Ctsm keiki - HELP!!!

[orchidea]

This is a tiny keiki on my FDK After Dark, but the growth it's on is getting soft.....
My choice would be to remove the growth and let the keiki grow a bit watching him not to dry up or rot.....before I separate the keiki.....
What would you do???

[kmarch]

It's too small to survive on its own. The pseudobulb it is growing on looks like it is dieing off normally. I see no signs of rot or anything. Old back bulbs sometimes do this. They just get "used up" and shrivel and die. I'd be inclined to leave it be for the time being. Let's see what the catasetum experts say.

[Mira-Claude]

I do not know that particular plant, but I would try to wrap sphag around the keiki's roots...

[orchids4me]

I think its the same with this type of orchid as with others and back bulbs that trow a new growth. The back bulb is sustaining the new growth or in this case the keiki as it develops its root system. I agree with Kmarch old back bulbs do this and I don't see signs of rot either they just wither and pass over time when are old. But it seems this one is just supporting the keiki long enough for it to grow and develop.
You got a new baby
Good luck!
Emmaye

[rcb]

ok, I disagree with the others. That older growth can't be that old, so it shouldn't be dieing off yet. Although agree it's just dieing off, not rotting.

My impression is that all the new growths are not sustaining themselves, which they should be at this point from what I can see of them in the pictures. So, I'm thinking you are not quite giving them enough - water, fertilizer, sunlight - something they are missing to sustain themselves, so they are using up the reserves in the old bulb prematurely.

As for the new growth, suspect is started out high where there is still a little bit of reserves in the b'bulb. Not sure I'd call it a keiki, and I suspect there is not enough left in the b'bulb to sustain it long enough for it to take off on its own. Chance of survival is so so, I wouldn't worry about it itself.

I'd worry more about what I'm not giving the plant that it is "eating up" b'bulbs so quickly.

[orchidea]

Thank you Renee, I was waiting for you to reply.........
Now I don't know what to think. I was kind of with all the others....
This plant has one more older PB, and that one is somewhat OK, or it looks OK to me... The PB in question is so much smaller therefore is probably much older. How old.... I wouldn't know...
I do have few other Ctsm's with huge older PBs and tiny older ones, and these tiny ones are in much better shape that this one in picture though..
Here is an entire plant......


If this guy is not getting enough of anything, the only thing I am thinking this could be is light.....I'll move him.....He is in the East/South facing window... I'll move him to the South facing one......

[catasetum-ian]

just to share some thoughts, not enough light perhaps so (the deep dark green color of the foliage suggest this, or perhaps its the lighting effect of the photo). and secondly IMHO i dun like catasetums planted in heavy moss especially in plastic pots without any holes on the side.
i dun think it is not receiving enough water either cause the moss is soaked heavily in water.
the lowest portion of the yellow bulb is slightly discolored at the base, i am suspecting a rot here.
for me i would removed of the entire old bulb and then dust some antifungal powder on the cut surface of the remaining plant where you removed the old PB from. sacrificing the of PB seems inevitable for me, but why risk the entire big healthy plant for a small keiki on a rotting bulb?
if you are keeping indoor, got to be extra careful in watering catasetums, very prone to rot in sphanum moss media. they need good aeration in your current pot settings.

[rcb]

Orchidea, looking at the new picture - couple things.

The little b'bulb is probably almost two years old. I like to see them last a little longer, but I don't think the plant itself is in danger.

Are your other plants where the b'bulbs are in better shape putting out one new growth vs two like this one?

Looking at this in the morning vs the middle of the night after working all day, my opinion is remove the little growth. Let the bigger new growths get all the energy instead of this little one, which I doubt will make it.

As for what it is lacking, just moving into more light wouldn't be the fix. Remember light/water/fertilizer all work together, and need to be in balance. I'm thinking that maybe it's not getting enough fertilizer with the two new growths.

I consider these types of plants at this stage as teenage boys, they are growing so fast they need a lot of food to keep them going. Try slightly increasing your fertilizing.

[orchidea]

Thank you Renee and Catasetum-ian. I am at work right now, but I'll remove the old growth when I get home.
I have many other Ctsms that puzzle me.
Renee, I think the one I am talking about with a very small growth that is doing OK, has two older huge PB's and two huge new growth.......I have another one that really worries me. It has 5 (!!!!) or so new growths, but they are all skinny and small. I wonder if I should cut few off, to let one or two of them to develope properly.....
I'll try to make few pictures tinight.
They all are very interesting plants, that's for sure....

[cable]

I don't think there's any rot, so I'd just leave the old pbulb and keiki alone. The plant would probably appreciate being moved to the brighter location though, judging by the dark green leaves and camera flash.

If another plant is making lots of new growths, I'd trust it to know what it's doing: it's probably happy. Even if those growths end up a little weaker it'll be a more impressive plant in a couple of years.

[orchidea]

Just got home. So here they are:
Please keep in mind they are not as dark green as they appear in the pictures. It's very dark outside, I think it's going to rain, so I had to use flash, and it's messing up the colors. It's actually much lighter in real life....
This is my probably the biggest Ctsm with very small (almost lost in the shpag) older growth, that is very green and firm....

And the whole plant (you can hardly see this little guy at the level where the shpag is)....


This is the other one I was talking about. The original small old PB didn't look very good, so I was not even sure it's going to do anything for me. But it started 4 (!!!) new growths, and they all look so-so:


BTW, the reason I am using Shpag is because I would like to compensate for such low levels of humidity. I have to water most of my Ctsms at least every second day..... And we are having record high humidity levels this year, the whole entire wooping 40-50%, because of the rains......

So, what do you guys think....

[catasetum-ian]

well, just thought to chime in a bit here, orchidea
all the pics are showing great healthy plants here the small bulb in the first pic of your current post is just old bulb that eventually will fade off.
as for the last pic, 4 new shoots are growing very well. IMHO, i would just leave them there, though they will end up being smaller in size compare to if you were to keep only one or two of them, but with proper fertilizing regime you should have a decent bulb size as well. if you plan to keep down the number of keiki growing, trimmed them off when they are at younger age, not at this stage.
in addition, keeping them in place wouldn't be a bad idea after all, imagine when they flower at once later........
these are just my thoughts.