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Is this a Keiki?

Discussion in 'Everything Else Orchid' started by Monet's Garden, May 30, 2017.

  1. Monet's Garden

    Monet's Garden Member

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    is this a keiki? No roots.
     

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  2. KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    Yes. It will eventually grow roots. Tomorrow I'll post a photo of my D. kingianum so you can see what they do.
     
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  3. Monet's Garden

    Monet's Garden Member

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    Thank you. Would applying keiki root assist?
     
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  4. KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    I don't know if it would help. However, if you just give it time you will have some beautiful keikis with roots. Let the keikis get large with healthy roots before you remove them.
     
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  5. KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    Here is a Dendrobium kingianum with keiki. The keiki is flowering size. They can be removed or just left in place. If left alone they can eventually break off if bumped.

    Dend kingianum keiki-900.jpg
     
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  6. Monet's Garden

    Monet's Garden Member

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    Thank you for the responses and posting the photo. Greatly appreciated.

    On a similar note, a friend of mine has a dendrobium kingianum with a large number of keiki's on it and the plant has stopped flowering. Could this be due to the plant putting its energy into the keiki's?
     
  7. KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    In general, a plant will put more energy into keikis if the environmental conditions for flowering are not being met. It wants to reproduce so if it can't reproduce sexually (seed) then it tries the asexual route (keikis). So, if a person is trying to get the plant to flower but instead gets keikis then there is usually some key condition being missed. Dend. kingianums prefer bright light, warm moist summers and cool, dry, bright winters.

    Some species just like to make keikis. My kingianum blooms fairly well but still makes keikis. The same goes for my D. scabrilingue... lots of flowers and still a few keikis every year.