My Keiki... It Is Stuck

[abigaillevans]

Hello all --

I've got the happiest-looking nobile-type dendrobium out on my porch and it's got a keiki on it. The keiki's been there for at least three months and it's not growing... at all.

The plant is really healthy. It's got so many roots coming out of it that it's already starting to envelop the brand-new pot it's in. The other new growths it put out this year have all developed into big, fat, happy canes. It gets watered and fertilized regularly. All appearances point to a happy, healthy plant, but the little keiki has been a tiny little thing with a lone 1/4" root on it for months.

What's going on with that little thing? Do keikis usually take this long to develop? Am I doing something wrong?

[Zoi2]

Are you watering/misting the keiki root?
Joann

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[abigaillevans]

Yep! I give it a little water when I water the plant. Lately I haven't even had to do that: the plant's outside so it's getting almost daily rain showers. The humidity is very high -- I'm in central Florida, so the humidity is usually at least 60%.

[Junebug]

Hello Abby,

The keikis sprouting from my nobile don't produce much root growth unless they're secured to the potting medium. My nobile is an aphyllum and it is mounted to a tree fern pot. To encourage it's keikis to grow I fashioned a piece of wire into a pin in the shape of a hair pin. Then I curved the mother cane so that the mother cane and the keiki came in contact with the treefern. I cushioned a tiny amount of damp sphagnum moss between the keiki/cane, and treefern. With the pin I then secured the cane (near the keiki) to the treefern. Within a few days the keiki roots responded by elongating and growing into the sphagnum and tree fern.

With a few adjustments, the same method could be used for a potted specimen.

[abigaillevans]

That is a very cool idea -- I'll have to try it!

Thank you!