My first keikis... on cut spikes...

[ColoradoBirddog]

I got a p. Equestris a couple of months back, and it had some old spikes on it. I'd heard about getting keikis on cut spikes, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, it looks like it worked! Looks like I've got 2 very young, but healthy so far, keikis growing.

I've got them in a little vase, in my orchidarium. It stays nice and humid, and I've got moss in the bottom of the vase.

Any thoughts on what I could do better, or tips to keep them going?

[Swimmingorchids]

congrats. How long did it take for them to appear? couple months?

[ColoradoBirddog]

Originally Posted by Swimmingorchids

congrats. How long did it take for them to appear? couple months?

Actually, I think I started to see "swelling" by 2 weeks.

I just checked my notes, and I cut and started the spikes on 21 June.

Once the leaves start really growing, I'm going to have to figure out a container for them. I'm thinking something like a plastic bowl, where they can be kept out of the bottom medium, and wrapping moss at the bottom of the keiki.

[dnatural1]

Hi ColoradoBridDog,

How exactly did you get those Keikis to form? Did you use some sort of Keiki paste (with hormones to promote Keiki formation)? Or did you just leave the cut flowering stems in a hot and humid location? (Temperatures ?).

[ColoradoBirddog]

For these 2, they were a simple experiment. I cut the 2 spikes off of the plant, wrapped them a bit in sphagnum, and put them in a vase. That went into my vivarium, and I made sure that the moss got some moisture. I've heard that P. equestris likes to throw keikis, and I got lucky, perhaps.

I do have another phal spike growing one as well, that has been separated from the plant.

I believe that the heat and humidity were key to the success.

[dnatural1]

I'll keep your hint about heat and humidity in mind.
I think your challenge will now be ensuring the keikis have enough nutrition available to make leaves and some roots - after that point they can be planted out. There may be enough in the stems for them to draw from to get to that stage. Otherwise you have to do something. I heard of people placing the unrooted keikis in a nutrient medium but not sure how successful that would be due to contamination ... etc. Most people would apply keiki promoting paste to unflowered nodes on flowering stems and leave the flower stem on the plant so that it can draw nutrient from the 'mother' plant. I've done this to Phalaenopsis. Some of these just throw keikis without any prompting others need keiki paste (essentially a cytokinin based paste). Keep experimenting and let us know.

[ColoradoBirddog]

When I heard about this method, it was suggested that the keikis will try to seek nutrition from the moss. Another thing I did was when I fertilized the other day, with organic fertilizer, I let some of the other orchids drip a little onto them and the moss.

Forgot to mention. I got a little impatient, as I sometimes do, and cut the stems short, and placed them in an open container on top of moss. I realized that that may have been a big gamble. So, I'm trying to make sure I can do everything possible for them. So far, so good, and they are both slightly larger. My hope is, being right on top of the moss, that it will spur them into root growth as soon as possible.

[dnatural1]

Maybe you can lay one of them horizontally on the sphagnum moss with the 'leaves' up. The side touching the moss will be encouraged to develop roots. Covering the moss container with transparent plastic (eg 'gladwrap') will help keep the humidity up. The other keiki you can keep as is so that you can compare results later. BTW if you apply too much fertilizer to moss algal growth will swamp it and that seems to spoil it.

[ColoradoBirddog]

I looked this morning, while misting, and I'm slightly concerned. Each remaining spike is about 2" long now. I put cinnamon on the cuts. But, one of the spikes is definitely yellowing. If it dies, I'm fairly certain that I'll lose the keiki, as well.

One way or another, the next time I try it, I'll leave the spikes as long as I can.

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