Help needed. Keikis without roots!

[frank5577]

Hello!

I have a lot of keikis in one orchid. I didnt write down when they started but for sure it has been more than one year. They are all without roots and I am starting to think maybe there is some problem. The leaves from the keikis however are growing.

There are 7 keikis, but some spots appear to have more than one keiki together so I think they are 9. In the photos you can see some moss, I put it three weeks ago to see if it starts making the roots but nothing so far.

Thanks for the help!

Photos htxxp://imgur .com/a/BDSRhbG

[SouthPark]

Please test your image web link - just to make sure it works.

As long as those juveniles have leaves and are alive and healthy - then everything should be fine. They will produce roots eventually if the plant keeps growing healthily.

I think in general, it's better to just let the plant eventually generate roots - just naturally.

[frank5577]

It works!

I just had to remove the http for hxxp and put a space before the .com so I could put the link. As new user to avoid spam does not allow to post urls. Just edit the link with http and removing the space and should work. Thanks!

[SouthPark]

Thanks for letting me know about the link at :

Keikis - Album on Imgur

I can now see the photos. The leaves look somewhat quite dark - perhaps it's ok. Or perhaps not enough lighting level on the plant.

One leaf looks a slightly shrivelled. Maybe not enough water. It might be better to not put the wet moss on those regions (where the keiki's are) - in case it leads to rot or something like that.

Maybe you can bump up the lighting a bit. And water a tiny bit more. But not over-do it of course.

Maintain good air-circulation (air-flow) to the plant's leaves and media and roots. Avoid still air growing (if it was growing in relatively still air).

[frank5577]

Thanks southpark!

I am afraid the mother is really weak. It was the first orchid I got and I was not putting much water so it became in weak state, then keikis appeared. This was more than one year ago. Since then I read a lot and I am sure the water is ok but mother continues weak. I was thinking maybe because the mother is weak the keikis wont grow... Also I read somewhere that 7 keikis is too much for the mother.

I will remove the moss and move it a bit more near the window and see what happens. Thanks for your comment.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by frank5577

I will remove the moss and move it a bit more near the window and see what happens. Thanks for your comment.

You're most welcome. When you move it closer to the window, to allow a bit more light onto the plant, it will likely become healthier. Make sure to provide good air-circulation. Still air isn't great for orchids.

Since you've had this plant for a year, then it appears to be doing quite ok actually. If you see the newest leaves getting shivelled, and if the roots look just fine (not rotting or brown etc), then that can mean the plant is not getting enough water into it.

If possible - give this plant a weak concentration of fertiliser - maybe once a month --- just to get what they call some needed 'vitamins' into it. It definitely doesn't need much (ie. fertililser is not bulk food ..... but consider it as some ingredients for maintaining good health).

Also - just water the media only if possible. Keep the leaves dry as possible. The water will come up through the roots and into the leaves to keep the leaves hydrated.

[Ray]

Personally, I'd cut off the spikes and focus my attention on getting the original plant to recover.