Phal - Can this keiki be saved?

[silverstoli]

My coworker gave me a Phal that has suffered crown rot and has no leaves. It has one keiki with three leaves - the longest is almost 4"long. No roots on the keiki. She did the "ice" thing and it seemed rather dehydrated. The crown rot evidently happened several months ago.

It does have quite a few green roots. My concern is that the keiki is looking a bit dehyrdrated now. Hopefully watering it well will help it some since the mother plant does have some healthy roots. I watered it and have it elevated so that air can circulate under and around the pot. I cut off dead roots on the top - they were dehydrated, not rotten. I've sprayed the roots and leafless base with Physan.

I am most interested in saving the keiki. It would be a bonus if I can save the mother plant too. Can I put anything on the keiki to initiate root growth and/or to help it not look so dehydrated? Will watering the mother plant with some KelpMax help the keiki initiate roots?

I will post pictures in a few hours.

Thanks!
Mary Kay

[78Terp]

Perhaps a heat mat?

[silverstoli]

Perhaps a heat mat?

I think that is a good idea. It is currently at my office, and it is generally about 73 there. My house is about the same unless I put it outside, but it is too hot for something already slightly dehydrated.

[silverstoli]

Here are the pictures. How do I encourage the keiki to grow roots?

[ksriramkumar]

New leaves on the keiki looks ok. I could see some rotten roots. may be gently remove and cut those rotten roots and apply a fungicide. there are some green roots and it should help the phal. apply some rooting hormone / see weed extract to promote rooting.

[Carolla]

I sure would try the kelp max for the mother plant. At this point I'd leave the keiki on and see what happens, if the bloom stem starts to brown off, you'll have to remove it and try to get it to root. It looks like the mother plant's roots are feeding the keiki, so you may be fine eventually.

[silverstoli]

I sure would try the kelp max for the mother plant. At this point I'd leave the keiki on and see what happens, if the bloom stem starts to brown off, you'll have to remove it and try to get it to root. It looks like the mother plant's roots are feeding the keiki, so you may be fine eventually.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

---------- Post Merged at 06:45 AM ----------

New leaves on the keiki looks ok. I could see some rotten roots. may be gently remove and cut those rotten roots and apply a fungicide. there are some green roots and it should help the phal. apply some rooting hormone / see weed extract to promote rooting.

I removed a few roots on top, but I'm not sure if I want to repot it right now to get to the rest. I think the KelpMax and fungicide and a warmer temp is the best right now. thank you so much for your help.

[Catt Mandu]

I agree with Carolla, leave the keiki on for now, the mother plant is feeding it.

You could remove rotting roots as ksriramkumar suggested, but another way to go, possibly less risky, is to just reduce watering of the mother plant to once or twice a week. In the picture of the plant, the bark looks too wet (but maybe you just watered it). In any case, with only leaves on the keiki, none on the mother plant, it will not need much water. The bark in the pot should be nearly dry before you water each time (before you water again, allow it to dry until you see only a tiny amount of condensate inside that clear pot, each time).

With reduced water, the stem keiki should be fine, and the mother plant may even make a basal keiki. When the stem keiki makes 3 or 4 roots a few inches long, it is ready to be potted on its own.

BTW, if the plant does not have a tag, check the sides of that clear pot - sometimes mass producers of Phals laser-print the ID on the clear pot.

[silverstoli]

Thank you. I had just watered it when I took the picture. The bark was completely dry prior to me watering it.

Upon closer inspection this morning, the stem of the spike that the keiki is on seems to be dead for about 2 inches from the plant base. The top portion of the spike is still green, but I think that may be why the keiki is now dehydrated. I anticipate the stem will continue to die. I wonder if I cut the stem and put it in water, would it draw water into the keiki?

OR I could try to gently bend the spike and put the keiki in some moss or bark while hopefully leaving it attached or maybe I should just wrap some moist spag around the keiki base?

Ok, can you tell patience is not my thing??

Thanks for any and all insight! You guys are great.

---------- Post Merged at 11:18 AM ----------

Here is a pic of the stem that the keiki is on. I may have gotten to him too late.


Would cutting the stem where it is still green and putting it in water (with a little KelpMax) maybe be the thing to do?

[Catt Mandu]

I would still leave it attached to the stem while the stem has some life in it. Maybe place a clear plastic bag loosely over the keiki and stem to hold in humidity (up-side down sphag & bag, sort of, without the sphag).

If the stem continues to brown without the keiki kicking out new roots, I would then clip off the keiki & treat it like a conventional sphag & bag.

Not sure if the Kelp Max will do anything or not; others may have advice on that .