Confused newbie! Strange growing! - Orchid Board

Lina · #1 06-21-2009, 11:47 AM

hi, I was given an orchid last year. I really didn't know what to do with it! or how to take care of it! it had 2 spikes that died about 6 months ago, and i was watching the plant waiting for the leaves to die so that i throw it away.

I know you think that i'm an evil person, but as i noticed how the green leaves are surviving and forgiving i started reading about orchids and how to take care of them. my poor orchid survived, but it never gave me a spike again!

i want a spike really bad, so one day i thought, hmmm, what might happen if i water it with soya milk. and I did!
instead of giving me the wanted spike, look what i got! i'm confused and i have no idea what to do next. so help!

looking forward to hearing from you,
cheers,
Lina

luckygrower · #2 06-21-2009, 12:25 PM

It looks like a kiekie, but I don't thnk it was from watering with soya milk.A kiekie is a baby plant.Now you have a good reason to take care of your plant,water about once a week and watch it grow, be careful not to get water in the crown of the plant

Amanda L · #3 06-21-2009, 12:26 PM

Looks like keiki's (baby plants) to me. You can remove them once they have a good roots system all their own.

nenella · #4 06-21-2009, 12:37 PM

Congratulations! If the rest of the plant (the mother plant) stays green I would leave the keikies on her.

Amanda L · #5 06-21-2009, 12:45 PM

ooooo yeah leave them on, if the mother stays green, that will be a site come blooming time!!

RosieC · #6 06-21-2009, 01:51 PM

I agree with the others, the bit on the right in the first pic is definately a basel keiki.

Phals should only have one crown and you've got two, one of them lying sideways on the right of the first pic. The other new shots are probably further basel keikis starting to form.

You can split them from the parent once they have their own roots, or as others have suggested, leave them on as it could give a better flower display if they are all together in one pot.

As for getting flower spikes... Phals like a drop in temperature to promote spiking. They would usually get this as the weather gets cooler towards the winter. If you have a centrally heated house they may not feel this drop and so may not spike. Here we run the heating arround 66F in the winter and it goes off completly at night. This is on the cool side for Phals but mine all spiked arround that time.

Lina · #7 06-21-2009, 04:19 PM

Thanks guys for the nice replies and good advices. As for spiking, i'm confused and know not what to do to get them feel the drop of temperature. I guess sweden is not the right place to grow orchids at all!
I can't leave them outside as it might rain cats and dogs anytime, and we have severe white winters.

RosieC · #8 06-22-2009, 06:38 AM

Do you have any rooms in the house which are not heated through the winter, or in which you can set a thermostat at a lower temp.

For example in the past I've kept our spare bedroom cooler than the rest of the house by adjusting the thermostat on the radiator in that room. I can then control the temperature to be more what my plants want.