Saved a phal, what is happening? Keiki, spike with leaf?
 

Hi

I'm new. Rescued this, what I assume to be phal, 6 years ago. it had excessive root rot & a few leaves that needed to go. I snipped it up & have not worried or tried to bloom it so it would concentrate on root & leaf growth. It has grown a few leaves & several roots since.

Fast forward a few years & I was slacking on watering routine. She sprouted what I think is a basal keiki (only one leaf) & is now blooming. Keiki is obviously young, can anyone help me ID what is growing on the lowest node or give me any advise on what I need to do with her or her mother?

Thanks!

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Good save! Flowering stems are modified normal stems, and the bracts at the nodes of stems are modified leaves. In your plant the bracts have enlarged to look more leaflike. I suspect it will flower normally. The large leaflike bracts carry on photosynthesis, so they help the plant.

After flowering the stem may put out more buds, or may make another keiki.

Thank you!

Great news. I'll leave her alone & enjoy the show. It is so exciting as I've never seen her bloom. Her color will be a surprise.

Just to clearify, the leaf at the base is not a keiki but a bract that has elongated to assist with photosynthesis?

I appreciate your feedback!

A keiki is a complete plant that develops in an unusual place on the mother plant, from a dormant meristem.

In Phals it can happen on flower stalks. There is an undeveloped meristem at the base of almost all leaves in all vascular plants, including orchids. Bracts are usually-tiny, modified leaves. The meristem under a bract can develop into a plantlet - called a keiki - or it can form more flower stems.

Phals normally branch at the base and develop multiple crowns. Some people call basal branches keikiis, but it is normal growth. Your plant made a normal basal flower stem, not a new growth from the base. The bracts happen to be larger than normal, or you would have realized right away it's a flower stem. If it develops a new plantlet on the flower stem, that will be a keiki.

Thank you for the explanation. I will worry about her no more!

Have a wonderful weekend.

K.

ES provided most excellent comments already.

Regarding the keiki - just continue doing what you had been doing in caring for this orchid. Everything looks good.

For keiki growths - it's usually a good idea to just leave them there - and only remove them when they have developed a bunch of roots, and when their roots are long enough where it looks like the keiki has excellent chances of sustaining itself from its own roots. And even if the keiki does get long roots - also no problem with just leaving it connected.

I think for keikis originating from a flower spike: follow SouthPark’s recommendations for removal. As ES said, basal growths are a bit different than other keikis: they can be removed but it causes a lot of trauma to both parent and new growth so they’re best left attached. Better a strong plant with two crowns than two weak plants.

To me, it looks like your plant put out a basal growth that then put out a terminal (as in top, not death) spike. It’ll be interesting to see what it does down the road. If this is indeed the case, you may get additional basal growths since that is what normally results from terminal spikes. Nice save!