What should I pot Den. Keiki's in?

[cabbo]

These 2 keiki's (old picture) have 6-8 roots now of various legnths and are ready to pot up. I cant decide what to use though. Windowsill grower, 50% to 70% humidity, avg. household temps. I have sphag, CHC, coco fiber, charcoal, and good ole bark available. What would you use?

[cabbo]

bmp

[cabbo]

No suggestions after 3 days? I'm disappointed.

[Triffid]

Originally Posted by cabbo

No suggestions after 3 days? I'm disappointed.

Perhaps folks are on hols?

Must admit I would like to hear some responses to this one.

Though I would have presumed that you would pot up the Keiki's in the same medium they are eventually going to be potted in when adult so to speak!? Just a thought.

[calvin_orchidL]

How bout the same media as what the original parent plant is growing in? If that works for you, why not! What kind of a dendrobium is this?

[Tropicgirl]

Looks like a nobile type, am I right? I had potted up some keikis in a mix of bark and charcoal and they seem to be doing well. I also just mounted one on a piece of driftwood a few weeks ago and it's doing very well. I have never had luck with dens in sphag, I tend to overwater and they end up with root rot.

[cabbo]

Originally Posted by calvin_orchidL

How bout the same media as what the original parent plant is growing in? If that works for you, why not! What kind of a dendrobium is this?

Yea, thats part of the problem. This is a NOID rescue from Lowes and I forget what it was in when I got it. It's in a bark/sphag mix of mine now but I dont know what it "should" be in. I dont have much experience with dendrobium so I thought I'd get some suggestions.

[orchidsamore]

It is definitely a Nobile type Dendrobium. It is only one season away from being a keiki itself.

Normally I lose these if I remove them this young.

To grow them best you should take about one inch of original cane when cutting the keiki from the parent. However, here if you do that there is nothing growing on the original plant and you may lose it.

Removing the keiki without some of the cane never seems to work. I threw away many before deciding it could not be done with any regularity.

I would wait until you have new growth on the original plant from the base.

If Lowe's damaged it too much you may not get this growth. Then cutting the keiki off as a pair with some cane and re-potting it is all you can do.

In general keiki need to be kept moist and I grow them in pure sphagnum. Letting them dry out terminates the root growth and with keiki they are too small to recover.

It is almost impossible to over water Nobile type as they go from monsoon rains to desert conditions every year. The parents can take a lot of abuse but the keiki need to be moist with the food reservoir of a portion of cane.

If you want to try to get two keiki from this plant then cut the cane about 1 inch above and 1 inch below the keiki. then separate them by cutting diagonally through the cane between the keiki.

[Lorraine]

Looks like a nobile type to me too. I have a few kiekis also and put them in a clear plastic pot with only charcoal. It got watered 2x week and fert. 1x week. The reward was 33 blooms last month. Here are a couple pictures of what it looks like in the pot. Make sure it does not move around in the pot at all. It has to be tight. I potted these up last Sept. Hope this helps.

[dounoharm]

i have always had gl just taking the keiki off the stem...without part of the stem intact.....ii have never lost one...pot in a mix of chc and charcoal and perlite.....pot it tight, and water twice a week....