Quite a few of my 'rescued' Walmart orchids are now putting out flower spikes. Most are only a few inches long but two of them have spikes that are about 18" long and one of those has buds on it. Those I don't want to mess with but the others, do I need to stake them or just let them go as they please? I will say that I'm leery about staking as I'm afraid I'll break them off.

If you place the stake correctly, where the stem(s) doesn't have to be bent too severely, you won't damage that/those stem whatsoever. I stake pretty much every single orchid in bud/flower, and don't break any of them doing so. By the way, the only reason I stake is so that the flowers present better.

Thanks Ken, I think I'll practice then with a few. If I recall my 'Orchids for Dummies' book said to start staking when the stalk gets about 12" long then go from there. I'll have to re-read that portion again though to make sure.

It really doesn't matter how long that stem is. You just don't want to damage any buds, so be sure you are below those buds/flowers. I don't have many Phal. but have lots of other genera. Here are a couple in bloom now with several stems of flowers staked.

Beautiful flowers Ken, I'll definitely try a few then and see how I do.

It's purely a matter of personal taste, but I like the flowers of my Phals to cascade down naturally. So I never stake them. You might want to leave a few to their own devices, Chris, and see which you like better.

I have mine outdoors with pots fastened to a trellis or on shelves, so they show nicely when hanging down. If you're going to bring them in to display on a table, they might look better staked, but it really depends how you will place them.

I know a gal who decorates her mantelpiece with cascading Phals in winter and it looks so beautiful. Needless to say she doesn't use her fireplace hardly ever, and removes the orchids if she does.

Elaine is right, unless you want to show your orchids, In that case, you must stake them. Like Ken said, the flowers present better.

Jim

I train my spikes as soon as I can. Loosely at first then tightening up as the spike matures..

When I think about it in time.

I have to stake one of my Phals before otherwise it will hit our curtains. I had some difficulty with its stiff spike, so I decided to sort of leash it, and not too closely tied to the stake. It still supported it nicely. My other noid Phal I just let it cascade,looked prettier that way. I guess if I have a bigger growing space, I can let all of them cascade, but there is space limitation for mine.

On a stake/leash:


No stake: it looks good just like that, with a double spike so it looks balanced too.

Thanks Elaine and Jim. I'm not into showing them I'm just thrilled that they've thrived and that I've gotten them this far since June.

Good job growing, Chris.

I bought two orchids. Each has two stems. They came pre staked. Can I remove the stakes and let them fall naturally or will that kill the stems?

Hi!
It depends on how heavy the blooms are. You are probably ok unless you are looking at a heavy spike with large Cattleyas which might break or bend.

The pink pot is small. A three inch pot. The white is in about a 7-8 inch tall pot if that helps for dimensions

The pink ones certainly don't need staking. With the white ones, I might eliminate the top clip and see what happens. Probably the stems will be fine unstaked, but it will be easy to tell by adjusting the clips.

In nature they do hang down, but as a houseplant, it's really hard to position them that way, but I do agree with ken. Those that can grow them outdoors often mount them at an angle so the water drains out of the crown, and they seem to be happy that way.

Sbarr, if you take the stake completely away you will see if the stem is able to hold up the flowers.
If the stem is unable to hold up the flowers you will probably see that the flowers aren't looking at you anymore... as they have been grown on the stake.