Broke off flowered spike halfway? Don't cut it!!

[tandrews1]

Hi I'm new here, this seems like a great place. I actually made an account and posted here because I wanted to share this great experience and hopefully give others some hope if they just snapped their flowered spike. I feel your pain.

I own two orchids but my longest living one has been going for about three years. It's shed leaves, flowered multiple times and has tons of healthy roots. I have it potted in smooth rocks, it seems to love it and my overwatering habits aren't nearly as destructive. This little guy has been going great and is one of my favorite plants.

So I moved in January. Movers didn't take plants so my fiancee and I took some separate trips for breakables and plants. My happy orchid was in the back seat, fully flowered and beautiful. So we were unloading, making trips inside, when my fiancee went to grab the orchid. It was an accident, but as she lifted it out of the back seat, some stuff shifted and the spike caught on the car door frame and snapped halfway up it was over so fast and hanging by a thread.

I was so upset, but realized it was a complete accident. She felt so horrible she actually bought me my second orchid, but we both felt so bad for the first one after it had worked so hard to flower again. Sadly, we snipped the thread it was hanging from, and put the flowered spike in some water to enjoy it for its last few days.

After it shriveled up in the cup we got rid of it, figuring it would be months and months before we saw orchid flowers again. The portion of the spike that remained on the plant looked so green and healthy that I didn't have the heart to cut it and injure the plant more. I figured it would dry up eventually and seal off so I just let it sit.

About a month went by and I forgot about it until one day I happened to glance at the spike. A small nub was forming on the spike about three inches from the amputation. I thought, "could it seriously be regrowing?!" Well the answer was yes; now three months after the accident and we have flowers forming on what is a new, forked spike that has grown from the side of the original one. It has *six* flowers forming on it . This is unbelievable behavior to me, from what I thought was such a delicate (if not temperamental) type of plant.

You can see in the picture that I've attached the previously broken spike to the guiding stick for stability as the new one grew. My cat doesn't seem to bother it but he jumped in the picture, he loves that window. So now I'm thinking of relocating the plant to keep the new spike safe.

Moral of the story is: I for one never knew spikes could fork off and keep growing if broken. Maybe this is common knowledge (does this happen often!?) but for those who think breaking the spike off (mine was halfway up) is reason to cut the remainder of the spike, give it time!!! Your plant may amaze you with new flowers long before you expect we can't wait for it to bloom.