Question
I have several phals and right now 2 of them have spikes - very exciting.  But one of these flower stalks has developed a problem.  It's about 6 inches tall but just below the tiny bud at the end it's become thin & weak - under the bud it looks almost like a slit along the length of the stalk for an inch or so.  What's causing this?  (I'm so sad.)

Thanks for your help

Answer
Patty, from your description, it sounds as if you will lose your bud. It is not uncommon for phals flowering for the first time to muster the energy to support flowering especially if the plant is small.  If this plant has flowered before and is healthy with many leaves, then other reasons are more likely.  The slit along the flower spike sounds like physical damage, such as might be caused by something having bent the young flower spike too far.  This physical damage could then be the reason for the flower spike thinning just beneath the bud because the split spike is unable to deliver the proper amount of plant sap to the part of the spike above the split.  If the slit is not truly a slit but rather an area of thinning then the damage may be do to a small snail or slug, present in the potting mix, that attacked the spike when it was just emerging.  Let the flower spike take its course.  What might happen is that the flower spike might branch below the damaged area and it might produce additional buds from that branch so don't give up hope.

You didn't mention whether or not you have repotted these phals in the past year or so.  If not, plant might be suffering from root rot and been weakened by that.