Keiki Paste

Keiki is the Hawaiian term for "baby" and that's what a keiki is on an orchid, a baby plant. You're most likely to find keikis on phalaenopsis, dendrobium, and epidendrum orchids but it's not unheard of on other types. They will grow either on an existing stalk or from the base of the plant.

Baby orchids, like human babies, can be a natural occurrence or you can help it along with keiki paste. There are nodes on orchids that are undeveloped. They can turn into new buds or they can turn into new plants. Keiki paste contains hormones that will influence those nodes to become new plants.

I really love my Phal Balden's Kaleidescope (PBK). It has been a very healthy plant and has bloomed pretty consistently. I would love to have another one and be able to share the plant with others. So I chose it to try out the keiki paste.

PBK currently has two healthy flower stalks so I picked a node on each one that was not too far removed from the first flower and applied the paste.

I selected a node and peeled back a bract to expose the node underneath and covered it in keiki paste. You can probably see it more clearly in the second photo. The node is that lighter green dot.

I did this a couple of days ago and I hope to be able to report back on some progress but like most things orchid, it will take a while!

June 2016 Update

I thought I'd try something new. It's prime growing season and there are a lot of updates to be done so I made a video and walked you through all of my window sills. I actually made two videos because I forgot about Phal Balden's Kaleidescope. It was sitting on my desk for me to stare at, instead of on its usual spot on the window sill.

So here we go!

And part two!