She won't stop w the Keikis

[Cintirella]

So my Phal, hasn't giving me flowers yet, all she keeps doing is making Keikis. I'M RUNNING OUT OF PLACE FOR THESE BABIES. Is there anything I can do for her to produce flowers instead? ( 3/15/13 gave me two Keikis )- separated on June. then 2-3 weeks ago started a new SPIKE, all nodes got bright green and now,, has a Keiki coming out of it again. ( Spike is about 4 inches long and still going. I've never seen this before.)
UPDATE !! it turns out wasn't a Keikie IT'S ANOTHER STEM ! I never knew stems SPLIT ! I'll try to upload a picture. THIS IS WEIRD !

[Bud]

It must be constantly warm in your environment. The flowers will appear if you cool down the plant in the evenings to probably 60F.
I also notice that some of the leaves are dry....a saucer with pebbles and water might help with the humidity issues. It will also serve as a warning that if it runs dry its time to put the whole plant under the sink and drench it wet.

[Cintirella]

actually it's warm in my south kitchen yes. I'm scared stiff of fungus and over watering the plants. I do have a tray w pebbles and water. I put 2 of my plants w new stems on it just now and the other ones in d living room AC in hopes of re-blooming. Thanks so much, you guys are AWESOME and have helped me so much w so many questions etc. I love it here.

[Kevin_PR]

It might not be that the plant is too warm, its warm here in PR all the time and I see phals blooming. they do need a drop in daytime and night time temps. Perhaps it could be that you are using the wrong kind of fertilizer and its making the plant continually grow.

Another thing is that seem to be quite a tall plastic pot your using for the phal. how are the roots below the surface? I notice it has roots that are coming out of the pot without any sign of being terribly pot bound. It could be that all the roots below the surface are dead and rotten, that could explain the dehydration on those old leaves and the keikis and aerial roots. Some plants will produce keikis and more sidegrowths, aerial roots, in an attempt to save itself. In other words if the plant knows its in trouble its trying to clone itself to ensure survival. Dendrobiums do this as well. If the bottom of the cane starts to rot it'll send out keikis along the stem.

[WhiteRabbit]

Too much nitrogen can prevent blooming; not sure if it could cause excessive keikis ...

What fertilizer do you use? How much? How often? Any hormone product used?

[MrHappyRotter]

I'll parrot some of the other posts. In general, an excess of nitrogen can stimulate plants to put out vegetative growth rather than flower. So can some of the products that contain plant hormones, like superthrive.

For phals specifically, a lot of them grow from spring to fall, and then flower in winter once they've been exposed to a drop in temps.

[RJSquirrel]

too much nitrogen promotes leaf growth at the expense of the root system. Im tend to agree back off the heavy nitrogen fertilizer if thats what you have been using. Try some fish emulsion


its so wrong to tell a new orchid lover to put fish emulsion on their plants in the kitchen

[Cintirella]

The plant got repotted few months back when the 1st Keiki showed up ( in March )- Roots are clean and new medium. I don't know why she seems dry. But she's sitting a a pebble tray and I mist the aeral roots now often in hopes it will help. I live in Chicago now, came from Fla and so is the plant. So even tho weather is different, she adapted well. The spike started coming out few weeks back and I thought was going to flower, and perhaps it will, is just when I saw the curvature on the spike that I noticed ALL THE NODES TURNED BRIGHT GREEN AND that 1 kinda exploded to what I think is a new Keiki. I use MIracle grown Orchid food is 30-10-10 every other week and sometimes once a month.

---------- Post added at 08:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ----------

Miracle Grow is 30-10-10 every other week- or every 2 and sometimes just once a month.

---------- Post added at 08:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 PM ----------

no hormones

[Island Girl]

Yea, might be too much nitrogen... Try a balanced fert. like 20-20-20, or 7-9-5, or such. And the temp drop doesn't have to be to a specific temp (like 65°), it just needs to be 10-15° lower than the day (for two or three weeks)

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

too much nitrogen promotes leaf growth at the expense of the root system. Im tend to agree back off the heavy nitrogen fertilizer if thats what you have been using. Try some fish emulsion


its so wrong to tell a new orchid lover to put fish emulsion on their plants in the kitchen

Oooh, RJ ...you make a good point about the fish fert!

[Cintirella]

Miracle grow 30-10-10

---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 PM ----------

Eskevingo: what fertilizer you suggest?