Unexpected Keiki
 

Awhile back, one of my NoID phals wasn't doing well and I decided to cut off its spike while still in bloom to let the plant gather its energy. I didn't want to throw the spike away, so I put it in a small bottle with water. The blooms actually lasted couple of months and to my surprize created an additional bloom while still in "vase" with water. After the final bloom withered, I decided to wait and see what else it will do.
And so, here it is: a new little baby!

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I have read other posts of people leaving spikes in water to make keiki but never thought it would actually work for me. Now I am trying to do a similar experiment with Phal. amabilis spike but I am finding out that the water gets gross very fast unlike the one with the NoID spike. The difference with the NoID spike is that it is more "woodier" than the amabilis one and, perhaps, less susceptible to the infections and bacteria growth.

Amazing ! I wonder if the keiki will have enough energy from just the water do keep us posted!

A friend of mine broke off a spike that had finished blooming and stuck it in to the medium, because it has a tiny keiki. It is continuing to survive but it has been several months and it isn't growing much. Maybe we should re cut the spike and put it in water.

Uhhhh cute lil thing - don't you love orchids and the surprises they can bring us :D

Thanks. From time to time I change water to one diluted with urea free fertilizer (very weak solution). Hopefully that helps with nutrition but I don't know for sure if it does anything.

If it is still alive, I would leave it. The growing process is very slow. I would keep the medium evenly moist, though.

I cut this spike sometime in March. It is hard to tell at which point it started to grow keiki. I noticed it when it already was about 5-7mm long. That was about two months ago. It is only 1 cm long right now (maybe 12mm, I didn't measure). So, not much progress.

Absolutely! :D

Very cool! Keep us updated, please!

Unexpected keiki
 

[QUOTE=JaneEyre;514859]Awhile back, one of my NoID phals wasn't doing well and I decided to cut off its spike while still in bloom . . . .
I have read other posts of people leaving spikes in water to make keiki but never thought it would actually work for me. Now I am trying to do a similar experiment with Phal. amabilis spike but I am finding out that the water gets gross very fast . . . .

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Jane:
A month ago I cut bloomed spikes from a large NOID (my first orchid) and placed in water. When I changed the stinky water this week the surface of the stems sloughed off from the cut to the first node. There is swelling and some protrusions on the upper nodes that I would like to watch.
Will adding activated charcoal to the vase keep the water ungross?
Thanks for reading

I have one in sphag in a bag that I'm hoping will root.
I have the top part out of the bag and a good part of the rest in damp sphag.

Wow, how lovely. I have a spike that I am hoping will keiki as the phal has crown rot -very slow but rotting none the less. I might keep it on the plant or now I might even decide to cut it off and put it in a vase instead. It is in bud and has seven possible nodes from which to keiki so I shall have to wait and see what to do. Good luck with yours and thanks for the info. It seems that you learn something new about orchids everyday.

Oh, that's promising with the nodes swelling up. Charcoal might slow down bacteria growth but not sure if it will eliminate it completely. I have been trying to grow green algae (so far unsuccessfully) as I think it may be beneficial to the plant.