Keiki stayed on too long

[Tanya]

If you can't attach it to a tree, mounting it to a piece of log or something would be a good idea. This would give the roots of the kieki some footholds and get nourishment. This is exciting, I wish I could do the same!

[Slipperhead]

Thanks for the nice photo of the spiking phal keiki. It is a classic!

Years ago (early '90s), one of the San Diego phal growers gave me or sold me a small glass jar of what he called "keiki paste". I don't know if he made the stuff up himself or if he bought it somewhere. The glass container I got it in was unmarked.

He instructed me to smear a small bit of the paste on one or at most two of the previously-bloomed nodes on a phal spike to initiate keiki growth. I tried it on a number of plants just for the heck of it and got almost 100% success. Unfortunately, I let the keikis suck the life out of the mother plant (refer to Louis's photo above) and the mother plant either died or was set back for two years or so. These were adult plants blooming for only the second or third time but being greedy, I wanted lots of duplicates for trading with my friends. What I ended up with was a duplicate of my mother plant that took two years or so to bloom themselves...not a good "dead motherplant" tradeoff!

Later, I tried an experiment by putting the paste on a cut spike stuck in a glass of water. Guess what, it worked so-so. The keiki developed small roots then stopped growing. I harvested it and had a small duplicate of the mother plant without all the stress of the previous experiment.

Keiki paste is available on the market I see. I just did a "keiki paste" Google search and found sources and instructions. Your mileage may vary!

[LJA]

I left the plant exactly as is, this is where we are now, almost 4 months later:


The keiki is doing great, its spikes having developed a lot sooner than the mother plant's, with one flower already open. The mother plant, however, isn't in such good shape: more of the leaves are yellowing as the energy from it gets put into the keiki, and flower count overall is quite low.

Moral of the story? While leaving keikis on makes for an interesting, novelty conversation piece, it's not the best practice if you're growing for spikes with lots of blooms. The mother plant here may survive this, or it may expire. I'm leaving it alone--let nature take her course and we'll see what happens.

[TundraKev]

That is interesting. Baby sucks the life out of mom. How touching.

Basal keikis don't work that way do they? One of my oldest phals has had a huge one for a number of years. Both mom and kid (now almost adult) seem to be doing fine. 3 spikes this year, in fact.

Kev

[LJA]

No, basal keikis whose roots have grown into the medium or are otherwise well-developed won't do this. The problem here is that this aerial keiki with its two roots is not being self-supportive: mom is supplying almost all of the energy and nutrients for the plantlet, plus its spikes and flower development, plus mom's own spikes.

[Cinderella]

You guys don't have any kids, do ya?

[LJA]

LOL!!

Debbie, are you saying that motherhood is making you feel drained?

[Tanya]

That is one GREEDY Kid. Keep us posted Louis. Maybe the mother will have a chance to recover soon when those two roots reach the medium. They are nearly there.

Kev, my Schilly cross also has two basal keikis both are now fully grown and blooming and the mother is still going strong.

[Cinderella]

I just laughed that both of you were surprised that the baby drains the Mother. Zzzzz.

[Gin]

I have used a styrofoam cup clipped to a stake with Spag in it not a lot and loose and put the brats roots in it . Gin