Keiki on Brassidium hybrid?

[morbius18]

This is a division from a mother plant I have. No problems growing. I keep them outdoors in part shade and fertilize lightly every couple of weeks.

I did fertilize with fox farms organic liquid diluted heavily while this spike was growing. Is this a keiki? I've never had one on my non-dendrobium plants.

[Roberta]

Not a keiki, but a new growth. This group of orchids tends to want to climb. In nature they go up the sides of trees. (We struggle to keep them in pots and they keep climbing out that's our hang-up not the plant's problem, it's doing what it does naturally) That new growth will eventually produce roots. You can just leave it... if it wants to climb out of the medium, let it. You could also put a slab of tree fern behind it, and the roots of that climbing growth may attach to it.

[morbius18]

I'm used to each new bulb growth being a little higher and angling them slightly when repotting. This one is at the end of a 12" spike, maybe the photo wasn't clear how high it is.

The spike looked normal, then got fat. It started growing leaves and then the spike is continuing.

[Roberta]

You can think of it as a keiki... once it has roots it can be cut and potted up separately if you wish.

[Kevstar]

Wow it is beautiful!!

[SillyKeiki]

I didn't know oncidium-type orchids could produce keikis like that! I thought they only produced basal growths! A fat spike. Wow.

[Roberta]

Visualize the plant growing on a tree. It seeks an opportunity to start a new growth at a more distant point... Actually, the whole genus Cyrtochilum, in the Oncidium group, does this sort of thing to an extreme - it may produce long (like 15 ft/5 m) spikes, with keikis at many of the nodes. Eventually, those keikis will root independently along branches or in adjoining trees, and then bloom at the end. I have a Cyrtochilum falcipetalum that just kept growing and growing... it finally found the edge of the patio, grew through a small space between two pieces of shade cloth, and the tip toasted... only then did it produce flowers. I had a keiki doing really well in a basket on its own until a raccoon (I'm pretty sure) totally destroyed it. Anyhow, that growth pattern does exist in some members of the Oncidium tribe, and maybe one of these was in that plant's ancestry.

[SillyKeiki]

What an adventurous little plant!

[morbius18]

Thanks for the long detailed explanation, that helps. Do they do this as a response to stress? Similar how dying orchids try to produce keiki, or is it just another propagation method?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by morbius18

Thanks for the long detailed explanation, that helps. Do they do this as a response to stress? Similar how dying orchids try to produce keiki, or is it just another propagation method?

I think just another propagation method. In a forest, they will grow up the trunk of a tree, if they reach a branch, they may take advantage of it by establishing a growth that becomes another plant.