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Orchid Keikis
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Sep 14, 2021
An orchid keiki is a baby replica of the mother plant, a clone with the exact same DNA, reproduced asexually—not by pollination. This new baby plant will display the same flower pattern, shape, colors, and texture as the mother plant. Keiki means “the little one, child, or baby” in Hawaiian, which is where the term originated. When it comes to orchid propagation, many questions arise. Below are the most common questions about keikis and detailed answers on how to care for them.
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Sometimes you have an orchid that will start growing a new growth from the middle of the flower spike
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or in the middle of the stem, which doesn't follow the same patterns that normal growth has on an orchid
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That's one leaf to the left and one leaf to the right. It's in the middle of the stem that shouldn't be there
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Well, these new growths are called keikis. And in this video, I'm going to answer the 8 most asked questions about what to do with keikis
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Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidaria
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A keiki is another way that the plant will produce growth without a pollinator
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It doesn't have to have two sets of chromosomes to produce a keiki
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So in this sense, if this keiki grows to be a full mature plant like the mother is
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it will have the same smell. It will have the same color
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It will have the same flower shape and size because it is the same DNA
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We get the word keiki from a Hawaiian term that means baby
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So in fact, this is a baby plant. There are some orchids that have a higher tendency to produce keikies, and those are
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Dendrobiums, Phalaenopsis, Epidendrums, and Oncidiums. These orchids will produce more keikies. So if you are wanting to have a keiki after the flower has bloomed and blossomed and all the
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blossoms have fallen off, usually we cut the flower spike back to the last flowering node
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Well, to have a keiki, it's best to leave this flower spike on and use a hormone stimulant
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to produce this keiki. There are two places that keikis can form on your phalaenopsis orchid
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It can be formed on the flower spike itself and it can be formed on the stem. Question the
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Number two, what does the keiki say about the health of my orchid
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Now, as most things in orchid care, it can go both ways
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First, it can say that your orchid has had a hard year and it's giving up on life
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It doesn't like the conditions it's growing in. It wants to have one last chance to reproduce this plant and give its child a better life than it had itself So the plant is under stress It a sign that the orchid care was not adequate and it wants to try to propagate the species before it gives up
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on life and dies. The second is a way of saying that it is healthy, it is loving life, and it just
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wants to produce new growth that will endure the same conditions. So it is a double-sided coin with
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both sides being extremely opposites. To know which is the condition of your orchid, you need to check
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your potting media. See what your orchid is growing in. See what the pH is. Run water through it and
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test the pH of the water as it runs out. Test the pH inside the potting media. Check to see how
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fast water can enter your potting media and exit the pot. Try to keep a journal or a diary of when
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you repotted your orchid last to see if you need to repot this again. Remember Phalaenopsis orchids
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will need to be repotted once every two years and if they're in pure sphagnum moss like this one is
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it will need to be repotted every year. Another thing you can check is what is your fertilization
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method during the life of your orchid. If your orchid is thriving, if it has strong, firm leaves
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if the roots are just healthy and plump, then your orchid is producing a keiki because it's
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loving the life that it's in. If your orchid, like in this one, has had a hard year, the leaves are
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limp. See, I can bend and fold them easily. This orchid has no resistance. It is a, most Phalaenopsis
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leaves will not be this limp. I mean, look at that. So in this case, I know my Keiki has formed
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because it doesn't like the conditions it was in before. Question number three, how do I know it's
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a Keiki and not a new flower spike or a new leaf? Well, leaves, especially on Phalaenopsis orchids
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will grow one to the left, one to the right, and then follow that sequence throughout the year
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A keiki will be born on the side of the stem, both leaves coming out to one particular side
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And if you're still in doubt, just give the orchid time. It will show if that leaf starts
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to produce new roots, you know you do have a keiki. Now let's say you want a phalaenopsis orchid with
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just the inflorescence with one beautiful spike and not all these kekis on your orchid
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How to prevent kekis from growing Well as soon as that last mud falls out cut the flower spike back to above the last node closest to the stem of the orchid That way it will not produce keikis on the flower spike itself
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The only place it can produce keikis are on the stem, and those are harder and more rare, but they do occur
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On the other hand, the other question is what if I want to fill this orchid with keikis
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and just produce a massive plant that is producing new life all the time
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There is a product called Cakey Paste, and I do not recommend it
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because you are spreading hormones all over your orchid, and you're stressing your orchid to the point of not allowing it to grow naturally
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You're inducing hormones to it, and it's really going to take a hit
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it might be beautiful for the first year, but orchid care is not about just one year. Orchid
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care is about year after year after year of healthy flowering, blossoming plants. The keiki
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paste will produce new growth from the dormant nodes that are on your flower spike. So that's why
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it's important to know what a node is. The sixth question about keikis is when to remove them
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Well, this keiki right here is a baby keiki and it has no roots as of yet
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It will take a longer time to mature to get big, beautiful, healthy leaves and roots
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There is a saying that you need to have three leaves and three roots
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Phalaenopsis orchids do not come in odd numbers in terms of leaves
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They usually grow one leaf to the left, one leaf to the right. I recommend that if you have two good, healthy, strong, vibrant, green, thick, luscious leaves
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and four nice roots, you can take this keiki off. And they're really relatively easy to take
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You can twist them off or cut them with scissors. They usually come off very easy
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but make sure that this keiki will have enough conditions to grow without its mother because
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right now the only life that it's getting is being sent by this mother plant. If that doesn't have
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the mother anymore it has to guarantee its life on its own so it will need leaves it will need
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healthy roots. Keep this keiki on your orchid for the most time that you can. Question number seven
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How long does it take from the keiki to be repotted Well by the time it has good leaves and nice healthy roots you can repot it inside the pot with the mother plant Now remember if your potting material was something that made
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the orchid produce a keiki in the first place, do not repot it in the same potting media. And you
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know that the keiki was made because of the health of the orchid. Pot it in the same pot to the side
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of the pot. Don't pot it right in the middle. Pot it off toward the side in the same pot. Keep it in
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the same pot for a year or more until it has accustomed to being in a pot. All those roots
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that you saw on the beginning, they are aerial roots because look where they are on the orchid
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They're going to be in the air. When you repot them, they're not going to be used to that potting
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media and they are going to die off. The new plant has to send out new roots that are accustomed to
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that potting media and so that first year of the keiki is just adaptation. It's learning what kind
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of potting media it likes to be in. Once the keiki is large enough and has roots that are adapted to
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its potting media, you can pot it in the pot by itself. I suggest pure sphagnum moss since the
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roots are fine and tender. If you don't want pure sphagnum moss, because I do have a problem with
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pure sphagnum moss, it tends to mold a lot. Just because I have a heavy watering hand, I like to
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really keep water on my orchids. If you do not want to use pure sphagnum moss, at least mix it with
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fine grade bark. Don't use those big chunks of charcoal or those big chunks of orchid bark
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because that's going the roots going to hit the bark and hinder its growth. You need small small
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fine-grade orchid bark so that the roots can travel around inside the pot and become nice
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strong, and healthy. If you've liked this video please hit the like button and that gives me some
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kind of feedback of what's going on. And also don't stop your orchid care. I can suggest two videos
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that you can watch right now. The first one is a little longer, it's called Orchid Anatomy and
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terminology and there I'm going to go over all the terms that I use in orchid care and not only
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just a dictionary list but how to care for your orchids relating to each term. And the second
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video you can watch down here is about life cycle. What to expect? How long will this orchid live
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What steps does it go through? What are the processes that it has? So thank you so much for
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watching this video and I hope to see you in the comments below. Happy cultivating
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