What Would You Do? - Orchid Board

BikerDoc5968 · #1 04-11-2009, 05:00 PM

I know the roots are long enough and things are going well for this little guy.... now it is spiking!!!!! From the keiki!!!!! My question is: To cut and set him off on his own now or wait til the flowers are spent?????

nenella · #2 04-11-2009, 06:27 PM

WOW what a wonderful sight!
I would personally see it bloom as if it didn't have the reserves (mummy etc... )it wouldn't flower like that! the('many)buds (for a baby) arn't many weeks from flowering & seeing you've kept it there this long...I'd try keeping it longer if 'mummy' looks healthy that is...
keep us posted please!

Pilot · #3 04-11-2009, 06:28 PM

I'd leave well enough alone-- perhaps giving it added support is all. What a neat thing to see!!! In fact, if I ever get a keiki, I hope to leave it attached as I've seen some before where the babies and mother plant all bloom and it is amazing.

Thats my vote-- leave it be!

jkofferdahl · #4 04-11-2009, 06:37 PM

I'd also leave it be for now, especially if the mother plant is healthy, which I can only presume is the case! I doubt that the keiki, even as healthy as it looks, is really strong enough to support such a blooming without really taking a lot from the keiki's development. However, with the energy it will get from Mom, it should bloom nicely.

Sandy4453 · #5 04-12-2009, 12:36 AM

Hi ya, Doc! Good seeing you again. I had the same thing going on with my Phal...the keiki was growing a spike but, unlike yours, the keiki only has one (long!) root so, I opted to cut the spike off. I need more roots before I can think about another spike for my little guy.

I wouldn't cut anything off if it were mine. You've got plenty of time for the blooms to make an appearance before letting it get ready for next growing season. It looks ready now to be separated but it's so visually interesting the way it looks right now. I'd love to see this when it blooms...Salu Peoker is a knockout!

RosieC · #6 04-12-2009, 07:41 AM

I would also leave it on the mother for now. Let the mother plant help with the flowering, then seperate them later on when the flowers are finished.

Ray · #7 04-12-2009, 09:08 AM

Yep. Wait.

Paul · #8 04-12-2009, 09:11 PM

leave it on mom for now

BikerDoc5968 · #9 04-12-2009, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

leave it on mom for now

Thought you were going to come over and water the GH while I was away.... I'm lucky this guy is still alive

EdinAZ · #10 04-13-2009, 12:10 AM

Howard,

that's a healthy looking plant! I don't really have "advice", just my story about blooming KeiKei's.

I had a nice Phal I got from a fellow orchid society member. It had 2 KeiKei's in spike on it, and 2 non-spike. The "mother" plant had 3 nice blooming spikes. I left it alone, and about 9 months later, all 4 original KeiKei's had bloomed, the mother plant spikes had finished and thrown out secondary spikes and several more KeiKei's had started and a couple were spiking. Within 15 months after I got it, it had about a dozen full-blooming spikes (mother and KeiKei's) with 75-80 blooms total. It must have been in bloom with sedondary spikes, etc. for about 2 years after I got it.

I was so amazed by it all, I just left it alone and watched it go. When it FINALLY stopped blooming altogether, I tried to cut and pot up the KeiKei's. What I ran into was the roots had gotten so long that I broke many of them, and only 1 survived and continued to grow. The 'mother" plant also "crashed" and died within a couple of months after the old spikes and KeiKei's were removed. The 1 remaining plant from all this just behaves normally re: spikes and KeiKei's. I don't know what got into that original plant, but I guess it just "wore itself out".

So there.

Ed