Orchid question.

I know very little about orchids, but started caring for them several years ago when a client was going to throw one away after its blooms had dropped. She gave me three more over a several month period, and I've been looking after them ever since. Until recently, none has ever re-bloomed, but all have stayed alive, and put out new leaves.

In October I moved to a new house, and I put the orchids in a sunnier location than they had been previously. Also shortly after that, I discovered that my local Home Depot carried an actual orchid food, so I started feeding them every other week, per the instructions.

In the last month, one of my orchids has bloomed and another is about to. I am very excited. This has never happened before so I'm guessing that one or another or maybe the combination of the changes mentioned above was the reason.

The reason for this post though, is to ask what to do about the following. One of the orchids, (the one currently blooming) put out a new bloom stalk thing on which two new blooms emerged. (excuse the names I'm giving things, I have no clue what their actual names are) It also had a previous bloom stalk which never got old and brittle so I never cut it back, I just left it alone. That stalk produced a shoot also, but IT seems to be a whole new orchid!

Here are pictures to give you a better idea:

Here's a shot of the entire plant where you can see the blooms and a general idea of what I'm talking about.


And here are a couple more of just that one shoot with a new orchid plant on it.




What do I do with this one that has what appears to be a new plant? Can I plant it and make a whole other orchid with it? If so how do I do that? Should I just leave it alone? What?

 

What you are talking about is a Keiki. That's Hawaiian for child.

You have a baby. If you use sphagnum moss and put it around the roots. Then put it in a clay pot so it fits tightly. You can leave it attached to the mom and cut it as the baby matures or cut the cane where the Kieki sits and plant that. In your case it may be better to cut the cane to plant it for there is not much flexibility to the cane to let the baby in pot sit on the counter.

The most important thing is to make a new label and date when it is potted up, if your mom has a label.

There are proper pots, planting medium and pins to hold them in the pot but you can do it just as easily the way I old you.

Congrats!!

 

Good job! You must have high humidity where you live to have such a beautiful new orchid with such healthy roots. Use orchid bark for good drainage in an orchid pot (they have holes in the sides as well as the bottom for good air circulation). From my experience orchids are pretty tough and over watering kills more than anything else. The roots rot if kept wet. You could cut that baby and pot up in its own little pot and should be very happy.

 

We should be able to give it a nick name since we are all "Fairy God Stewers".....

I vote for "Luckystewiebaby"...

 

Thanks all for your feedback. I appreciate the tips.

Jewell, I live in Tennessee so it gets fairly humid here, though we have the air conditioner blasting out 70 degree air and it doesn't feel humid inside, so I don't know how much the humidity of the South can be affecting the orchids.

Thanks Eileen! It's definitely been a "fly by the seat of my pants" endeavor, at least up to this point, so probably it's been sheer luck that I haven't killed the things so far.

I LOVE this idea!!! :-D If I might change things just a bit, I dub you all "Stewie God Mothers" and as these babies are called keikis I think we should name that offshoot Luckystewkeiki. And we can call him/her (?) Stewkei (pronounced Stew-kee) for short.

What do you think?

 

Silly us....... how cute...I do have some of my plants named and also some of our gardens are named...like the "Elbow" and "The 'Our' Garden" and "The Up Garden" and "The Back Garden".

So how are you going to deal with little "Stewkei"?

 

I attempted to keep an abandoned Orchid once. Killed it promptly.
You've done a great job. And I, too, like Stewkie

 

Yeah, we're pretty goofy.....just the kind of people I like!

To answer your question, I was thinking of ordering one of these starter kits.

http://www.repotme.com/orchid-supplies/ ... r-Kit.html

There are two of them listed on that link page. I'm just wondering which one to order...I guess the primary difference is in the potting mix. Which means I need to figure out what kind of orchid little Stewkei is.

Do any of you know?

 

Yeah, thanks Eileen. Going with the first one makes more sense if that's the kind of orchid I have.

I've also been watching youtube videos because I'm a bit nervous about detaching that baby from its Mama, and the the specifics of planting an orchid from scratch, neither of which I've ever done before. It's a lot different than taking a cutting from a houseplant and rooting it before re-potting it, which is the only kind of plant propagation I'm familiar with.

Thankfully though, there are some very knowledgeable orchid people on youtube with easy to follow instructions in video form. Works for me, as I'm very visual. A preferred way for me to get information.

 

Your choices are great. I think either would be good. Air circulation seems to be the most important condition to provide. I almost lost my favorite orchid after 15 yrs. because I didn't realize the bark had decomposed and turned to soil.

Your baby has a good set of roots so is able to be on its own. I've had moth orchids with less roots that were able to survive and prosper (after someone had overwatered them). Moth orchids are beautiful and were pretty hardy for me. Bet yours will be too. Good luck with Stewkei. I am sure it will be a giant in no time at all.


Mixed planting/pot of Phalaenopsis ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden )

Mine got so big they took over my plant shelf in the living room.. Finally gave some away and donated the large grouping to a charity auction. Decided to keep to some smaller types of orchids. They don't have the showy, long lasting flowers that Stewkie will have though. Don't forget orchid fertilizer.


( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden )

 

Wow, Jewell!!! Your orchids are GORGEOUS! I'd be thrilled to grow just one even half as lovely as all yours!

 

Well, That set up would be fine but not at first. You really need to get wet sphagnum moss and wrap it around the roots and put it in a small clay pot. Then you can set the pot in a saucer of water to help keep the baby moist. It can be left that way for probably a year. Then I would get an orchid pot with slots on the side to transplant in.

You could use wet sphagnum moss and wire-tie it to the stem surrounding the baby. So it would be sort of like air layering. It can grow that way for a while. That will be harder to keep as moist though.