Please help! Keiki? on a dying/dead plant

[Bribie]

Hello everyone, I’m new here!

I have a dying (or it might be already dead) phal with enlarged node, maybe a keiki, from my friend. The friend’s daughter is very frail and emotionally attached to this orchid and they are very hopeful to see the baby of this plant if the plant can’t survive though I have no experience with keiki.
The phal was rotted everywhere except this stem. I cleaned and cut all rotted black parts off and sprayed hydrogen peroxide and let it dried and sprayed again for a few times.
I had to cut about half of its crown off.

I placed this on wet sphagnum and mould started around the crown. Then I put this in a tall glass jar with sphagnum on its bottom and the crown started to mold. I sprayed it again yesterday and it bubbles a little. Let it dried and sprinkled cinnamon on it. I don’t know if this plant is still alive or not. Is there any chance this keiki (if it’s a keiki) survive? What should I do? I think the keiki (?) is bigger since I received this about 3 weeks ago though the growth is very slowly.

[Roberta]

You could lay the portion with the roots on some sphagnum and see what happens. But I think the odds are pretty slim that those roots will develop into a plant from just a cut stem. If it had been left attached to the mother plant (even if that one was on the way out) it would have had a source of nutrients, giving a somewhat better chance of becoming a separate plant.

[aliceinwl]

I’ve got keikis to the point where they developed leaves but have never been able to get one to develop roots from cut stems. My recommendation would be to cut the stem at the base, put it in a glass of water, get some Kelpmax and switch out the water with a solution of Kelpmax weekly for 24hrs, and then go back to plain water for the rest of the week, and hope for the best.

I haven’t tried the Kelpmax with mine yet, but this is my plan if I get another keiki on a cut spike.

Also hydrogen peroxide kills all tissue (even the plant’s) so it’s not recommended to ever get it on the roots. It sounds, however, like the mother plant was probably beyond saving when you got it.

Good luck!

[SouthPark]

Hi there Bribie. A keiki typically consists of baby leaves plus roots. I can't see any shoots or growth from those roots. Any leaves in that region?

---------- Post added at 05:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

Ok ...... I can see what's happening now. I can see a mass of roots, where I assumed was supposed to be the keiki. But now, I can see that nodule or something in the middle part of this stalk or stem.

For this case, just got to try anything that provides some hope, such as what Roberta or Alice mentioned.

Maybe even a properly executed 'sphag and bag' method could help ----- to see if leaves grow from that nodule. For now, one aim will be to keep those roots alive and functioning ----- and getting moisture into the stalk/stem, not allowing that stem to dehydrate. But at the same time, not allowing harmful fungal activity or bacterial activity to occur.

Totally agree about the warning about the hydrogen peroxide. Don't get it on roots.

[Bribie]

Thank you, all for your advice.
My biggest problem with this in water or on sphagnum is mold development around the crown. How do I treat the mold without using H2O2?

[SouthPark]

Some gentle air-movement around the orchid can help to cut down on or prevent that kind of activity.

Otherwise - maybe a copper spray for plants could help. Or an orchid-recommended fungicide.

[Bribie]

Okay! Thank you, South Park!

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Bribie

Thank you, all for your advice.
My biggest problem with this in water or on sphagnum is mold development around the crown. How do I treat the mold without using H2O2?

I don't see any sign of a crown... looks like just some roots. Once the crown is gone, it isn't coming back... on a substantial plant, when the crown is damaged, new basal growths (not really keikis) can grow, drawing on the mother plant (which would no longer be growing but still has leaves and roots to supply energy) . Here, there doesn't appear to be anything left to generate a new plant. I'd suggest just laying on on some damp sphagnum (keep damp but not soggy) and see if anything grows. But don't get you hopes up.

[Bribie]

No sign of a crown.... because I had to trim all the badly affected area off but it used to be a crown on top of the dried roots (lol)
It is now laying on the sphagnum and I’ll post if anything happens to it. Thank you!

[SouthPark]

Thanks for explaining bribie. Since the roots are dried - assuming not alive, then that flower stalk (assuming it's a flower stalk) will probably not be able to support the growth of the nodule ----- assuming that the nodule is a growth for new leaves.

While plants do occasionally provide amazing surprises as to what they can do, or what they're capable of, the world has probably not yet seen vegetative propagation of orchids from detached flower stalks/spikes.

Roberta's comment is a very good one, regarding hopes. The best we can do is to provide conditions that keeps that stalk on life-support (ICU) and see what happens from there. I'm sure that there would be, or could be some technology that would allow a top laboratory (either now or in the future) to grab some cells and form new plants from it.