phal orchid with two basal keikis!

[sciencegal]

I have another phal that is two large plants. Each one has around 6 or 8 leaves and each one produces one spike. I wanted to divide them but only one has roots. The other one is coming out of the stem of the one with the roots. I've had this one for several years so I figured the basal keiki, which is a mature plant, will never have its own roots. I kind of figured the same thing would happen with this one. It would just be one basic stem with at least four keikis.

[Carolla]

You can try to stimulate roots with a kelp based product, something like Kelp Max, which works great for me. Otherwise, you might end up with an interesting specimen orchid! I have one with a basal keiki atm, so far no roots on the keiki, but its pretty new.

I had one that was badly dehydrated when it was given to me, the flowerless spike formed a keiki that did grow good roots and is alive and well with my daughter, as the main plant recovered (although slowly). It hasn't bloomed again yet either, though its a large healthy plant now. Maybe I need colder winters to stimulate that one - we've been keeping the house pretty warm for my 90 yr old MIL that lives with us. I'll have to see if I can figure out where its coldest in the house and try to bloom it. I guess it was very free blooming before it got neglected.

[sciencegal]

I use a kelp extract and have seen good results on getting better root growth as well as helping stressed orchids.

I just looked at the old double phal. One half has lots of nice roots. The second one that is coming out of the stem has two short air roots - not enough to sustain it if I tried separating them. They are sharing one root system. I think keikis that come from the flower spike are a little different than the ones that come out of the stem.

I suspect the one with the four small basal keikis will be like that for several years.