seperating basal keikis

[Stefus_Prime]

Originally Posted by JerseyGirlBecky

I have one with a basel keiki and was wondering about trimming the leaves on the mother plant. The mother is terrible with wrinkled leaves, but the keiki is blooming. A short little spike with three flowers. It was on the mother when I got it and was just a little tiny thing. I knew it was in trouble(the mother) but got it anyway to see what would happen with the baby. I have just left it on the mother, as I don,t see any roots of its own on it. Just wondering if I could trim some of the leaves off the mother plant without stressing the baby?

I remember reading up that when a mother plant feels like it is going to die it will sprout a keiki. On my mother plant I had one dying leaf that I just cut off and cauterized with a hot blade (cinnamon seems to be a better approach but I didn't know that at the time). As you can see my plants are for the most part fine now. I think the leaves usually fall off on their own though, the other members probably know better than I do since I'm still somewhat new to this.

[LadySoren]

I have a question I'll post here, but if I need to start a new thread, I will.

I purchased a mini phal a few days ago and noticed 1 maybe 2 new growths that are def not roots. The plant is currently in bloom, but starting to come out of it. I was telling myself that the new growths were new spikes, but I had a feeling they were basal keikis. Alas, I must admit to myself, that's the most likely option.
Mom plant has nice leaves, a couple of new roots, but the rest of the roots are rotting. She has been in a clay pot with no drainage, in moss.

My questions:

Do I drop pot while she's still in bloom?
Remove moss and completely repot while still in bloom?
Wait until all flowers have wilted then completely repot?

I want to save her and/or her babies. I'm scared they're all going to die right now.

[Stefus_Prime]

Some of the more senior members here probably have better advice but I would personally remove tho plant and trim the rotten roots away and repot in a pot and medium that lends itself better to drainage. The roots are far more important than the spikes.

As for the basal keikis while I did successfully seperate mine I really would not reccomend it, it's a headache getting them to recovery properly, and multiple orchids in one pot would honestly look better.

So in your situation I would prune the rotten roots, replant into a dry medium (maybe try bark if moss is giving you trouble), and into a pot that allows some air flow. This is what I've done on Oncidiums and Phas I've rescued from places like Lowes/Home Depot and it has worked very well.

Originally Posted by LadySoren

I have a question I'll post here, but if I need to start a new thread, I will.

I purchased a mini phal a few days ago and noticed 1 maybe 2 new growths that are def not roots. The plant is currently in bloom, but starting to come out of it. I was telling myself that the new growths were new spikes, but I had a feeling they were basal keikis. Alas, I must admit to myself, that's the most likely option.
Mom plant has nice leaves, a couple of new roots, but the rest of the roots are rotting. She has been in a clay pot with no drainage, in moss.

My questions:

Do I drop pot while she's still in bloom?
Remove moss and completely repot while still in bloom?
Wait until all flowers have wilted then completely repot?

I want to save her and/or her babies. I'm scared they're all going to die right now.

[LadySoren]

Should I cut the spike when I repot or just repot when in bloom and see how log it stays in bloom (not much longer I can tell)?

[Phalchid]

It's okay to let them remain on the plant. If you plan to use bark, soak well before using the medium for repotting. The plant should be alright then.