catasetum propagation by broken roots
 

bear with me for the lengthy explaination....
i had a ctsm longiflorum, that once fell to the floor and the pot was shattered. because i dun want to damage the roots too much as it was actively growing, i just scoop the entire of it and place in in a slightly bigger pot.
it grew happily for several months till i one i decided to pull out a weed that is growing beside it. only then i notice there is a bulb like structure at the end of the it....taking a closer look, it looks like a miniature version of my longifolium.
today i asked the vendor did he grow the longifolium from compot? he said no and ask why then i tell the entire story to him and he smile and replied that he read in a book that some catasetum broken roots can produce keiki! HOWEVER I FORGOT TO ASK IF IT IS ONLY FOR LONGIFOLIUM OR OTHER CATASETUMS AS WELL.
here is the pic of the small keiki i removed and also here i would like some further info from the CATASETUMS GURUS here.:bowing

You dont have to wait for any experts on this:
You yourself can go to these links and be informed.

Catasetum Culture by Bert Pressman
East Everglades Orchids Society
Carter & Holmes Catasetum culture
Cycnoches and Catasetum Orchid Care - Carter and Holmes Orchids Culture
Important reading matter:
The world of Catasetums (a book by: Arthur W. Holst)

and finally:
Catasetum - Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia
Catasetum

thanks for the link but i am interested to know about the formation of keiki from broken roots of the catasetums. appreciate any further detail on this aspect.

catasetum-ian - Are you sure that it came from the roots, I have never seen or heard of that before. It more than likely was a keiki that was on the bulb itself and somehow became detached. In either case you did the right thing and got it potted up. Were there any roots attached when you found it? If so I would try to keep the immature bulb from going into dormancy. Keep it warm with bright light and maybe it will survive the winter.

i can't be sure it was from the roots but definitely not a broken keiki because at the time of incident, the plant is only with two bulbs and no new growth.
in addition to that, the place where the keiki emerge is several inches away from the base of the plant, nothing is there that is why initially i thought it was a weeds.
another member from another forum just posted that one of her friend had a Fred. After Dark that had the similar situation, they used the word "root keiki".
will try to dig for further info and come up with updates if i had any.

I have never heard of any root keiki before. I would be curious to see this bloom to see if its the same plant.

will keep you updated but it might take years for the keiki is now only slightly over an inch in height.

hah hah....BINGO...just found a citation, in chapter 3, pg 39 (under the root section ) from the book WORLD of catasetums by Arthur W. Holst, it did mentioned that occasionally new plant may arise from one of the main roots
:biggrin:

Ian, that was I who has the Fdk. After Dark and when I repotted it I found 2 what I call root keikis that were coming directly from roots of the mother plant ! I cut them free, potted them up separately and now 5 months later the one that survived is 4" tall and hasn't gone dormant yet ! When found it was just about 3/4" and, like you, I thought it was a weed ! The second one didn't survive.

:clap:

:thankyou