My first den keikis...not sure what to do...

[katrina]

Hey Everyone!!

I bought several dens after a local orchid show this past Feb and while most having been putting out new growths and looking great.... one (Den Norma Jackson 'Firecracker') wasn't doing anything. I figured it would die on me but because the canes weren't mushy I kept it in with the others. Yesterday, during my bi-weekly rotations I found 3 keikis on it.

Do I treat these keikis as I would a phal keiki? Wait until they develop roots then pots them up? Or, will they require something different?

Since I've obviously managed to kill the parent...I'd like to try to keep the babies alive. Any and all advice is welcome!

Thanks so much!
Kat~

PS -- I know it's the death of the parent (sad thing) but it's kind of exciting to have produced some babies. I've only had this happen one other time on a rescue phal.

PSS....I've read that dens produce keikis easily and often...do you guys find this to be true?

[kid a]

I would leave them on the "mommy" until the roots are more developed and they get a little bigger. Mist the roots occasionally to keep them from drying up. You may not need to if you have high humidity but it wouldn't hurt. Then once the roots are longer pot it up. And to your question about Dens and keikis, yes that is true. The old canes do too when you cut them up to pieces with two or three nodes and put it in a humidity tray. So if you do loose this plant once you repot those keikis cut the cane up into pieces and throw into a sphag n bag to see if you can get more! I would wait until you are sure it is not going to have new growth on it other than keikis.

[articuno75]

I have Norma Jackson, and she's wonderful in bloom! Mist the base of the plant daily and keep a decent amount of airflow on the plant. This will help.

You want roots to be at least an inch or two on the keikis. The longer the better.

[evagentry]

It sounds like the mother plant isn't dead yet,so don't give up , I say this because I have a dend. noid,one of my first orchids that had done nothing for almost two years. I kept it because it was putting out keikis, the lowest one I left on thinking the plant would continue through it.About two weeks ago the mother plant began a new growth!Be sure when you take the keikes off to coat the open wound with cinnamon before you pot, I didn't on the first one and it rotted.Good luck, and have fun!

[Sassismom]

I also have a den. noid with lots of little keikis and am waiting on the roots. This plant has a few old canes with no leaves, are you saying I can cut it up and try to grow some new plants from it? I would love to give this a try.

[kid a]

Yes, you can if you are willing to sacrifice the main plant, lol! Sometimes when one is in bad shape or not doing anything and has no roots people do that. Just leave a few nodes on each plant and throw them in a sphag n bag or tray with lid full of damp sphag. Some illustrations and pictures I have seen have also used sand too!

[katrina]

Thanks guys! I wanted to be sure I was treating these little ones properly...the advice/guidance is very much appreciated.

So...from one $2 plant...I now have 3 plants. Plus, the largest cane is still rock solid...no new roots that I can see but rock solid so perhaps there could be more babies.

Or, even better...after an extended rest...maybe the mother will show signs of bouncing back. Thanks for that bit of info evagentry.


Thanks again everyone!
Kat~

[Sassismom]

Ok, here's a couple of pix of my den. I was wrong, it's not a noid, but a Nobile. So you're saying I will lose the whole plant if I were to cut one of the bare canes that have no leaves. I see a tiny little new sprout coming from the bottom of one of those bare canes, what do you think that is?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by katrina

Since I've obviously managed to kill the parent...

I don't necessarily think you've killed your orchid. While keikis do sprout on plants that have been stressed, they also occur naturally on perfectly normal plants. They're not a harbinger of certain death. You've received some good advice on how to treat the keikis so I won't elaborate on that though I would not be eager to chop up perfectly healthy canes.

Originally Posted by katrina

PSS....I've read that dens produce keikis easily and often...do you guys find this to be true?

Yes, but only on certain varieties, nobiles, kingianums, and some others.

[Sassismom]

Hey Kevin, what about me?

[katrina]

Thanks Kevin! As long as the cane stays firm...I'll hope for the best.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Sassismom

Hey Kevin, what about me?

I tried to post a response about your plant this morning, but I was having internet difficulties and lost it. Here is it again, reconstructed:

Originally Posted by Sassismom

I was wrong, it's not a noid, but a Nobile.

This is a point of confusion for many growers, new and more experienced alike so bear with me for a moment and I'll try to explain it clearly: Dendrobium nobile is a lovely species orchid that comes from the Himalayas. Nobile-type dendrobiums are hybrids that contain the species Den. nobile. From the looks of it, you certainly have a nobile-type. Unless you have a tag that says it is a Den nobile (the species) we'll have to wait until it blooms to see if it the species or a nobile-type hybrid. It's possible that it is a nobile-type hybrid and still a noid as there are many, many nobile-type hybrids.

The culture for Den nobile and nobile-type hybrids is different than other dens. They go through a distinct, seasonal cycle of growing and blooming. It starts in spring when new shoots appear at the bottom of the plant. Water heavily when in active growth, usually I never allow the mix to dry out when they're growing. No fertilizer is necessary (in fact fertilizing may resul,t in keikis rather than blooms). Over the course of late spring/summer/autumn, the canes grow and mature. In autumn when they're nearly mature, begin to reduce watering. Also in autumn, allow the plant to experience the cool autumn temps. They can easily stand termperatures as low as 40F. By the end of autumn, watering should be completely stopped. I do not watermy nobile-type at all for approximately 3 months, not a drop unless the canes shrivel and then only water them lightly. Toward the end of their cool, dry winter rest they will start to spike. Mine are spiking now (see pics of my spiking nobile-type in the thread titled "On the horizon"). They flower in late winter/early spring (still very little to no water). After the flowers fade, new shoots will appear again and you may start to water regularly again, gradually increasing the volume/frequency as the roots develop until you're watering heavily again when they're in full growth.

Cutting a healthy cane off to propigate the plant will not kill it, but I'd much rather grow the plant well and divide it rather than cut perfectly healthy canes off it as this can weaken the plant.

[Sassismom]

Thanks so much Kevin, that was very thorough and informative. I'm surprised it's gotten so much new growth, since I've only been watering 1 a week and did so all winter as well. So even though there aren't any leaves on the old canes, they are still considered healthy and I should not cut them off?

[brookn]

Nobile-types will bloom from leafless canes.

[kmarch]

Yes, sassimom, do not cut off the leafless canes as brookn said that's where the blooms come.

[Sassismom]

So glad I asked before I went ahead and cut. So where exactly will I be watching for bloom spikes on these? Would it be similar to my den. Dawn Maree?