Rootless Phal with Keikis

[ldk]

Good morning from Hot & Humid Orlando! Several weeks ago I submitted a question and some pictures of a Phal I have been trying to save (still am). Your advice was to lower it in the pot which I did with shaking hands. Well, being an over-acheiver and and over-waterer, the two existing roots roots rotted right away. One of the orginal leaves still exist and two of the old leaves fell off but the tiny new leaf has grown and another tiny new leaf is growing - no roots, but some hopeful green nodules are developing. It has survived this long by not being potted, but laying on top of the damp moss and by being misted twice a day and soaked in water and fertilizer for a couple of hours every Friday night. The only other care it's getting is that I constantly stare at it - drives my husband crazy!! Well, something is happening with the flower stem. The very top of the stem has a 'fan' of about five green shoots with a tiny green shoot coming from the bottom. At the next nodule down, there appears to be two tiny leaves and a tiny green shoot coming from the bottom of that as well. I tried a dozen time to take a picture, but I just could not get enough detail for you to really see it. I will try to attach two pics anyway and maybe with the above explanation, the pictures will be alright. So the question really is, are these the famous 'keikis' that I have read so much about and where do I go from here?

Thanks to all for reading this long, long account of what's happening with the plant.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by ldk

So the question really is, are these the famous 'keikis' that I have read so much about and where do I go from here?

You do have keikis. They are the baby plants growing from the inflorescence. In the short term you have only one option, wait for roots. Either your original plant will grow some new roots or the keikis will start to grow some roots. Until you have roots there's not much you can do. If both your original plant and the keikis grow roots you then have 2 options: 1) leave everything as it is - the plants, both the original one and the keikis will grow and could evenually all flower, or 2) you could remove the keikis when you have about 3 roots all about 3+ inches long and pot them up separately.

Let us know how it goes.

[ldk]

Thanks for the input. This is a great learning experience and reading about all the problems and solutions is great!

[berkeleysgr8]

Definitely keikis! Hopefully all of the plants grow and thrive... that would be exciting! I have a Phal with two keikis, two flower spikes on the mother plant and one on a keiki, lots of new roots growing and new growth. The plant is doing EVERYTHING at once! Maybe yours will get to that point!