Keiki potting

[BrightandBeautiful]

Hello all! I am brand new - just joined today, and happy to read so much information.

The reason I looked for a Forum such as this is that one of my orchid plants lost ALL of it leaves. Should I take it out of the pot and check anything or just wait in case it gets leaves again? It had two flowering branches, both of which are completely bare but still green. One of those has a Keiki with roots that are about 5cm long. I am afraid to cut it off the main plant too early. Once I do, how do I plant it? Any suggestions are welcome.

[tmoney]

howdy, and welcome to the ob!

picture would help, but you might not be able to post them yet, not sure. also, im assuming this is a phal orchid, but perhaps it is a different type in which case we may not do what we described below! either way, based on what you describe, perhaps it would be good to take the keiki off now. if the main plants has lost its leaves, it will be a long road if it ever recovers. again, unless its a deciduous type orchid and not a phal, in which case the mother plant will be just fine!

we are now trying to start keikis in water culture, and the last one has so far done well. cut the flower spike, leaving about 10 cm attached to the keiki, then find a small shot glass and place the roots down in. fill with water just to cover all the roots and let it soak for about 2 days initially. after that, we are doing one day soaks with about 2-3 days of dry in between. for the keiki we try to soak it slightly more than 2x per week.

with roots that small you may not have good luck in regular media. but, it could also be just fine!! hahahah, not a very helpful post, sorry...but good luck!

[BrightandBeautiful]

Thank you tmoney! Happy to be here.

I recall seeing somewhere in OB that I may post pics after 5 posts.

I am not very familiar with which kind of orchid it is. I will try repotting the keiki and see how that goes.

Orchids do well at my place so I just learned to care for them without being too technical. A friend botanist recently repotted 8-10 of my various orchids (several sizes) and I lost 3. The keiki is a completely new experience for me in 15 years!

Should I just leave the mother plant as it with no leaves in the hope that it will survive, or take it out of the pot to do something? Would hate to see it die from lack of action.

Thanks for your help.

[Ray]

Again, without knowing what type of orchid it is, it's really difficult to offer meaningful advice.

If it was a phalaenopsis, a leafless plant is unlikely to grow new leaves, and assuming the keiki is on an old inflorescence, you'd be better off removing it and potting it up.

If the leafless plant has pseudobulbs, and the keiki is attached to that, it's a whole different situation.

[Waterdog111]

Point well made, Ray, I think if a person learns to save the keikiis of an orchid that that should put them on the road to taking good care of at least that certain type.

[tmoney]

hey bandb...

well, yeah what to do with the mom plant depends on (like ray said) what kind of orchid it is. so not sure what you should do!! maybe wait and see?

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Look through the forums for photos. You'll probably find something similar to what you have. From the left yellow menu pick Forums. You will see them.

It's likely you will find something like your orchid in one of these forums: Phalaenopsis - Hybrids; Oncidium; Dendrobium; Cattleya.

[BrightandBeautiful]

Thank you all! I did a google lens search on my keiki & it is a phal. I am going to try cutting and potting it this weekend, and see how it goes. I appreciate suggestions to repot using the water culture suggestions.

I also plan to unearth the mommy & check on the roots to see if there is any sign of life.

What is about these Orchids that makes us cling to hope instead of tossing them?

[Waterdog111]

Welcome,oh and if you just cant restrain your curiosity one good way to start is to soak the pot (media intact with plant in clear water until the roots are softened up so the least amount of damage will be done to them. Course we havent been told what the interior of the root ball consists of so I think Ill stop here. To many blanks to fill. Like America says!
Best of everything B&B