What to do with Den?

[LizB88]

Hello everyone, I need help with my Den. Spring dream. Should I cut the keikis and old canes? I'm trying to figure out is the best thing to do for it. I already lost 3 keikis that came in early winter. I added a picture of the plant when it was in bloom and how is looks now. Please advice, thanks .

[vjo]

No you shouldn't cut off any old cane that is still green. The old canes are what feeds the new growth.you will always have old leafless canes on your Den. You do have quite a few keikis but if you want to save them I would leave them on a while longer. You really don't have to cut them off just give them a little twist and they will pop right off. Good luck......Jean

[LizB88]

Originally Posted by vjo

No you shouldn't cut off any old cane that is still green. The old canes are what feeds the new growth.you will always have old leafless canes on your Den. You do have quite a few keikis but if you want to save them I would leave them on a while longer. You really don't have to cut them off just give them a little twist and they will pop right off. Good luck......Jean

Thank you Jen, will let it be and not cut anything out. How long should the roots of the keikis be in order to plan on their own?

[vjo]

I leave them on until they start driving me nuts...usually about
3-4 inches...lol I dont take off anything that is close to the pot, just those that are higher up. The ones growing at pot level, I let grow into canes....Jean

[NYCorchidman]

Wow! your dendrobium went nuts with all those keikis.

I have seen and hear this happen before, but none of my nobile hybrids do this.

It is considered there is something not right with the culture as those keikis are taking place of flowers.

Did you continue to fertilize this plant into fall last year? How have you kept it during the winter?

What I would do (if you want to save those keikis), to cut down the cane bearing those keikis at the base now.

Lay the cane horizontally on thin layer of moist moss in a plastic container of some sort. You can leave keikis in this setting for the whole season and cut them off individually next spring right before they grow their own new canes. They should all reach flowering size in a year or two.

You can also leave the keikis, but unless you have a greenhouse where sprinkler keeps the humidity very high at all times, the roots of those keikis will easily dry out and do not grow very well.

I believe what I suggest above is probably the easiest way to propagate.

You can also just picked them all off if you don't want them.

[kjennings94]

So many keikis! Did you use a paste or are you jsut a super greenthumb

[LizB88]

Thanks Jean,
I will keep an eye on them, I just don't want to have the roots dry out.

---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Wow! your dendrobium went nuts with all those keikis.

I have seen and hear this happen before, but none of my nobile hybrids do this.

It is considered there is something not right with the culture as those keikis are taking place of flowers.

Did you continue to fertilize this plant into fall last year? How have you kept it during the winter?

What I would do (if you want to save those keikis), to cut down the cane bearing those keikis at the base now.

Lay the cane horizontally on thin layer of moist moss in a plastic container of some sort. You can leave keikis in this setting for the whole season and cut them off individually next spring right before they grow their own new canes. They should all reach flowering size in a year or two.

You can also leave the keikis, but unless you have a greenhouse where sprinkler keeps the humidity very high at all times, the roots of those keikis will easily dry out and do not grow very well.

I believe what I suggest above is probably the easiest way to propagate.

You can also just picked them all off if you don't want them.

Well, I don't know what happen. I gave it a winter rest and even left it outside for a couple of nights two get some cool temps. When I saw the Little green buds I thought I was going to get flowers, but at lass, I got keikis. Now I'm just trying to have them survive.

No, I don't have a green house so I think that I will have do what you are suggesting in order to have them grow up healthy.

And I know I will have to wait another year for flowers, but if I do it right, I'll have a lot of blooms them!
Again thank you for your help.

---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------

(So many keikis! Did you use a paste or are you jsut a super greenthumb)

No did not use a paste and I don't think I have super green-thumb, ( I have kill a few of my orchids, specially phalaenopsis and one miltonia). I think this is just one of those strange things that some times happens with Den nobile. But them again, I don't know much about them. I only have this one and a den-phal, which also has one new growth.

[NYCorchidman]

Yes, keikis is not a "normal" thing for these plants. It is a fast way to propagate the plant if that's your goal, but it is definitely not desired for commercial growers who wants flowers on the plant. Some call it disaster. lol

Your plant (Yamamoto Dendrobium hybrid) will bloom as a very young and small plant, so all those keikis will most likely bloom next spring given the proper growing season and proper "rest".

[LizB88]

I just wanted to update you on how the keikis are doing.
So I have 8 of them and they are doing well. Thanks for all your help. Now I still need to repot the mother plant, but I am some what scare to do it. I hope that next spring I will have a lot of flowers from "Spring dream"

[vjo]

Well I don't think I would have cut off any of those canes, You have lost a lot of the blooming sites for the next blooming. The tops of three canes is a lot of damage. Here's hoping for the best...Jean