Keiki or not? Flower stem shoot has no roots!

[dzchaser]

Hi Everyone!

Newbie here who has a few questions. My orchid plant has two stalks and one mother root system.

Dilemma: one of the stalks clearly has a keiki plant with roots. The other stalk has a new plant that *only* has new leaf growth and a budding flower stalk growing from it, no roots! What should I do about the second growth? I took pictures...

Keiki Plant and New Leaves with Budding Flower Stem

Please help!! Thanks in advance, Everyone!

[Lana]

You can leave both keikis on the plant, or you can detach the one with roots (I think they look long enough or that), and pot it separately. The one without roots needs to stay on mother plant until it develops some roots. I think the general rule is that you have to have a total of 4" of roots.

[Lana]

BTW, both keikis look really cool Did you use something to encourage your plant to produce them, or did they decide to appear on their own?

[tucker85]

I've actually never seen that happen. The roots on the one keiki look very healthy. I agree with Lana, I wouldn't mess with the keiki with no roots. In fact I probably wouldn't do anything with either keiki until the plant finishes blooming. It looks very exotic. Good luck.

[Orchid126]

I agree with both Lana and Tucker85. Very good advice.

[dzchaser]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! We kept our keikis on the stalk - but now we have another problem!! Momma plant has dark blotches on her leaves, affecting the babies too. Here are some photos:

Original Plant
Keiki Plant #1
Keiki Plant #2

What could this mean? Is it an infection??! What should I do?

Thanks in advance, everyone!