Dendrobium nobile bud or keiki?

[Kim in CT]

I received my very first dendrobium nobile (Cute Dress 'My Boy') last month via mail order. There are two "new growths" on one of the canes. Are these flower buds or keikis? If they are keikis, do I remove them to help the young mother plant become established in my environment?

[Roberta]

I'd vote for keikis... time will tell though. If they ARE keikis, you need to leave them in place until they have substantial roots that would enable them to survive on their own. So there is no rush to do anything. Even when I have fairly well-established keikis, I usually leave them attached until I need to get a rangy plant back under control... that way, when it blooms, I end up with a better display since keikis also bloom - if attached to the plant, just means more flowers. They're green, they photosynthesize, so they'll "pay their own way", likely adding to the strength of the mother plant rather than reducing it. In general, a bigger plant is stronger than a smaller plant.

[Diane56Victor]

I would say keiki too. Im fairly new to the Den Nobile but one of mine has a pointed growth as well as a more rounded one.
Both growths started at the same time. The pointed one now has a couple of roots the rounded one has remained the same.

[Shadeflower]

Hi Kim,
looks like a healthy dendrobium that is still too young to flower. I have a few like that and they are doing the same as yours. I'm still figuring things out as I'm going along and yes these growths will eventually produce their own roots in time but I wouldn't remove anything as the plant isn't producing any new shoots at the base yet - it will do this in time too. These new growths will make this immature cane extended and next year a new growth should emerge from the base that should grow longer. It's only at this point that you might consider removing one of the keiki's or even both depending how much other growth has been produced but for now it is not going to take any energy, it will collect sun and provide energy, these are it's only new growths at the moment so they are going to keep the plant happy while it has collected enough energy to produce a full grown cane that is able to flower.

ps: just to be clear, the cane with the new growths won't flower. You will need to wait for a new cane before it flowers and sometimes the next one is still not big enough from transport stress for example.