicko's. It makes the difference because now the plant can concentrate on growing and getting better.
Hope this helps....oh yeah, be careful to resist the urge to overwater, stick to a normal watering schedule or you'll end up with root rot.
Connie

[cindiras]

Looks like the flowering Keikei has plenty of root to support itself if removed from the parent plant. If *mom* is failing, I would recommend keikei removal, they are obviously using all of the parent plants energy reserves.

[Phyrex]

I agree. Take the flowers and the keikis off and let the mother plant recover. Pot both keikis and hope mommy makes it.

[Ron-NY]

I will be the third on this opinion, cut it off and pot it up

[Brutal_Dreamer]

time to remove the babies and pot them up!

Cheers,
BD

[Lizgeo]

Thank you guys! I will do that tomorrow. I am quite happy about the extra keikis because I love the color and size of the flower. Now I have at least three of them.

[Lizgeo]

Well, so much worry about the "mommy" plant. I cut and repotted babies today, but I accidentally broke the whole mommy plant from the base
I hope two babies will do well for me.