Phal - anyway to force keikis?

We all read about how to force flowers on a Phal

Just wondering , is there any way to force keikis? i would love to be able to share plants with a friend or two


(somehow, a friend of mine's mom only get keikis on her Phal, no flowers)

anyone has any input on what determines a spike to produce flowers or keikis?

it would be cool to know

There are products that contains hormones to promote the formation of keikeis.
You can also grow the plant in a dark place and it might send a keikei. But you will not get any blooms if you grow in a dark place. I haven't had a keikei before in my life, but my aunt did and she did not grow her plant close enough to a window...more like far away from the window and behind a large pot (this was her first orchid). No blooms but a new plant I believe the dark place method is in literature somewhere, but I read it a while ago.
I recomend buying the hormones, it's just easier.

You can try 'keiki paste' - I haven't ever used it but have seen it advertised. Some phals are just more prone to keiki than others. I have had 2 keikis in 30 years of growing, one basal the other through the crown . I would try the keiki paste on the first node of the spike below where the first flower was. (after blooms finish).

Certain Phal species will throw keikis every time they bloom. Others won't. Some Phals in suboptimal conditions will kieki and not bloom. That's not all that exciting.

I think your best off trying to make your plant happiest. It will do what it chooses to do. They're something like cats in that regard. Trying to force the result you want doesn't always work out as well as you hoped!

McJulie

oops I just noticed that I spelled keiki wrong up there LOL

I agree with Julie.
Some of the star-typed phals tend to throw keikis on older spikes because they don't yellow off as readily as other phals. For example I got these species as keikis: Phal fasciata, Phal lueddemanniana, and Phal pulchra. I believe my Phal bellina, Phal amboinense can keiki too when they are large enough. It's a survival stratagy for these phals.

I tried forcing my mom's old phal hybrid with 7 spikes using rooting hormone powder, but it never worked. Basically you have to remove the sheath to unveal the meristem and you use hormone or the keiki product.
.... I also did an experiment on the same phal by attempting to mericlone it at home by placing a piece of the spike with meristem in corn starch, sugar and water in a jar. The meristem (sheath removed) just touches the media and the spike cut on an angle, and sterilized using rubbing alcohol. Everything needs to be sterilized, I did it under boiling water. It did develop, but it died because I didn't change the media and it became toxic, and the media was not ideal.
I can try again now that I have all the proper flasking agar media and tools...maybe I should The plant is still giant with many spikes that sit there

All are basically right. Keiki paste may work, you are more likely to get a mutated mass growing, if you do get a keiki from it, it is likely it will have genetic mutations and be a poor grower/bloomer.
It is really about genetics of the plant. Many of the widely available clones out there have poor genetics and have a hard enough time flowering and growing keikis. Don't cut the spikes and see what happens.
I have 250 phals and every year I get 10 - 20 keikis, as well as healthy flowerings.

It is hard to make a stem prop at home if you don't have the right set up. Best idea is send out a couple spikes to a lab for stem props. John Ewing has a great lab, you can have great results.