Orchids Growing Out of Control!!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by PhalinVA

Thanks everyone for your advice. King of Orchid Growing, are you sure those are keikis and not big leaflets of flower spike? What are the chances of three orchids having keikis at the same time where the flower spike should be (not along spike...they came out like that without developing actual spike)?

New growths on Phals tend to look like the beginnings of spikes growing, when they may not even be spikes at all.

I'm 100% sure they're not "big leaflets of flower spike".

The bracts on the inflorescence of Phals are not that large.

[orchidsamore]

Compared to commercial nurseries, your roots are under control and look good. 20-30 roots over 18 inches long is when I am out of control.

You have at least three basel keiki and a full pot of roots so it can be re-potted into a larger pot. A 5 inch pot is sufficient. You can at that time place the plant deeper in the pot to cover the roots exposed under the leaves.

Ignore the roots starting to grow higher.

Phalaenopsis naturally grow from tree branches hanging down, not upside-down in pots. Genetically the roots grow up to attach to the branch. Phals live and thrive in pots so learn to live with its few idiosyncrasies.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by orchidsamore

Phalaenopsis naturally grow from tree branches hanging down, not upside-down in pots. Genetically the roots grow up to attach to the branch. Phals live and thrive in pots so learn to live with its few idiosyncrasies.

What he means, is that Phals hang pendulously off the tree branches or tree trunks in the wild, they don't grow upright in pots.

[PhalinVA]

I am shocked and excited at the same time! I have five unexpected keikis all the sudden!

One more question - when I didn't know how to care for orchids back in Feb, I kept adding ice cubes and some of bottom leaves and roots on surface rotted. I cut them out later on when I repot but did not cover the space because I was afraid if I cover the roots, it was going to cause the roots rot again. Now as you can see in the pictures, the orchids are growing roots from upper leaves towards bottom probably because there's hollow space where the rotten leaves and roots used to be. There are still a few weak and small leaves hanging at the bottom and they don't seem to be dying...still green. If I cover the bottom with medium to pot it "deeper", what do I do with those leaves at the bottom? Aren't they going to rot if I bury them under the medium? Is it going to damage the plant at all or is it natural to pot it deeper as the orchid grow taller and lose bottom leaves?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'd leave them as is until the bottom leaves fall off. It won't be long before they do (I'd say about sometime next year).

Here's the thing, the dead portion of the plant on the bottom will eventually dry up and weaken structurally. On the next repotting session, you may check to see if you're able to safely remove the bottom dead portion of the Phal just by snapping it off by hand. Try not to force the issue, if they don't want to come off, that portion of the plant may just look dead, but may still be very much alive. If cleaning the plants up will cause the good portions of the plant to be damaged, then I'd leave them alone until a better opportunity comes along.

[MandaneWiser]

IT'S ORCHIDS GONE WILD!! Feed me Seymour ..Feed me!! Haha...looks to me that your doing a great job!!

[FSUOrchids]

Those look healthy. I do think that there are some types of phals that seem more succeptible to producing basal keikis than others. I have one phal in my collection that did this, but no others. Although it was a rescue that was like that when i found it.