I was hoping for a keiki from my mini phalaenopsis
 

But i think my plant has different plans. Im...not sure thats a keiki. I thought the little green nub was root and i got all excited. However...the big growth looks really ..stemmy. lol

Too early to tell? Are there little leaves packed in there just waiting to surprise me? :scratchhead:

Those appear to be flower buds on a branch off the main stem.

Youre right, they really do appear to be future flowers. Good to know I'm learning to identify some plant bits correctly. :roll:

Would it be too stressful on the plant if I tried one more node just down from this?

This plant is focused on root growth right now and getting lots of new green tips and a new leaf. Can it manage to grow both without exhausting itself, though? It's going to grow more flowers and it doesn't seem grow roots as readily when flowering.
I.... could perhaps cut off the new flower stem and try the other node....

I am little confused as to what you want/are trying to do? My phals all root/bloom/leaf at the same time with no problem. I have personally never seen an exhausted Phal (only owners).

That does look like a little root nubbin. I think this is going to teach you patience while you wait to see what happens.

I'm with Dollythehun... relax and enjoy the show. The plant will do what it wants to do, you'll learn a lot just by observing. Phals are really good at multi-tasking.

I had the same disappointment today after checking the plant I treated a few weeks back. Out of 4 nodes 3 are growing flower spikes and one has no progress.
Saw a comment in a reddit thread regarding phalaenopsis keikis. Basically cell division in phals is controlled by temperature and you only get vegetative growth above 25 C; if a plant is kept at lower temperature the bud will turn into a flower spike reddit link
So we should've kept the plants warmer.

Question... why do you want a keiki? Depending on the species in the background, you may get some that are healthy (with good roots) or not (Phal equestris makes keikis quite freely) but often a keiki is produced when the plant is desperately trying to perpetuate itself. As for the rate of growth, orchids are slooowwwww...progress tends to be measured in months,, not weeks or days.

I just wanted a keiki of this plant for .... science? This is a little NOID I picked up at a grocery store that I absolutely love and I saw keiki paste is a thing. I'd love the experience of growing a keiki from little baby to fully plantable. I wanted a back up, or a second one to do do grow condition experiments on, or even exchange with someone nearby for a swap.

I put a little keiki paste on this one node about a month ago and have been watching this bump grow a considerable amount. I'm actually a little impressed with how fast the stem/branch thing has developed!

Again, the flowers arent impressive by any means, I just like doing plant stuff and the keiki paste wasnt too expensive. :lol:

That's interesting. I havent heard anyone who advised using keiki paste mention that. Maybe I missed it?
Heh. This is kinda why I want multiple plants of the same plant to begin with. Yeah, buying multiple full sized plants is easier and quicker, but I'm not publishing a paper or in any serious rush. Lol

Sorry to hear you are disapointed with the keiki paste attempt! Id be pretty bummed too, but I'd probably immediately start trying find another phal to heat up and treat. :evil: :biggrin:

---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

Im glad to hear that youve never seen an exhausted phal. I read some advice about not using the keiki paste on all of the nodes because it could exhaust the plant and hinder it's ability to thrive. I was worried it could happen with other types of growth, but so far it's new leaf IS looking really nice and no issue with shy root tips. :)

Hi! As the reddit guy - just wanted to clarify. Never used keiki paste, I got the temperature info from the scientific literature about halfway through my initial attempt at cloning phals. Before I regulated temperature at 26, I had pretty poor results (most turned into flower spikes); above 26, worked like a charm if the node woke up. So please take it with a grain of salt! I'm not a plant physio guy, just a microbiologist who likes to play with plants.