Stem seems to be growing an entirely new plant.. hm..

[knitneykatherine]

Hi everyone!


Last year, my orchid's petals fell off right as it became summer time, and it didn't show any signs of blooming again. I went out of town, and when I came home, I couldn't tell if it was scale, sunburn, a mixture of both, but one of the leaves was SEVERELY damaged. I wanted all of the energy to go to the healthy leaves, so I removed that leaf, and cut the stems a little to hopefully encourage new growth. I did not cut the whole stem- just a couple of inches. Well, since then some pretty neat things have happened, but I am super new and a little trigger-happy, so I thought it would be best to ask for help, rather than to misinterpret more videos/articles.

There is what looks like a new plant forming from one of the stems.. there are no roots, and it has been really growing at a nice pace, but I fear that it will get too heavy and I won't know what to do! I think there is a new root growing at the bottom, too... Will I eventually have to remove the "new" plant, or is there something happening that is totally normal, and I should just let it be?

This was my first Mother's Day gift and my first non-succulent plant, and I'm glad it's still alive and just want it to thrive. Any help would be great! Pictures below.

[Kilmiquix]

I saw this happen to a Phal at the office at work. It bloomed and then later formed a keiki on the flower spike. The keiki is small but has 3 leaves already and its roots are HUGE! 3 roots, 7-8 inches long each. It looks like a crazy spider!

We were told to let it grow, but if we wanted to, we could cut the spike on each side of the keiki and pot it up.

It's wild looking! At this point, I'm not sure we could even put the keiki in a pot beacuse the roots are pure arial roots and are so long that they look like they might break.

I wouldnt wait that long again. If your keiki grows roots, i would wait until they are 2-3 inches lonf and then pot it. But i would also wait for skmeone more knowledgable than more to chime in.

Good luck!

[knitneykatherine]

Thanks for the response! I kinda would love for it to turn into a crazy spider plant, but I also really want to re-pot it at the same time. I'll practice a little patience and keep waiting to see what happens. Thanks again!

[Dollythehun]

When it gets 2-3" of roots, pot it up in an appropriately sized pot. Treat as the mother plant.

FWIW, I have potted up ariel roots with no ill effect.

[Kilmiquix]

Good to know, Dolly! I thought i read somewhere not to try to put aerial roots in the pot. That means it's not too late for the office orchid!

[aliceinwl]

I’ve also potted up aerial roots. Soak them a bit to soften them up. Sometimes they still crack. If they crack, I just wait a day or two after potting to water to give the breaks a chance to seal.