Any Advice?

[edgy]

I bought this small dendrobium in Nov 07. It had a beautiful spike with two branches of flowers. After the blooms fell, it started growing another spike of flowers, a small one. But, It's not growing from the same part of the plant like the first spike. This one is growing on the side of the plant and has rooted. Two other smaller plants have also began to grow at the bottom of the plant and have rooted as well. The first picture shows the plant last Nov. The next is a closeup of the spike cut. The next shows the new growth on the side of the plant. The last are of the small growth at the base of the plant and of the whole plant today. Could someone take a look at this little guy and offer some advice? Thanks, Eddy

[janet_a]

congratulations, you're a grandparent. the plant is having a baby is all that is; you can leave it on, or, when it's pretty sizeable, snap it off and pot it up and you've got a clone of the parent plant.

[edgy]

What about the one that is flowering? It really doesn't have any leaves growing off of it. Can I repot it also?

[11Orchid126]

I would leave the flowering one on until it develops leaves and some decent roots. Don't be in a hurry to remove the keiki. The mother plant will take care of it til it's strong enough. The new growths at the bottom of the plant are going to become new pseudobulbs and should not be removed.

[Celcat]

I would repot only once the flowers are gone. These orchids do give quite few babies naturally or compared to others. I read a thread that some persons would leave the babies grow on the mother plant (only with dendrobium). I am trying this method on one of mine, but it is early stage...

[kmarch]

Hi Edgy,

I don't thinkI've taken the opportunity to formally welcome you to the forum, so WELCOME!!!

"Keiki" is the Hawai'ian word for "baby" and is, as others have pointed out, a new plant that starts from the top or side of a dendrobium cane. Phals get keikis too on the ends of their inflorescences. Not all genera get keikis.

With hybrids, which sometimes have pretty mixrd up gene pools, sometimes an inflorescence will get some mixed genetic signals and start growing roots. Sometimes these progress into a keiki and sometimes they do not. You'll just have to play the waiting game to see how that will turn out.

The general rule of thumb I typically hear for when to remove a keiki is when it has 2-3 roots that are 2-3 inches long. I'm told by some that this is best done at repotting time because the keikis will be on the same cycle as the mother plant. This is the approah I would recommend.

As Celcat has suggested, it is perfectly fine to leave the babies alone and let them grow along with the rest of the plant. I've seen this done for both Den. and Phals. I currently have a Den with keikis some of which have more than one cane.

[edgy]

Thank you all, you are very kind. Eddy