*What shall we do with the basal keiki?*etc.

[Miri the Wildmage]

Hi everyone!

About a year ago I bought a nameless phalaenopsis orchid for my mother. Standing water was allowed to remain on its crown and it came down with crown rot. My mother realised what had happened quite quickly and managed to save it, and now, six months on, it has thrown a basal keiki! My issue is, I don't know what to do with it!

Should I separate it from the parent plant now, or later, or not at all? It has two healthy leaves but no roots to speak of.It looks happy enough, but the parent plant is sulking! Although it also has two nice green leaves, it has a scar in the centre where the rot was, and none of the aerial roots have green tips, so it is not growing. I am scared that it will die before the keiki is separated from it!

[Ray]

The basal growth is sharing the root system of the "mother" plant; it does not have one of its own and cannot be separated from the mother plant. Care for the entire thing as if it was a single plant - it actually is, but the apical meristem (growth front) of the original has died.

Eventually the original plant will fade away, and the new one will be just fine.

[WhiteRabbit]

I once completely crown rotted a phal - all that was left was a black stump and a pot full of roots. A couple months later a basal keiki started. That was almost three years ago and the "keiki" is fairly large now, still growing right next to the black stump

[Miri the Wildmage]

Thank you both very much, I won't try to separate them in that case!

[RosieC]

If the crown rot took the center leaf then this is the plant's way of carrying on as the old crown can no longer grow. As already said don't try and remove it.

Basil keikies can form without the original dying. Either due to damage of the original that then recovers or just because the plant is genetically programmed to grow that way. I have a phal with 3 basil keikies and while it's a NOID I know a similar named one is prone to basil keikies.

[Ancient Mariner]

I have a phal noid that developed a basal keiki as well as one on an old flower stem. Both keikis bloomed along with the parent plant, but no roots as yet.
I also have a huge denphal that developed a keiki just above a leaf. The roots are now about three quarters of an inch long, but have grown into the axil of the leaf below. Should I pull the leaf down to release these roots?

[6ByAccident]

Just read about your basal keiki blooming - wow! I had no idea they could bloom while on there! I have a 4 month old (stem) reiki with no roots at all. I'm thinking this one just might settle and get comfortable, and bloom right there someday, too! =D

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by 6ByAccident

Just read about your basal keiki blooming - wow! I had no idea they could bloom while on there! I have a 4 month old (stem) reiki with no roots at all. I'm thinking this one just might settle and get comfortable, and bloom right there someday, too! =D

Orchids can have several ways to propagate themselves. The most obvious, of course, is for flowers to get pollinated, and make seeds. But especially in a "home" environment that doesn't happen much... you don't have pollinators buzzing around, In the case of orchids with "sympodial" growth habit (like Cattleyas, Oncidiums, and a bunch of others, those that make new growths along a rhizome) there are usually two or even more potential growth points ("Eyes") so if one is lost there is a backup. But in general, they make new growths from these multiple growth points routinely anyway. For monopodial plants (like Phals and Vandas) with only one growth point (the crown) they have other strategies. One is the basal growth (not really a keiki) that is a new plant at the base of the old one, from the same root system. Some of these form clumps of multiple basal growths. Another is a keiki (Hawaiian for "baby") that forms on an old flower spike, These eventually produce roots, at which point they can become independent plants, as the old spike dies. You can get flowers from either type of new growth.