Dendrobium Keiki's

[atcrosby]

I have a Den rescue that seems to be recovering nicely. I have three keiki's growing on the stalks and each has roots about 1/4 inches long. So the question is at what point do they get separated from the parent? And then how do you do that?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Leave them on the plant longer to help them make progress, as they will grow much more slowly after removal. Remove them before the roots get too long for the pot you want to use, but remember to use very small pots for these, as Dens like small pots. Don't plan on letting the Dens grow into a larger pot, you will just have a very unhappy Den. Cynthia

[atcrosby]

So what's a good rule of thumb for when to put them in their own pot? Also are there any instructions on the "process" required to separate the Keiki from the parent ?

Den's like it crowded or they get lonely. Actually they'll start spending more time filling the pot than growing flowers. Correct?

[arleneg]

I haven't separated any Den. keikis, yet. However, I read somewhere that you can separate them from the "mother" when their roots are about 2-3 inches long. I told my mom about this. When she finally had keikis, she separated 2 keikis when roots were 2-3" long and planted one cane each on a small pot. I have one of them...grew another cane (now has blooms)...now have 2 small keikis on original cane (which was the keiki from my mom's den.).

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Removing is pretty easy. Just flex the connection to the mother cane being careful not to break roots, and they should just pop or can be pulled off the mother. No tools to sterilize and no handling the open wounds with questionably clean hands. I like to twist a little in each direction to help keep from stripping any skin off the mother cane. Cynthia

[atcrosby]

okay, then stupid question. I got two nobiles from Jerry M. and they had the original cane attached. Is the way you treat nobile's different?

The ones with Keiki's on them are not nobiles but regular run-of-the-mill dens.

Tom

[jerrymeola]

There are a lot of different ways to treat Keikis. I have some that have never been potted with roots 8-12 inches. Dens can grow bare root.

Probably because of the high heat in Florida I do not like to remove keikis without extensive roots. It only takes a couple of days of drying out to kill the baby.

As Tom said, I sometimes leave a portion of the stem in certain situations. The one I sent Tom was 3-4 small keikis with limited roots growing directly away from the cane, so I left them as one unit with the cane for strength. That is the reason Tom that I said to put the cane on the top of the medium and let the roots grow into the medium. I also like that method because you can put a pot clip on the cane and it is not constantly falling over. Because the cane was still attached the damger of drying out was greatly reduced.

I also knew the particular growing habits of that species.

Dens can also be propagated by stem cutting of cane about two inches each. It is done in the far East but not in the United States anymore.

I am constantly repeating my advice to understand why advice is being given. When I answer a question in the forum I try to be general, since many people will adapt it to their circumstances without truly knowing if it is appropriate.

When I am giving advice about a specific plant I am selling, the advice is much more specific to the one plant. For the same reason you should trust the person's advice from whom you are buying a plant. (If you can not trust them why are you buying from them)

For example this week I received 50 overgrown 5 inch cattleya. Some were re-potted directly into 8 inch pots, the minimum size into which it would fit. They were very overgrown.

Others of the same species I had to trim bad roots and a few I cut off every root on a 15 inch high plant with 14 pbulbs. Now I would never give advice on this forum for you to do either.

Each plant had to be examined individually and a final decision for its care was unique for each pot. A hobbyist will never let their plants grow to where every root in the pot is rotted and there is a football size mass of roots outside the pot. Those roots would rot if placed directly into medium.

For keiki Dens, all the advice will work most of the time and there are exceptions to everything. The shorter the size of the roots the more critical is the need for constant even water. When the roots get too long putting them into medium from air will often kill the roots. This is why the regular advice is to re-pot when you see actively growing new roots. The old roots die and the new ones sustain the plant.

Next time you are looking at a Keiki consider the problem of drying roots and adapting air roots to medium. In time you will be able to decide how to treat each individual plant.

[atcrosby]

Thanks Jerry -

The entire world of Keiki's is new to me. I have a Den rescue that's decided to have Keikis and was curious how these reproduce.

The ones you sent me are doing great. All have sprouted new roots and they are taking root into the soil. The roots appear to be growing about 1/8 inch per day. I can't wait until they decide to do something like bloom but with my luck, they'll just grow Keiki's.

Thanks for the advice.