In my 12+ years of growing orchids, I've never had an orchid so hellbent on wanting to live like this beautiful NoID Phal. This poor little 'chid has had the cards stacked against it all year. I acquired it back at the beginning of this year. It was growing alongside another Phal in the same pot but wasn't in bloom like the other one was, so I had no idea what it looked like. I repotted them into separate pots and soon afterwards it send out a spike and as the blooms were just about to open, the spike broke. So I cut it back down to the next node in hopes of it sending out another one, which it did. Things were finally looking good for it as it was blooming and sending out new leaves. I was excited because I never had a Phal with this color pattern before, and each bloom had their own unique pattern.
Well, during the Summer, our landscaper went around spraying weedkiller or something all around the edges of our house and some of it drifted over to where my orchids were and eventually killed a couple of them.
Well, this one survived, but the newest leaves on it eventually died. But it still hung in there with the two oldest leaves left and the spike hadn't died back yet, so I left it in hopes of maybe it triggering an aerial keiki. All Summer long, nothing happened except for yet another leave falling off, leaving only one left. Its last leaf remained firm and healthy, so I kept watering it as usual. Then, I was upset when the last leaf finally turned yellow and fell off.
I was finally coming to terms with the fact that perhaps there was no hope in salvaging it and pretty much just gave up on it. I placed it aside, putting off throwing it away and cleaning its pot out. Well, I noticed that despite it having no leaves, the spike still remained green, but still no sign of an aerial keiki. So I pulled it from its pot to take a closer look and when I cleaned away the potting mix, I noticed that a few of the roots were still viable. But then I noticed that one of the "roots" looked different than the others and realized that it wasn't a root at all. To my surprise, it was actually a basal keiki. I'm glad that I bothered to take a closer look, because I had already given up on the poor 'chid and was about to toss it out without even giving it a second thought. But now I have to do whatever it takes to help provide it the best opportunity for a full recovery. This NoID Phal has been through so much and is still hanging in there. It's the least I can do for it. So I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
The 1st pic, is of what the blooms looked like, tho each bloom had a slightly different pattern. The 2nd pic show what was left of the roots and spike. And the 3rd pic kinda shows the basal keiki growing out from the side. It's white because it was growing underneath the potting mix at the time, but I plan of leaving it closer to the top after I repot it. I hope this Phal makes it because the blooms on it were just so beautiful. Well, it's hung in there for this long, so hopefully it will pull through and bounce back next Spring.
My Beautiful NoID's Remarkable Will To Live. :D
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