Producing keikis in water? article

[kerristc]

I was looking around the net and found this snippet somewhere (cant remember where) but I was wondering if anyone heard of this, or tried it, and what were the results? I am curently experimenting. I have 3 stems in water under floursent lights right now. I lost two of them (the stem got soft) but the last one is still going, and the bud is swollen. (I know what your thinking, why not just use keiki paste? I have tried it many times with NO results. Maybe it the brand?) Not sure how it will turn out but was wondering if anyone had any info-


"Synea Tan told us how she gets keikis to grow from Phalaenopsis flower spikes. She waits until the flowers on the inflorescence are wilted and then cuts the whole inflorescence off,*cuts off the tip*and puts the basal portion into fertilizer water -the same she uses for continuous fertilizing for all her orchids. She puts the glass with the flower stem under lights at about 25 degrees Celsius or more. She changes the water occasionally. Most of the stems will produce a keiki in 8 to 24 months.

I wonder if cutting off the tip does anything! I have never tried it, but it may 'trick' the plant into thinking that the spike is damaged and thus may push it to making a keiki...either way When you cut off the tip, you remove the apical meristem. This produces a hormone, Auxin, which prevents the growth of other apical meristems along the shoot. Auxin inhibits the cytokinin hormones. When you remove the apical meristem, the auxin is also removed, and the cytokinins, which control cell division and differentiation, may lead to the development of keikis."

that was the end of the article, what do you think?

[WhiteRabbit]

I have heard of putting spikes in coconut water to produce keikis - but not sure how successful that is ...
I'm due others will have thought/opinions ...

[ollypolly]

I don't know about Phals but it has happened to me with a couple of Epidendrums, one I was trying to save a keikei by putting the stem in water and the thing sent out two more keikeis with flowers. The original keikei survived and is now flowering!

[bethmarie]

Interesting to read about. thanks for sharing.

[kerristc]

ok so I still have one stem in water that wasnt doing anything, so with nothing to loose I changed the fertilizer in the water to see what happened. I used jacks originally but switched to (1/2 strength) Growth technology orchid focus grow formula and all of a sudden I had 3 nodes swell up over night! maybe its working? I'll give it a couple days and see what happens, but If something does happen I post pictures

[kerristc]

The one node looks promising! It looks like its doing something- i want to document my experiment so if it works then everyone seen it happen!

[ollypolly]

Oooh exciting.

[Vanda lover]

This is interesting! I had to cut the spike of one that has rotten roots. Maybe it's too late, but I'll remember for next time.

[charitysmama]

I cut off two spent flower spikes from an oncidium, and put them in to short sticks, and threw them in the garbage. After I read this thread, I rushed back to the kitchen and pulled them out of the trash and stuck them in a small jar with water. It's worth a try. I have two keikeis that were growing on an orchid which had a terminal spike. After the spike was done blooming, I noticed two keikeis, so I stuck them in water. They have been sitting in my garden window in the kitchen for months. I am going to start feeding them a little, didn't know if I should. They both have roots about 1/2" long, wish they would put out more. I am adding a little Epsom salts to my water. lh

---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

PS, the phal orchid with the terminal spike has another keikei growing on the part of the flower spike that I left on it. It also put out another flower spike on that same spike, wonderful, such fun. lh

[No-Pro-mwa]

Good luck.