Peristeria elata keiki

[fotofashion]

My Peristeria elata is doing something strange, so, here's my question (see photos also)
It is growing what I would call a keiki on top of an old pbulb. The old bulb has lost its leaves and the new growth is putting out roots. Should I leave it alone or remove it when the roots are longer and pot it up either with the mother plant or separately. Thanks for any info.
Beverly A.

[abigaillevans]

That's weird! I've never ever seen them put out keikis, but if it's got roots on it I can't imagine what else it would be. From what I understood, these orchids grow out from eyes at the bases of the pseudobulbs -- and mine's only ever done that. I have heard that orchids can put out new growths from old pseudobulbs, though, so who knows?

Very, very cool -- thank you for posting this! I'm interested to see what everyone else says.

[lambelkip]

they have nodes at the base of the pseudobulb, and at the base of each leaf. new pseudobulbs can grow from any of these nodes. my plant has 5 new bulbs, but only 1 of them is growing from the base of an old bulb:


you can separate them when they're large enough, or you can just keep them all together (the new pseudobulbs still get nutrients through the roots of the old bulbs)

[fotofashion]

Thanks Kip.
Beverly A.