Basal keiki: remove, or not?

[lauraeli]

I have a very healthy phal with an equally healthy basal keiki. Just wondering, do you usually remove basal keikis and pot them up separately, or leave them on the parent plant, and why?

also, side note: what are these weird markings on the leaf shown in the second pic? There is one leaf on the keiki with them, and one on the parent plant. They grew out that way but seem to be only cosmetic.

[Zoi2]

Usually basal keikis are left alone as they don't always have their own roots.
The marks on your leaves look like scratches, do you have a cat?
Joann

[lauraeli]

This keiki has three long roots. And I do not have a cat :-) The marks were there as the leaf was growing. There is no external scar.

[nikkik]

I leave my keikis on the plant because I like the way it looks, especially when they are all in bloom. I remove them if the plant starts to become too much pf a space hog.

As long as you have roots to support your keiki, it's really a matter of personal choice.

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by nikkik

I leave my keikis on the plant because I like the way it looks, especially when they are all in bloom. I remove them if the plant starts to become too much pf a space hog.

As long as you have roots to support your keiki, it's really a matter of personal choice.

That is a good point, about the space. Right now it is taking up much less space than if I were to pot them up separately.

[CPC2]

Few years back, I got a phalaenopsis that is very hardy. It's going into spike for the second time this year, has put out two basal keikis and put out 2 leaves in a year. It has 9 leaves now.
After the second basal keiki sprouted, I began to wonder if I could remove it. I have a friend who's very interested in my orchids unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on the Internet. Most advice is to leave the basal keiki alone. Although I appreciate the reasons, I wanted to know the proper procedures if one were to remove the basal keiki. Eventually, I stopped researching and tried it using the same advice for removing keikis on the inflorescence.
As you can see in the pictures below, the orchid is very healthy. I used an exacto knife, pushed the mother plant roots out of the way very carefully and sliced the shoot attaching the keiki to the base, in one clean cut. I applied hydrogen peroxide (I am out of cinnamon) and potted the keiki, soaking the roots for about 2 hours.
I will definitely continue to update on the progress of the keiki and the mother plant if there is interest!


A little help: when I try to upload pictures, only the last of 5 is uploaded and attached. Not a file size problem. When I try to upload attach and upload, the previously uploaded file is simply replaced by he newly uploaded file. The files upload at roughly 25kb. Any suggestions?

[Paphluvr]

Just a guess on the leaf markings, but since it juts out over the edge of the pot could the leaf have gotten bent repeatedly at some point while it was developing and caused what would be essentially bruises?

[wintergirl]

I did remove one without any problem because they were both so big they were going sideways in the pot.