Seeking tips re: a reblooming phalaenopsis

[Angry Professor]

Hello! A phalaenopsis from my small orchid collection recently began sending out a new shoot from an old flowering spike. Under any other circumstances, this would be cause for some celebration. However, this new spike is emerging at a point some two feet above the plant. (It's a reasonably well-established plant, has rebloomed once since it was given to us.) I fear that the height will become a little silly-looking and perhaps even cause some stability issues.

I recently repotted this plant upon becoming aware that sphagnum potting mediums had caused my earlier orchid woes. I had wanted to cut down this spike at that time, but had heard that it can be a way of encouraging a re-bloom. And I did not want to put a plant stressed by repotting through that.

My question is this: would it be okay to cut down the flower spike now? Obviously, it would kill-off the new shoot, but would this be a reasonable thing to do with a view to the medium- or long-term health and beauty of this phalaenopsis?

Thanks in advance for any advice you have to offer.

[orion141]

Does the plant look stressed in anyway? Does it have a set of good, healthy roots?

[Angry Professor]

Thanks for your reply!

All told, the plant looks *fairly* healthy.

It's pretty well-established, with 5 leaves (some quite big). The last time it flowered, it did so on 2 tall spikes.

However, I decided to repot the plant when I noticed that the leaves had become quite wrinkly/leathery and deduced that this must be an effect of root problems. My memory is pretty vague, but I think I recall the root system as having been pretty diminished (lots of die-back) at this point, probably about a month to a month and a half ago. Since the repotting, the leaves have begun to look more taut and full, but they still have some wrinkles.

[jkofferdahl]

The wrinkling in the leaves was most likely caused by lack of water. I think that you were wise to repot. So far as the blooming is concerned, there's no need to cut the inflorescence. You could, but it sounds like the plant is probably healthy enough to support it. You can't harm the plant by cutting it, and it's possibly that you'll help it retain a bit of extra strength if you do so.