Pleione keikis spontaneously fallen off... what do I do with them now?

[RosieC]

My pleione has been growing what someone here told me are keikis. They also told me they would spontaneously drop off... that's just happened but they don't have any roots.

Anyone know what I should do with these tiny tiny bulbs. For an idea of scale I took these pics on my jeans and you can see the grain of the denim.

I've currently propped them against the edge of the pot the mother is in with the base end down. Is that the best thing to do?

[johnblagg]

looks like in the wild they would drop onto the ground or catch in a fork of a tree so I would lay them on top of whatever type medium you use ...maybe press them in just a bit and let them root

[neb]

They know what to do on there own

[Andrew]

Rosie,
I think bulbils, rather than keikis, is the more commonly used term for referring to these plantlets. Pot up the bulbils as you would do if you were potting up one of the bulbs, ie cover up to the bottom 1/3 of the bulbil with potting mix leaving the rest exposed. You can put them back in the parent pot but I prefer to put them in a separate pot. They're very easy to lose when you repot the parent and they tend to make the parent's pot look overcrowded and messy, particularly if there several mature plants in the parent's pot.

The leaf should die off as the plant goes into dormancy and the bulbil will reshoot from the base in spring. Plants grown from bulbils do take a couple of years to get big enough to flower.

[RosieC]

Thanks everyone.

Andrew... the parent bulb is actually just on the sufrace, not with the bottom 1/3 covered. The nursary I bought them from had all their Pleione bulbs at the surface with the roots then going down from there. I've not repotted it yet as I bought them arround March.

I think I'm going to pot these up seperately as it will look crowded in the pot the parent is in.

The leaves on the parent are just starting to show brown tips. This is a hybrid called Red Poll (although I don't think it's registered and I don't know the parents). I also have a maculata species and the leaves on that are speckled with brown spots but the nursary told me that the maculata leaves die off earlier than the Red Poll so I think that's normal.

Do you think I should bury the bulb (and these bulbils) deeper when I repot. Also do you know when I should repot, is that done during the dormant period?

A final question. This plant had a bulb and two growths when I bought it. One growth flowered and the other didn't. The growth that flowered is now quite fat with an obvious new bulb to replace the old one (which has shrivled as well as growing these bulbils) but the growth that didn't flower has not fattened in the same way. Does that sound like normal growth patten for these?

Thanks again for the advise.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Do you think I should bury the bulb (and these bulbils) deeper when I repot.

I don't know whether it's necessary but this is how I usually see Pleione potted so I have always done the same. I usually cover them to 1/2 the bulbs depth so that when the bulbs are watered in the mix usually settles to cover the bottom 1/3 of the bulb.

Originally Posted by RosieC

Also do you know when I should repot, is that done during the dormant period?

Yes, repot during dormancy so that you don't disturb the actively growing roots. Discard the old shrivelled bulb and trim the roots in the new bulb back to make them easier to repot. I usually trim the roots on the bulb back to about an inch just to anchor it to the mix. The roots on the bulb don't feed the new growth so there's no harm in cutting them off.

Originally Posted by RosieC

A final question. This plant had a bulb and two growths when I bought it. One growth flowered and the other didn't. The growth that flowered is now quite fat with an obvious new bulb to replace the old one (which has shrivled as well as growing these bulbils) but the growth that didn't flower has not fattened in the same way. Does that sound like normal growth patten for these?

It's not uncommon for them to favour putting energy into one bulb like that. I find that if the old bulb is big to support two bulbs it will. If it's not it tends put its energy into producing one big growth and gives the other growth(s) whatever is left over.

I read your other post about this plant. I'd also suggest your plant is likely to be Pleione Erebus 'Redpoll'. The RHS treats Pleione a bit differently to other orchids and seems to put more emphasis on register cultivars than it does with other orchids. This may have something to do with Pleione being more popular amongst bulb growers than orchid growers in the UK and Europe. They used to publish the list of Pleione cultivars on the RHS website, but since they rejigged their website I haven't been able to find it.

[tim abbott]

Congratulations and good growing, RosieC, those are neet little plants. Always exciting to have additional plants grow from existing ones.

Tim Abbott

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I don't know whether it's necessary but this is how I usually see Pleione potted so I have always done the same. I usually cover them to 1/2 the bulbs depth so that when the bulbs are watered in the mix usually settles to cover the bottom 1/3 of the bulb.

Yes, repot during dormancy so that you don't disturb the actively growing roots. Discard the old shrivelled bulb and trim the roots in the new bulb back to make them easier to repot. I usually trim the roots on the bulb back to about an inch just to anchor it to the mix. The roots on the bulb don't feed the new growth so there's no harm in cutting them off.

Thanks I'll do just that. I know the nursary also said that the old roots are not needed as it grows new ones each year.

Originally Posted by Andrew

It's not uncommon for them to favour putting energy into one bulb like that. I find that if the old bulb is big to support two bulbs it will. If it's not it tends put its energy into producing one big growth and gives the other growth(s) whatever is left over.

Cool, I looked again last night and the second growth HAS fattened a little but is significantly smaller. The bigger growth is about the size the old bulb was before it wrinkled (maybe a little bigger).

Originally Posted by Andrew

I read your other post about this plant. I'd also suggest your plant is likely to be Pleione Erebus 'Redpoll'. The RHS treats Pleione a bit differently to other orchids and seems to put more emphasis on register cultivars than it does with other orchids. This may have something to do with Pleione being more popular amongst bulb growers than orchid growers in the UK and Europe. They used to publish the list of Pleione cultivars on the RHS website, but since they rejigged their website I haven't been able to find it.

Really interesting. Maybe I'll ask the nursary about this because I would love to know for certain. Apart from Phals (which they seem to buy in and sell on) this nursary seems to have everything carefully tagged that they cultivate themselves. Hopefully they might know more details. Even if they don't know I think it is likely that as you say the cultivar name has been emphasised, but I would love to know the 'proper' name if at all possible.

Thanks again for all the advice.