Hi, Deva. First of all did you repot the mother plant after you bought it? Sometimes phals sends out babies if the mother plant is stress or feel threathen. I have never attached my phals to driftwood so can't help you there. You should allow the babies time to develope proper roots so as to sustain themselves. About potting them in the big pot, remember their root system will be small so I think a big pot would hold too much moisture for them, I would suggest potting them in the smallest pot that can hold the roots (this will dry better and give them time to develop properly) and when they are big enough yo could always pt them in individual small pots and then place them in the big pot giving the illsion they are all potted together. I jst remove a baby from one of my mother plant and I potted it in a small plastic cup, and its doing great. What your trying to do is not rot the root. I also notice from the picture that one of the mother leaf looks a bit wilted? If this is so this is another indication that yo may need to repot. And yes when yo do remove them make sure to use a stirilize blade( yo do not want a infection on yours hands and seal it with cinnimon when your through. I hope someone else will answer you too. Velleta.

Velleta,

Thanks for your response! Good point about the size of the pot. I will get some small ones.

As for the mother plant. I did not repot it immediately after I bought it. But after some time I noticed the leaves were wilting and I decided to check the roots. Sure enough they were packed tight with sphagnum moss and suffering from some root rot. I took all the moss off and trimmed off the rotted roots but I guess it was too late to save the big leaves. It had 2-3 healthy roots still and it has put out 3-4 new leaves on the mother plant so I think it is going to survive. It will just be a longggggggg time before I see what the blooms on this thing look like!

I think I am going to wait until the babies have some good roots on them before cutting them off the mother plant. I almost wish there was a way to provide supports so they can stay on and I'd have some cool looking vertical orchid garden.

Deva, I have seen babies left on the parent plant until they bloom. But leaving them permanently, I am not too sure. At present you have about three babies so the parent plant would have to support three babies plus itself which is a lot of stress. So my sugession leave them until they are sturdy then remove them to their owm sml pots this also ensures you have duplicates, so if the mother plant dies you have replacements, also you could maybe trade one with a friend for another species of orchid or color. This will also allow the mother plant to take a well deserved rest, giving birth and supporting thriplets is no easy job, even if your a plant. :). Velleta

Yeah... that makes sense. Actually, it already has 3 and I think it is putting out 2 more babies. That is definitely a lot!