Initiating Keikis in Phals

[ischel1]

On 12/01/09 I received a call from someone that works at a big box store saying that they had a couple of Phals(NOIDS) that were going on sale for half-price. and that the spikes were still attached, the plants having just lost their flowers. I rushed rigt over and bought them. There was a method to my madness! I had just purchased Keiki paste, but all my phals were without spikes at the moment. So I started applying Keiki past to the nodes where the flowers had been on my new phals. And below is the result.




This one has begun to root


This already had a leaf and I applied the paste in the axil of the leaf, resulting in the growth you see here. I know it looks like a lot of paste, but it's really a small amt, just spread around. I apply the paste every 7-10 days. I'm not sure when I should stop the application, probably when the roots develop.
The other spike on the second plant died soon after purchase.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Looks good so far, Mary! Keep us updated. I have never used the keiki paste, so I cannot offer any experiential advice about when to stop applying more paste. It seems that when you see the keiki start to grow, that should be enough, but again, I really do not know. Good luck with this. I look forward to seeing the results.

Cheers,
BD

[Cjcorner]

I love to watch everyone's experiments..so informative for those of us watching. Thanks for sharing.

[Janet]

Interesting. I'll have to try that. I like experimenting. Not so good at maintaining...

[ischel1]

Here is an update on those keikis. There has been considerable growth in the last 2 weeks

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Cool. MAry! That is great! They are growing fast.

Cheers,
BD

[Ephemera]

To my knowledge and from my experience with the paste one only needs to apply it after incision once, then wait for about 10 days until a growth shows; if there is a growth no need to apply any more paste! If nothing happens, then re-apply and wait another 10 days. Basta.

Cheers, Michael

[ischel1]

Thank you Michael for the info and also Howard for the pm. It now looks like the "Keikis" are developing into flower spikes. I'm wondering if I should cut the spike and let the plant rejuvenate or wait and see what develops. Any suggestions are welcome.

[Ephemera]

Well the purpose of the paste is to induce the growth of either keikis or blooms, but the choice is not yours, but the orchid's. Both need the spike to obtain nourishment from the mother plant. The rule is let them develop, i.e. if keikis they should have their own roots (2 inches+) before removing gently from the spike, and if flowers let them finish blooming. Only then you cut the spike, unless it dries out by itself which can happen as well. I haven't heard about keikis developing into flower spikes (maybe because you kept applying the paste after you already had keikis growing and too much hormone did that, I'm not sure, but too much paste is definitely tiring the mother plant!). Good luck!

Michael

[Phyrex]

I'm not sure where I read it but it mentioned waiting a little while after the last flower falls off otherwise you'll only get branches not keikis. It didn't mention how long you should wait though. I just applied some of the paste on my first test phal, it's in bad shape with just one leaf so hopefully it'll do something good.