Phal Keiki Q&A

[archie1709]

I've had this Keiki for about 5 months now, if I am not mistaken.

Very healthy looking. It's mother orchid is doing well, creating more roots than ever and even giving me a new spike.

I retrieve conflicting information from various resources online about Keiki. Some are eager to harvest and repot it, others are fine with leaving it attached, air-rooted and all, and even allowing the keiki to grow its own spikes.

I am not in a hurry to repot the keiki if it is fine remaining attached to the mother orchid. I mean, keikis don't get harvested in the wild, right?

So my main question is, should I repot the keiki if both keiki and mother orchid are doing fine as-is?

See pictures from 2 weeks ago. Roots and leaves have improved even more for the keiki since this picture was taken. Thank you!

[vermin06]

If I were to leave the keiki on the mom plant, I'd make sure to water it's roots and feed it's roots, so it can sustain itself apart from the mom. Essentially treat them as individual orchids so the mom plants doesn't exhaust herself over time.

[WhiteRabbit]

If the parent and baby are both doing fine as is, there's no reason to remove the keiki if you prefer to leave it

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You're right, a wild Phalaenopsis does not have their keikis harvested. But mother nature is not always so kind...

What happens in the wild is that if the keiki is growing on the inflorescence (aka "spike"), the "spike" will eventually go dry and the keiki will have to sustain itself. Sometimes if the keiki isn't able to find a branch to attach to they are met with the fate of having to fall wherever they may land, whether it be in swamp water, on the ground, or, preferably, on another nearby branch. The best case scenario is when the keiki growing on the inflorescence gets so large and heavy that it makes the inflorescence bend onto a nearby branch before it dries out, so that the keiki will eventually attach to that branch.

This is why keikis that grow towards the base of the mother plant, or keikis that come out of the mother's roots are usually far more successful than those that emerge from the inflorescence - basal keikis and root keikis can find a point of attachment far faster.

But to answer your main question, the answer is, it doesn't matter. However, if you want the mother plant to not continue pouring part of its resources into the baby, then when it is appropriate to, remove the keiki and grow it on its own.

The choice is yours as to what you want to do with the keiki.