Mark have some Dendrobium kingianum keikis to trade...any interest?

Penny, Yes, that's a keiki. I've got a few on a SOGO GRAPE that's doing the same thing, although mine are much smaller. My plans: Wait until the roots are 2"-3" long, carefully remove the plantlet (maybe even cut a little below, 1/2", of the existing stalk) and plant it in a small pot. Mine is growing is spagh also, so the keiki will also go in spagh. I'll watch the new plant carefully for a few weeks/months and keep it with the rest of my phals. Would expect blooms in maybe 1-2 years on the new plant, next bloom cycle on the mother plant. In fact my GRAPE is sending out a new spike and has 3 kiekis on 2 other older spikes, seems to handle it just fine. Hope this helps and good luck, Bob

That is normal for the Epidendrum radicans and all the other reed stem epidendrums. You should see some of the unkempt old growth reed stem epidendrums all over Southern California. You might find more than 10 generations of keikis, on top of each other - not a very beautiful sight. Is it normal? Yes. Is it desirable? It depends. I find that new growths produced from the base of the plant produce more robust foliage and flowers compared to what the keikis can produce in their first blooming season. So I cull the keikis to allow the new basal growths to get all the nutrients. I would keep one keiki or two for sharing and trading, but other than that I find the keiki more of a nuisance - for this particular type of plant anyway.

So let me try and explain "terminal spike" for you. This is when a phalaenopsis orchid sends a spike from the very top of the plant instead of on the side between the leaves which is where it normally appears. Now phals grow from the center up so by sending a spike there it indicates that the plant will no longer produce leaves and once it stops producing leaves then we all know what will happen. Plants are smart and once they realize that something is wrong they go into proprogation mode so they replicate themselves by sending out a keiki hoping to continue the generation. You might be wondering at this point what causes a terminal spike? Well sometimes just nature but sometimes other things goes wrong. Also please remember a spike does not mean a plant is healthy, a plant will send up a spike as a last resort hoping to get pollinated to continue its generation. Once it feels its in danger of dying, it will put all its energy into the spike. Your best bet is to as I said before check the roots if you can, green means good, brown means trouble. I have seen a phal send up a terminal spike and then send out leaves beside the spike and continued to grow but that's very rear. Or it will try and send out another keiki at the base of the plant, this is called a " basal keiki" . but that's another story. Please do a through check on the plant, try some better pics and let us see how best we can help. ( I hope I did not bore you to death with my lengthy explanation). VELLETA.