Weak Mother Plant after Keiki Removal

[DweamGoiL]

I was surprised with a keiki a couple of months back. My first one ever. It grew really strongly and in a matter of about 2 months it was huge about 3/4 the size of the mother plant. When I separated the keiki, it had lots of roots and overall took about half the root system with it. The mother plant a week or so after I separated the keiki, produced a flower spike and it's growing nicely, but the mother plants' leaves are yellowing. It looks more like a mineral deficiency type of yellowing rather than drying shriveling leaves.

I am wondering what to do. Do I cut the flower spike to give mom strength to bounce back? or do I let it bloom and hope for the best? I am leaning more towards sacrificing the flower spike, but I would really appreciate some expert opinions. I am also adding a bit more fertilizer with a higher water concentration, but adding it at every watering, but I just started doing that so I am not sure if it's working yet.

FYI - I've had the mother plant for about 5 years now so I think it has plenty of life left to live age-wise.

[Roberta]

Photos would be helpful.

When was the last time that you repotted the mother plant?

Sometimes a plant will produce a keiki when it "thinks" it may be dying... it's one of the ways that orchids reproduce themselves. The other is by blooming... you can get " last gasp" blooming from a plant that is on its way out, for the same reason - it wants progeny.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

I am also adding a bit more fertilizer with a higher water concentration, but adding it at every watering, but I just started doing that so I am not sure if it's working yet.

May need to be careful with fertiliser. If the fertiliser salts accumulate enough in the media, then the orchid can abruptly take a really bad turn. When you see yellowing - the first thing to do is to take the orchid out of the pot to inspect the roots. If moist and not water-logged, then ok. If very dry, then not enough water to the roots. If water-logged and rotting, then trim dead roots and repot into fresh media, and re-adjust the watering amount and watering plan.

Since you had the orchid for 5 years, then it can be assumed that the growing conditions may be ok. But - it will definitely be beneficial to mention details of the growing condition - medium used, location of plant, temperature, lighting levels, drainage details, and air-flow details. Also - was the parent plant repotted recently?

[Ray]

From your description, I wonder if you separated a "basal growth", rather than a keiki growing on a flower spike.

Generally speaking, basal growth do share the same root system and base as the mother plant, so should not be separated.

[Orchid Whisperer]

My first guess was the same as Ray's, but please post pictures.

Do you know if this was a stem or "basal keiki"? Basal keikis are really more like branches of the plant.

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

My first guess was the same as Ray's, but please post pictures.

Do you know if this was a stem or "basal keiki"? Basal keikis are really more like branches of the plant.

Or "pups" growing from the main plant.

Regardless, give the best care you can to both. Keep warm, provide air circulation, don't over water, the usual.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

Do I cut the flower spike to give mom strength to bounce back?

Since you have a back-up (the 'divided' plant), and since the parent is appearing to be weak ----- then it makes sense to cut the spike and give the parent plant the best of care it can get. If it makes it through, then it can always come back to flower another day.

[DweamGoiL]

Thanks everyone for the opinions. I didn't realize there were different types of keiki's. I think Ray's first suspicion about the basal keiki is correct. I took some pictures below.

Here is the mother plant and the new spike. I think there's another keiki growing from one of the nodes:



As you can see the roots look good and nothing smells off. When I separated them, I trimmed back all the non-productive and dead roots.

Here you can see some of the yellowing of the leaves:



I haven't attempted to look into the media to check the roots too deeply since it was separated from the basal growth fairly recently and I had the opportunity to check things out back then. I figured it needed time to just settle back into the pot.

I also don't have the removed plant anymore. I live in an apartment and don't have a lot of growing space that the cats can't get into so I gave it to a friend at work, who also loves orchids. I just feel bad. This particular plant has always been such a solid and strong grower. I don't want to end up killing it from loving it too much.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

I don't want to end up killing it from loving it too much.

From the look of your parent plant ----- it doesn't appear to be in a particularly bad shape right now.

Aside from weak fertiliser application ----- do you also apply calcium magnesium supplement?

Maybe it is a deficiency of some kind - as you might have correctly sensed earlier - such as a magnesium deficiency or a calcium deficiency.

Maintain good temperature, good and proper lighting level and duration, and good air-flow. If that is a cabinet where the orchid is growing, then hopefully the cabinet has a fan that allows air to flow all around the plant - pot, leaves, stem, roots, media etc.