Dendrobium Keiki

[Bikerdoc5968]

I'm not much into Dendrobium but as part of my branching out from Phals, I have this little guy that had a nasty case of mealy bug this summer when it was given to me. With all the spraying of insecticides and major effort to clean it up some of the plant died back but now I see keikis growing with roots!!!!! I know with my phal keikis, I wait until the roots are 3 in number and about 3" long before removing them. Do most of you follow this same thing with Dendrobium? And is it helpful to wrap these little guys in sphagnum to keep them moist or does that lead to potential rot?

Next question: the tag says "D. compactum x Udom Blue Angle. Doing a search, can't find "Udom"

[pavel]

Pretty much the same deal as with the Phals, Howard. I have removed them even earlier in some cases. Not to long ago a friend of mine gave me their den to rescue. It had several keikis but the canes of the mother plant were all dying or dead. The old canes were brown at the base and the brown was creeping up the stem. So I removed the keikis even though their roots were only 0.5-1 inch long and put them in one of my terrs. Currently two have survived and appear to have new root growth.

As to the moss -- IMO, that depends in part on how you plan on growing them. If you're considering mounting then I wouldn't bother. If you're thinking of potting them up, you might want to just so as the roots grow they are already adapted to a bit moister environment.

[walingwaling]

hi howard,
have to agree with pavel!
to be on the save side with your keikis, i would leave em on for some more weeks, until the roots almost reach the medium, so they take full advantage of the juices left in the canes.

[Bikerdoc5968]

Thanks... I was told by someone else that the "Odum" is from Thailand. So the name is D. compactum x D. Odum Blue Angel. It was registered back in the late '80's. Blue Angel is a cross of D. Kultana x D. Makariki Blue.