Keiki or a weird-growing spike? (updated)
 

Hey all,

This is an orchid I salvaged from the local HomeDepot dump and turned it into a project - It was mediocre looking, mealybugs, withered leaves and all, but I never expected it to recover so well. When I brought it home, I decided to repot it immediately into a (not so ideal) plastic pot and leave it be until the leaves were in better shape.
One month later, the orchid looks great and is bug-free.

Just as I was about to cut the two old flower spikes off last week, I noticed 3 nodes were shooting out growth. One of them, though, looks really different then the regular 'mits' you'd find on a new shoot. I attached some pics and below are the descriptions:

The first pic is the orchid and my whacky sock in the corner. Two new leaves are growing (one clearly visible, one is just starting to poke itself out).

Picture 2 shows two 'mits' on one of the old spikes - Im pretty sure these are just regular flowering growth.

The third and following pictures show the growth that looks a bit off. The 'leaves' are somewhat separated and the center is hollow. it doesn't look like anything is going to grow out of the middle - Ill let the pictures do the talking because I dont know how to explain it.
Ive never seen a keiki personally - could this weird growing node be it?

If it is a keiki, how do I make conditions favorable for continued growth?

Looks like a keiki to me. It will eventually grow roots. When the roots are 3-4 inches long it can be potted up.

I would agree that this looks like a keiki

You don't have to do anything special. Just keep caring for the mother plant as you have been. It is obviously happy. You will have to be patient, this could take a while.

Thanks for the info everyone. I guess Ill keep posted on progress. :)

I vote for keiki too ! The mother plant was stressed at one point now you have a clone of the mom :)

Congratulations, you have babies!

You have successfully revived the plant thinking it was dying; so it produced keikis for self preservation.

I hope one of those nubbins is a flower spike extension so you can show us some blooms....

I have always loved rescue stories

I too rescued two Home Depot phals. Instead of repotting, I just added some medium and kept a better watering schedule. I have flowers on both but had to cut back some brown spots on two leaves. I used cinnamon over the leaves as an anti-bacterial agent and fertilized them once every other watering (once a month) because Home Depot just waters every tropical twice per week. Wait until the keiki roots are about 3 inches long before you pot them. Enjoy!!!

UPDATE!
 

hey all!
It has been 2 months already! Here are some progress pictures (which are all sideways for some reason! :(( ).

Keiki 1 is a bit disformed - I believe its because of me poking in the crown with a q-tip back when I had a mealybug problem. Im assuming the new leaves will grow properly but if they dont, Im still happy. Leaf 4 is starting to poke out, no roots.

Keiki 2 is growing its 3rd leaf, no roots. Its very attractive and will be the candidate for my first cork mounting once it grows roots. I think the mounting transition will be easier for a keiki than an already potted plant.

Growth 1 (below keiki 2) is still in the same state that it started. I still have no idea if its a keiki or spike extension.

Node 1 is a new growth. It has poked through the node covering yesterday and hopefully will keep growing. Possibly more keikis?!


The mother is doing okay. Just okay. I repotted it in a spag-bark mix (only bark previously) yesterday after noticing the roots on top were dead-dry while the ones inside where rotting. Hopefully this change will make things more uniform for the roots.

Thanks again to everyone!