Keiki “Baby Orchid”

• myfirstorchid
• 3 years ago
• Categories: blooms, fertilizing, humidity, orchid blooms, orchid care, Orchid Leaves, repotting, spike, watering

What is a Keiki?

A Keiki in an orchid is basically a new (baby) orchid. The word Keiki is Hawaiian for, “baby.” A Keiki is going to be the same genre as the mother and will be the same color and likeness. It is very common to either have a Basal Keiki or an Apical/Ariel Keiki.

• Basal means it is located at or near the base of an orchid.
• Apical means it grows from the apex of the stem of an orchid….way up high.

As defined above Keiki's can grow in two different locations on an orchid and for two different reasons.

Locations (a Keiki will grow) –

• Apical Keiki – From an existing stalk with its OWN aerial roots (shown above). These grow way up high on already existing orchid bloom stalk.

• Basal Keiki – Along side the existing orchid, growing from its base and SHARING the same root system (shown above).

Reasons (a Keiki will grow) –

• A lot of times an orchid will “save itself” by sprouting a Keiki because it is dying. This happens a lot when crown rot or other types of rot has ruined an orchid.
• A dormant node on an orchid “decides” to sprout a new Keiki in an otherwise completely healthy orchid. This happens when there is a build up of growth hormones at the node.

What should you do with a Keiki?

You will want to do two different things depending in where the Keiki is located.

A. Apical Keiki – If it is sprouting from an existing sprout, way up high (as shown in the first example – under locations) with it's own aerial roots you will want to the following;

1. Wait till it has at least three good size roots
2. Snip it off about 1 or 2 inches down the stalk…don't clip the roots.
3. Repot it NEXT to the existing mother plant for the first year (if it is time to repot the mother then repot both at the same time, in the same pot). After the first year you may place it in its own little pot. We do this because it's the same genre and it helps to keep it in the same mix it grew from to regulate humidity, watering and fertilization.
4. When potting it near its mother, make sure the roots are pushed downward with the small shoot that you have cut off. Roots are not malleable unless wet…so I would recommend soaking them in water before doing this.

It may take months before an Ariel Keiki is ready to be cut off below is a time warp picture of an example.

B. Basal Keiki – If it is sprouting from the root base, along side an existing orchid (as shown in the second example – under location), you will want to do the following;

This case is very different from the above one because the Keiki is SHARING the root system of the mother (it does not have one of its own) and therefore CANNOT be separated! In this case you will want to leave it alone. These Keiki's tend to grow really fast because they are sharing the large, already existing and established, root system of the mother.

In the case of a Basal Keiki growing because the mother plant is dying, again you do nothing. The mother plant will die back/fade away and the Basal Keiki will replace it. How cool is that?!

In the case of a Basal Keiki growing because there was a build up of growth hormones on a healthy orchid, again do nothing. The mother and baby will grow side by side and create an even bigger orchid. Again how cool is that?!

Hope that helps,

Hannah

Please feel free to leave comments or questions