Question
My phalaenopsis plant is one year old to me. It has bloomed once (2 flowers) after initial purchase blooming.
One baby plant has two air roots. The other, has one with another root on the way. Below on the stem appear to be some other growth,root/flower/new plant? The mother is planted in wood chips, with lava pebbles in the base of the water bowl,(not the plant pot) braced up with styrofoam p-nuts trying to balance her and keep her upright, but she is leaning precariously. There appear to be new growth below on the stems, roots/plants/flowers? 3 questions: #1. How do I remove the new plants, or do I?without hurting the mother #2. After removal, what or how do I plant them and in what? #3. One of the new plant roots end is turning black. any ideas?

Any/all help is greatfully accepted. Thank You in advance.

Answer
You may remove the baby plants without damaging the mother plant.  Find the point where the baby plant joins with the flower spike and simply cut it off-- being careful not to cut the roots or leaves. Use a plastic pot just large enough to plant the baby without damaging the roots.  Fill the pot with standard orchid potting mix (found at a garden center) after you wet it thoroughly and drain it. Be sure the orchid potting mix covers the roots after repotting.  Often orchid root tips will die back when they get long enough to be away from the more humidy environment of the mother plant.

I recomment that you repot the mother plant using some of the orchid potting mix used to repot the baby plant.  Check the root system of the mother plant after removing it from its pot and remove any mushy roots (only firm roots are healthy).  The repotting will also permit you to anchor the mother plant better in its pot.  You won't need to use the styrofoam peanuts.  Because the peanuts are so light in weight, it is difficult to anchor a plant in them.  If you repot in a deep enough pot, you may be able to use just 4 -6 styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of the pot before adding the new potting mix.

The baby plant is called a keiki and is the result of one or both of two factors.  First, you may be feeding with a high nitrogen plant food year around. Either use a more balanced plant food year around or switch to a high phosphorous plant food a month or so before anticapted flowering.  Second, keiki's may result from light levels that are too low.  Try increasing the light to promte flowering.  If you grow on a windowsill, an east facing window is best but be careful not to get the plant to close to the window during the winter months as they don't like temperatures below 60 degrees F.