Keiki with long straight out roots - Orchid Board

monivik · #1 07-10-2019, 11:21 AM

So I decided to cut this keiki from the mother plant and put it in it's own pot, she has 3 roots, which I'm hoping will be enough.

The thing is that the mother plant (I got it from an old lady) is in a really poor condition, it's got crown rot and only has one short root left. However it had 2 keikis, the one I just mentioned with 3 roots and a small one with no roots. I made the decision to separate the one with the roots in order to encourage the smaller one to grow it's own roots too. Anyway that has succeeded well, it's got two small roots all ready I'm going to let it grow bigger and hopefully more roots.

Back to the first keiki, the one I repotted. So this is a couple of weeks back already. The thing is that the 3 roots it's got are straight out, I mean horizontally when you try to put it in a pot. Besides the roots are so long that the "normal" sized pot, well... it just doesn't fit. I also don't want to place a small keiki in a huge pot

So I had to improvise and use something I could find that was a bit wider, I made holes in it for ventilation, and yet the roots literally stick straight out on the sides of the pot.

Now the thing is that I've got it sitting on bark, but I'm afraid that it will not retain much moisture and I don't want it's roots to dry out. Also there's no point in watering the entire pot and bark mix since there are no roots in it. So what I've done is that I've put a little bit of spaghnum moss sort of around and on top of the roots.

How to water it? What I've been doing is that I've been spraying it on top with just water once a day. (I'm very careful not to get any water in the crown of the leaves.) The air in my house though is rather dry to be honest, and I do notice by the end of the day when I get home the spaghnum is completely dry. Is the spraying once a day enough do you think?

Also I've noticed that the root tips have started to dry out.

Is there anything I can do to promote more root growth on this one? Hopefully the roots will grow into the medium, that would be nice.

WaterWitchin · #2 07-11-2019, 11:05 AM

Not enough humidity or water if you're misting and spagh is dry by end of day. That's why you're losing the root tips.

Were it mine, I'd soak the heck out of the roots, then repot in a smaller pot. When you repot, tip the plant sideways and get those roots down into the pot and covered. That's the way the leaves are in nature anyway...tipped to the side so water tends to run off and not into the crown.

Edit: Similar to this... although this is a big phal I was repotting, not a keiki:

monivik · #3 07-15-2019, 06:15 AM

[QUOTE=WaterWitchin;898807]Not enough humidity or water if you're misting and spagh is dry by end of day. That's why you're losing the root tips.

Were it mine, I'd soak the heck out of the roots, then repot in a smaller pot. When you repot, tip the plant sideways and get those roots down into the pot and covered. That's the way the leaves are in nature anyway...tipped to the side so water tends to run off and not into the crown. /QUOTE]

Thanks. The planting the plant sideways... hmm... that sounds like a good idea. Only thing is, I've got to see if it's possible for me to get at least 2 of the roots into the medium in this case, since all 3 roots are growing in complete opposite directions. There will always be at least one root sticking out upwards then.

But the interesting thing is... I just picked up the orchid from the medium and to my surprise... she's already growing a new root into the medium. I just placed it back then but with more spaghnum moss underneath it and around it, so that it doesn't dry out as quickly now.

Ray · #4 07-15-2019, 09:06 AM

1) Next time, don't wait so long to remove the keiki and pot it up! 8-10 cm of total root length is sufficient. What was that, 40-50?

2) Maybe it's just the sphagnum, but it looks to be potted a little too deeply.

3) If the bark you used isn't retaining enough moisture, you either didn't prep it right, or chose the wrong medium for the type of plant in your conditions.

monivik · #5 07-17-2019, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

1) Next time, don't wait so long to remove the keiki and pot it up! 8-10 cm of total root length is sufficient. What was that, 40-50?

2) Maybe it's just the sphagnum, but it looks to be potted a little too deeply.

3) If the bark you used isn't retaining enough moisture, you either didn't prep it right, or chose the wrong medium for the type of plant in your conditions.

No, the roots are 10-12 cm long, the longest one 12, just checked. But yeah, I got the orchid with the keiki already on it like that. An elderly lady gave it to me, complaining that her orchid (the mother plant) never gave any more flowers for a long time, when the orchid itself had crown rot I noticed first thing I saw. No wonder.

Yeah, I hope that this will work, the way I placed the orchid now. Thanks.