Are these Keikis?

[gebers]

This is my girlfriends orchid.

I noticed these a long time ago, but only recently learned about keikis and was wondering if thats what these are?
Or is that how this species grows?

If they are, can someone refer me to a thread or tut on what I should do with them?

Also, the plant has not bloomed in quite some time; she thinks it is possibly over a year by now. Is that normal?

Not sure as to what kind of food she is giving or when, sorry can't be me more specific about that until I ask her.

Best.
Matt

[TylerK]

They're definately keikis. You can leave them on the plant or pot them up on their own once they get a bit bigger. I wouldn't remove them from the mother plant though until they have a couple growths on them.

It looks like a Dendrobium of some kind, so if it's not blooming you're likely either not giving it enough light, or it may need a bit of a winter rest (cooler temperatures and kept on the dry side) to set spikes instead of more keikis.

Tyler

[quiltergal]

Matt, I can't tell from the pictures but do the canes have little black hairs on them? If they do then it's a Dendrobium from the Formosae section. They like to grow on the warm side, need plenty of water and food during active growth (which should be now), and very bright light.

The pot looks too big for the plant, and the canes look a bit shriveled suggesting either it's not getting watered enough, or it's been watered too much and the roots have rotted. The Keikis may be a last ditch effort by the plant to save itself. I'd pull it out of the pot and check the root system. If it's intact I'd move to a smaller plastic pot. Clay allows for faster drying of the media so you have to water more often. Clear plastic allows you to see what's going on in the rootzone.

[Zoi2]

I agree with quiltergal with the addition of: Is that a water bulb sticking in the pot? If so, I'd remove it, they do not work for orchids.
Joann

[gebers]

Alright...so this dendro could most likely use more water, I know she says she rarely waters it.

It definitely has enough light, its in the brightest part of the house.

Zoi2: No, not a water bulb, its a decorative mushroom. lol


Next question is how many keikis are here??

There are obviously the two new ones that are shooting out to the right, but the roots have been growing from the stalks for 6+ months now. Are the growths growing up to the left also keikis?

Im a bit confused about where I'm going to need to seperate these, I don't want to hurt her mother. I want to get them off soon so I can help her get the mom healthy again and blooming.
Any chance we can get the mother to bloom this year? Or should we just get the keikis off, let it rest for the winter and try some time next year?

Thanks for everyones help, you guys are great

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Is that a mushroom growing out of the side of the pot? If it is, your girlfriend should remove it.

The plant looks overpotted, and dehydrated, possibly due to heavy root loss. Check the roots
and send us some pics if you can to verify if you're not sure.

Those keikis appear to be the plant's last ditch effort to survive.

This Dendrobium may not be from the Formosae section. If your girlfriend got this plant from Trader Joe's, Lowe's, OSH, or the Home Depot, it most likely isn't from section Formosae (although on very rare occassions it could be).

It also is most likely not from the section Latouria either (same as above).

Both Formosae and Latouria are more specialties because they're weird and unusual. Orchid nurseries are the ones that carry them to a much greater extent. Hybrids of both Latouria and Formosae section Dendrobiums are available.

A very well known example of a Formosae section Dendrobium is Den. suzukii:

IOSPE PHOTOS

An example of a Latouria section Dendrobium is Den. spectabile:

IOSPE PHOTOS

Another Latouria is Den. eximium:

IOSPE PHOTOS

Your girlfriend most likely has a Dendrobium from the section Spathulata or Phalaenanthe.

Spathulata:

IOSPE PHOTOS

Phalaenanthe:

IOSPE PHOTOS

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by gebers

Alright...so this dendro could most likely use more water, I know she says she rarely waters it.

It definitely has enough light, its in the brightest part of the house.

Zoi2: No, not a water bulb, its a decorative mushroom. lol


Next question is how many keikis are here??

There are obviously the two new ones that are shooting out to the right, but the roots have been growing from the stalks for 6+ months now. Are the growths growing up to the left also keikis?

Im a bit confused about where I'm going to need to seperate these, I don't want to hurt her mother. I want to get them off soon so I can help her get the mom healthy again and blooming.
Any chance we can get the mother to bloom this year? Or should we just get the keikis off, let it rest for the winter and try some time next year?

Thanks for everyones help, you guys are great

They're too young to separate. Leave them on for now. Wait till the roots get much longer and they produce their first set of leaves at the very earliest, or second set. Of course if they can stand to be on longer, the better. Eventually you don't have to cut them off, you can just remove them. Or you may twist them off when they get larger.

[TylerK]

Difficult to tell from the picture, but it looks like you have two masses of roots, so two keikis. One on each cane with 2(?) growths on each. You could remove them now, or you could just let them be. Personally, I'd leave them until I know what state the mother plant is in. If it has a good root system I'd just leave the whole thing be and water it a little more often. If the roots are rotten I'd remove the keikis and pot them up separately so the mother plant can concentrate energy on building new roots and new growths.

The canes you have now likely will not bloom at all. They decided to grow Keikis instead of blooms. You will have to wait for a new growth to mature before you get blooms again. That could happen on the Keikis before it happens on the mother plant...especially if you leave them on.

Do you know what the flowers look like? May just be bad eyesight, but I don't see any black hairs on the stalks. For some reason it really reminds me of a Den atroviolaceum that I used to have.

[orchidsamore]

Orchids have growing 'eyes' out the side of each Dendrobium cane at the level of the potting medium. When those eyes die from any reason you will get shriveled canes and lots of keiki. This also happens with Cattleya where the eye also is at the base of the pseudobulb.

Eyes can die from too much water, too little, sun burn, physical damage or a multitude of fungal or bacterial infections.

As long as you grow plants you will lose some.

By the way keiki is Hawaiian for child or children. I believe it is singular or plural. Not that is matters much.

Your keiki are large enough to remove. You should expect the plant to die after all are removed. While this is not definite the plant is struggling to reproduce before it dies. The keiki will help you girlfriend get over the lose of the original plant.

When you remove the keiki I would take 1 to 1 1/2 inches of the original cane along with the new plant and roots. Let it dry a couple of days to seal the cuts and then pot it. They should grow and flower nicely. I find that taking part of the original cane makes the transition easier on the keiki.

[gebers]

Got a chance to look at the roots today, these are what they look like....not great right?

Also, found the tag that came with it, she said the blooms look just like the tag.

Any more advice??