Lepanthes gargoyla keiki

[Fishkeeper]

I've got a keiki! This was on the plant when it came, but I didn't recognize it because the stems were tiny and it didn't have any roots.
It now has a stem about 3" long, one about 2" long, and a few small roots. Both stems have small, half-furled leaves at the tips, and it's growing steadily.

How big does this need to be before I can take it off the parent? I moved it after the photo, propping its roots on top of some liverwort so it can't root into anything. I can't let it root down there because it won't have any room for its leaves when it gets bigger, and the only spot I have that'll work for it is out of reach without cutting it off the parent plant.
Also, is there any way to fertilize it to help it get to that point faster?

[Leafmite]

I haven't tried separating the little plants from mine. Do not be afraid to experiment as gargoyla will create more.

[Fishkeeper]

I'm thinking of waiting until the keiki's leaves are fully unfurled and it has a few more roots. I'm not going to try to peel it off the mother's leaf, I think I'm just going to cut the parent plant's leaf off, it's got way more leaves.

Do gargoyla send out keikis frequently, then? This one's also been flowering for a couple weeks straight now, new blooms right after the others, but that leaf with the baby isn't blooming. Not surprising, it's occupied.

[Leafmite]

Mine sends out quite a few keikis.

[Fishkeeper]

This plant now has no fewer than 4 additional keikis, that I can find, bringing the total to 5.

Yeah, "quite a few keikis" is accurate. At this rate, I'm gonna have them all over the terrarium, and still have enough to give them away to people I know who'd like them. Not that I'm complaining, of course! They're really cool plants.

[Leafmite]

This is a fun little plant!

[Fishkeeper]

L. gargoyla is rapidly becoming my favorite. It looks so weird, it flowers readily, it's busy cloning itself, and it's very easy to grow so far.

[Leafmite]

I really like this one, too. Someone gave me this one and the flowers look pretty neat, especially under a magnifying glass. That it is easy to grow makes it a real winner.

The problem with choosing a favorite orchid is that the variety of orchids is just astounding. I just finished sorting through my collection last month, keeping only the orchids I really love, and I now have only 43 favorite orchids.