Keiki

[Thomas orchid lover]

I have a beautiful white phalaenopsis which just finished flowering. I cut the stalk but i have no interest in more flowers. I want a keiki. I know you can use keiki paste but i cant find ANY in my area. I was wondering if anybody had an easy recipe to encourage keiki growth. I'm not looking for a full proof thing, but just something to encourage growth.

[WhiteRabbit]

hmm... I know I have seen this discussed before, but don't recall what may have been suggested. I know there has been discussion about coconut water. And I believe there was some talk about something like KLN and lanolin.

I have found hits for 'keiki paste recipe' search, tho haven't really checked them out, but you can try that.

Hopefully someone here may be able to suggest something. I'd be interested to know, as well.

[Val]

I bought keiki paste on Ebay, from a guy in UK. Just tried it a couple of months ago on two hybrids, but all I got was secondary spikes. (I guess that although the Phals. weren't blooming at the time, they were just about to bloom.)

Have you cut the flower spike at the base - or just trimmed it? For the keiki paste "treatment" you need a dormant node on a flower spike.

Where do you live in Belgium? I'm in Brussels.

Sometimes, a Phal. kept in a darker place for a long(ish) time will grow a keiki. This just hapened to a Phal. of mine. I didn't have enough space for it on the windowsill among the other Phals., so I moved it on the table at about 1,5 meters from the window. Now the keiki is growing the second leaf and its first root.

[Thomas orchid lover]

I live in Antwerp

I cut the stem about halfway up and I will try coconut water