One of my Orchid plants made Keiki....

[MikeyTN]

For those that don't know what Keiki mean, read it here!---> Keiki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SoCalWendy]

Awwww what a cute baby

 

[MikeyTN]

There's 3 of them!!! So now I need to make sure I fertilize the momma plant so the babies can grow....From my understanding, it's best to leave it for 2-3 years and allow it to bloom at least once before removing off the mother plant to pot on it's own. BUT if the momma plant decide to not feed it, the stem will turn brown from the base then I would have to choice to remove the Keiki and plant them on their own. This is pretty exciting!!!

 

[Betrisher]

Oh Wow! Congratulations! You didn't say what kind of orchid it is (looks like a Phalaenopsis)? My hard-cane dendrobiums have set keiki just this year too and I had no clue what to do with them. You reckon I should wait a year or so before shifting them, Mikey?

May I also congratulate you on the health of your gorgeous African Violets!!! I simply cannot get mine to do that well: I've tried many different spots but this house just doesn't like them. When I lived with my parents (sunny house), they did much better. Do you use wick pots or just water them in the saucer?

 

[MikeyTN]

I start to change all my violets to wick pots but if I start one I grow them in small pots sitting in a bowl of water. Just remember they like to have dry root inbetween watering so I water regular pots weekly and water wick pots every two weeks. I have a ton of violets! Just find a sunny window spot and open the curtains or use sheer curtains. Make sure you use the violet soil or you can do your own mix. I also fertilize them as well.

The orchid I think is phalaenopsis but I'm not sure. It have the smaller blooms. I have never seen orchids that kept growing from existing stems to grow new shoots for new flowers. This one have been going into bloom all year long from the existing stems, there have been no new stem shoots! Its been going like this for several years now. I find it cool cause I always know I have one orchid that's blooming.

 

[MikeyTN]

Betrisher,

By the way I just figured out it is a Mini Phalaenopsis Orchid.

 

[Betrisher]

OK. So now I know you have these gorgeous plants, I'd so love to see photos of them flowering. Don't forget, will ya?

 

[JerseyWendy]

Holy smokes, how did I miss THIS??? :11:

Your mini Phalp is having babies, that is SO awesome!!!!

How are you going to fertilize the Keikis?? Or will they take the nutrients from the mother plant?

Ever since I started using exclusively my pond water for the orchids, they have all been doing outstanding. I STILL have a couple of Phalps flowering at the moment, and my Hawaiian Cattleya orchid is setting a flower bud at the moment.

 

[MikeyTN]

I bought this orchid half dead for 25 cents about 3 years ago. This picture is when it was blooming early this summer, its still blooming now but not home to take pictures. Notice the long stem, been blooming from same stem for a long time!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Those are 2 VERY healthy looking mini Phalps!!

And yes, your African Violets are MAGNIFICENT!!! :11:

 

[torrap]

Oh no!!!!! Are we going to talk orchids here????.....
Orchids are taking every room in my house (many of them are rare ones). At one point I had about 300-400 (including seedlings) orchids. I had a special lab I created and grew them from seeds. I am growing orchids for about 5-6 years now.

You should leave the keiki on the Mother plant till it developes about 2-3 inch roots of it's own. Remove the keiki only if it's killing the mother and you wish to keep the mother plant......
I had a nobile type dendrobium that produced about 30 keikies and they killed (with my help of course) the mother plant.

My orchids are not getting much attention lately since I got my Zons.....

 

[MikeyTN]

This is the same plant I cross pollinated successfully earlier this year!

 

[MikeyTN]

The seeds needs special medium to grow in don't they?

 

[JerseyWendy]

This is the same plant I cross pollinated successfully earlier this year!

:11: WOW Michael!!! What type is it, and how did you do it????

GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MikeyTN]

Its the mini phalaenopsis! I did it to the regular phalaenopsis as well. I watched a video on YouTube and tried it myself and it works!!!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

No way!!! What did you cross pollinate it with???

 

[MikeyTN]

Here's a video on how to---> [ame=http://youtu.be/tf8o7heBxAQ]How to Pollinate Orchids - Phalaenopsis Orchid - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MikeyTN]

The mini ones are all pink so the seedlings would be all pink. The regular sized ones are between white and pink mix.

 

[torrap]

The seeds needs special medium to grow in don't they?

Yep, I had the entire lab with the glove box and everything. I created the glove box from a big fish tank.....I cooked my own medium too as well as bought some....

 

[MikeyTN]

I have not gotten the medium parts down yet so I still have the seeds that I propagated. Give me some pointers on the medium that I can make myself. Post pictures of your glove box? I'm very interested in growing them. I'm always interested to do something new. This summer I grew more violets and started some hardy gardenia twigs that I give away.