NOID Paphiopedlium Keiki's?

[Dendy83]

Hi everyone, it's been a very very long time since I posted, but I guess that's a good thing seeing as I haven't needed advice! Growing orchids has been great and I finally found my groove. But now, I've got a conundrum that I haven't been able to find through my books and google. There's not much out there regarding Paph keiki's. I'm pretty sure my NOID Paphiopedlium has not just 1...but 4 keiki's?? Or maybe they are just new growths? Can anyone verify and provide some advice? I found a video on YouTube that will help with the keiki near the top because I noticed the roots kept drying out, so I wrapped some moss around it to help it out. Will I need to separate all these keiki's and will the mother plant die? Did I mess up that badly that the mother plant just exploded with babies to survive? I included a photo of when it bloomed to give an idea on identification. Thank you in advance for your help.







Edit: I think I see the sizing issue now, I edited the photos. Hopefully that helps.

[estación seca]

Your Paph is making normal growth from the base, the way Paphs normally grow. So these are not called keikis.

The word keiki is used very loosely, and this leads to confusion. It means a small plantlet growing from a place the plant would not normally make new growths. It does not mean a normal growth from the normal place the plant grows.

As an example, most Phalaenopsis make growths from the base of the plant. Sometimes they make plantlets on the flower stalk. These are called keikiis.

As another example, Dendrobiums in the nobile group normally make growth from the very base. Those are not called keikiis. If they are fertilized too late in the season, they make new plantlets from the stems where flowers should have formed. Those plantlets are called keikiis because that isn't where Den. nobiles normally make growths.

Paphs grow and bloom better as large plants, so try not to separate the growths unless you can't help it. Most people repot Paphs every 1-2 years as growth begins, and they often fall apart.

[Dendy83]

Thank you very much! So you would leave the top two (I have a growth on both stems) alone for as long as possible?

Second question, the leaves on the main plant are looking faded, does that mean it is not getting enough light or too much?

Thank you again for your response, I wish there was more out there about Paph's and new growths regarding care.

[estación seca]

I have a lot of trouble seeing your photos on my desktop. They are enormous and overflow the screen. But with scrolling and panning I see you do, indeed, have keikiis on your plant, coming from the old flower stem. This is very unusual with Paphs. I can't tell whether you've tried to layer them by enclosing them in a pot with sphagnum, but this is the right thing to do. When they are rooted you can cut them off from the plant and let them grow on separately.

[aliceinwl]

When was the last time it was repotted? I wouldn’t try to divide the plant, but if you could repot in such a way that the new growths are able to send down roots into the substrate that might help.

I’ve read that Paphs producing elevated new growths like this is symptomatic of them needing to be repotted.

Once the original growth has bloomed, it won’t bloom again and over the course of time will slowly die. The leaf fading sounds natural. The new growths are also natural, but mine have never been this elevated.

---------- Post added at 01:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 PM ----------

If I’m interpreting your photo correctly it’s looking like the new growths are on an elevated runner, not old flower stalks.

[Dendy83]

Thank you both very much. I included a photo of one of the upper growths before I wrapped it in moss.



I'm not sure about the sizing issue, it looks fine on my PC...I did this image a bit smaller I think. Hopefully that helps.

Anyways, I received this from a friend about 3 years ago. I repotted it when I received it in a mixture of bark and sphagnum moss. I'm not sure if it's my watering schedule (once a week they get a soak, about once a month they get light fertilizer), the media, or the lighting, but it never seemed truly happy in my care. It did eventually bloom though, so I guess that's something. I have not repotted it since. When I got it had the two plants in the one pot and so I left them like that.

Would you recommend repotting, or letting the new growths get bigger then repotting?

[estación seca]

I would cut off aerial acrobats and pot up separately. If you're not going to take the plant to a show you could pot with the parent plant. Show plants must have only one plant per pot.

[aliceinwl]

Maybe replace the moss and see if the aerial growths will produce some viable roots and once they do, separate them. If you have the luxury of time, I think this will optimize the chances of them all surviving. If you cut them as is, they won’t have the root mass to support the leaves.

These do well in fairly low light. I grow mine in a north facing window. I recently got some seedlings that were quite yellow. Under my presumably lower light levels, they greened right up. If you have Phalaenopsis that are doing well, these like similar light.

It’s also possible that the yellowing leaves are just part of the aging process. The robust vegetative growth of your plant also makes me think it’s relatively happy. I have to repot the ones I have in moss every two years or so.

[Dendy83]

I very much appreciate all your help. I have mostly Phals (which seem to LOVE me) and a Brassavola and a Catt. The Paph is on the top shelf with the Brass and the Catt so it's possible it's getting too much light. I may move it down a shelf for more indirect light. I have plenty of time and not showing, I just wanted to provide the best that I could for this little guy. I think I'll wait for more viable roots for the two upper growths before repotting, when I do that I'll take that opportunity to repot the parent plant too...see what's going on in there.

Thank you again for your help and advice, the guidance is very much appreciated!

[TamiP]

If it's been in the same moss for 3 years it's probably degraded.