phaleonopsis has keikis but no spikes or blooms

[laynie7]

I am by no means an orchid cultivator, but I love the flowers. I have a phaleonopsis orchid that was given to me as a gift. After the initial blooms fell off it hasn't bloomed again. I have had it for over a year. It has beautiful leaves and seems to be healthy with the exception of no blooms. Last week i noticed what looked like 'catepillars' coming off the new leaf that developed a couple weeks ago. After some research online, I learned from this forum that they are keikis. So basically I don't know what i need to do from here. do i leave the keikis alone and just allow the plant to grow. I have never seen or noticed any spikes so i don't know if this is normal. I pretty ignorant as to the care of this beautiful flower. Does it need repotted? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hmmm...

I don't think those "caterpillars" are keikis.

Phalaenopsis don't keiki often.

Do you have a pic?

I think those are flower spikes. Not sure, if you can post a pic, it'd be easier to nail down what it actually is.

[laynie7]

Here are the pictures. Thank you so much for your help.

[Sandy4453]

Those are roots growing on the keiki. Once there are 3 roots, about 2 inches long, you can cut the spike it's on and pot it seperately OR, you can leave it like it is. I've got quite a few keikis on my Phals and one that I left on the spike, from last year. That keiki grew a spike and is now blooming. I'll look for the photos I posted here and report back to show you. For now, let the keiki grow. Typically, the best way to ensure spiking is to cut down the old spike after the blooms are spent...unless the spike is growing another plant/keiki.

[Sandy4453]

Here's a pic of the keiki still on the spike and is now blooming from it's own spike.

And here's a thread with lots of info. and pics of keikis that you may find helpful. http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ason-ever.html

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Yup.

Roots on a keiki.

If the Phal is putting energy into making keikis, it will usually devote less energy into making flowers, unless it has enough energy to do both at the same time.

[laynie7]

Thanks for all the help. It is much appreciated. But having gotten to totally separate answers as to what I need to do I am once again at a loss. do I remove these Keikis/Roots of do I leave them to grow. If I should remove them, how would I do that with out causing stress or hurting the mother plant? And when I remove them, do I understand that I need to repot them, then I will have new plants? How would I repot them? I am sorry I am so ignorant in all of this. All the help I have been given is more useful and appreciated than you know.

[quiltergal]

Laynie, if you want a genetically identical plant to your mother plant then leave the Keiki on the spike until it has a total of 6-8 inches of root growth(2 3" roots, 3 2" roots, etc). You can then cut the spike all the way back to the mother plant. Trim the spike up to where the Keiki emerged on both sides and pot it up on it's own. With adequate light, feeding and temp drop in the fall your mother plant should bloom again the next bloom cycle. As King said it probably won't do both. It certainly won't hurt the mother plant to leave the Keiki on. There are some Phals that are great multi taskers, equestris is a good example. Mine can grow a new leaf, new roots, bloom and grow Keikis all at the same time. That's not the norm however. To encourage faster root growth on the Keiki mist the existing roots until they turn green. This will also help take the stress off mom.