Noid phal exits rest with a spurt of root and leaf growth

Large noid phalaenopsis with three keikis

     For over a year now, my noid phal has put all leaf and root growth on hold while it was growing its keikis.  Over time, it lost several leaves. The remaining leaves have lost firmness and acquired a leathery texture.  

Closeup on phal root and leaf growth

     Now the mother orchid is finally expending some energy on its own growth.  It seems to be growing two new leaves concurrently, as well as a number of fresh roots.

     The keikis are almost big enough to remove from the mother plant and pot on their own.  They all have nice big leaves, and the oldest has two roots that are just over 3" long.  

     However, as the mother plant seems to be doing well, I am in no hurry to cut them from the spikes.  My plan is to remove the largest keiki as soon as it starts  growing new roots.  For the smaller two keikis I'll wait until they both have roots that are over 3" long and fresh roots growing.  Waiting to remove the keikis might delay the mother phal from flowering, but I have enough other orchids in bloom and/or spike that I am willing to take that risk. 

Sphagnum around phalaenopsis keikis

     My phalaenopsis keikis have been steadily growing.  In order to try and encourage them to grow roots, I wrapped a little bit of sphagnum moss around the base of the keikis.  Hopefully this will help increase the humidity and help them start growing roots.

Phalaenopsis Keikis

     The larger keikis on my noid phal are now about 3 months old.  I still see no sign of roots emerging from these baby plants, but the leaves have been steadily growing in size.  I trimmed back the spikes above where the keikis were emerging, mostly for aesthetic benefit.  The upper parts of the spikes seemed unlikely to grow any more since all the nodes had been used up in the flowering last summer.

     In addition to the trimming, I used scissors to expand the drainage holes in the plastic pot.  I didn't like how the potting media was taking more than a week to dry out between waterings (the root health of this plant is mediocre currently).  By enlarging the drainage holes and taking the plastic pot out of the larger decorative pot, I am hoping to increase the air circulation near the phal's roots.

     Meanwhile, the nodes below the big keikis are slowly growing on all three spikes.  I still can't tell what these are yet, although I won't be surprised if these turn out to be even more keikis.

   I've been thinking about what to do with these 3-6 new orchids once they're big enough to separate from the mother plant.  I'd like to try growing one of them as a mounted orchid, another in vase culture, and maybe pot the rest of the plants into one joint pot.  This way I can experiment with different culture techniques on plants I am not too emotionally attached to (or financially vested in), and learn whether my apartment's conditions can support those types of growing styles.