baby ?

[npastuck]

I keep reading about everyones babies. Are babies natually occuring or do I have to propagate my plants? Feed a special diet? Place plants closer together??????????

[Wynn Dee13]

Most orchids need to have their seed sown in a flask and a sterile environment. Some people do flask their own seeds but you can also buy flasks and community pots (a pot with deflasked seedlings grown together) or have a lab sow the seed for you. It takes years to get a blooming size plant when starting from seed. Some orchids like Phalaenopsis can produce keikis which are baby plants that are identical to the parent plant. There are other ways like cloning to propagate orchids too. Growing seedlings can be difficult. It is way harder than taking care of a mature orchid.

[WhiteRabbit]

I guess most people might be referring to keikis (Hawaiian for 'baby') . Some orchids are known to keiki freely - many Dens and Epis, some Phals, some Vandas and other Vandaceous - probably others as well. Others may sometimes produce keikis. Sometimes some orchids produce keikis for other reasons, included near death plants giving a last ditch effort.

People may also call seedlings (or sprouts in flasks) "babies ". WynnDee gave a good brief description of propagating from seed. It's a process.

[npastuck]

Thank you for your quick responses. I only have phals that appear very healthy looking and full of blooms. I did not know if babies were naturally occurring like with a spider plant where multiple babies just seem to form.