The usual advice re. Keikis is do not cut them off the mother plant till there are a couple of inches of roots. Some Phalaenopsis will readily make keikis as well as flowering from spent spikes. Look at the pic. all the Phalaenopsis are grown by one specialist grower. He enters his plants in various spring shows in the Sydney, Australia. At the end of the flowering season he snips the spikes off at the base so that the plants can put energy into growing new leaves and building up strength for the following years blooms.

lisanti - there is just grass around the base, it seems to be a crack at the root line. dan - is there anything to do to help the tree, it is quite old to give up on, if not what do you do, cut as close to ground as you can? fortunately all other trees we purchased from nurseries as well as the bare root ones we planted are all doing very well, this poor one seems to not be doing so well

Hi Patty S. :-) I wil send a picture in the morning, and thank you so much for your helpful comment! I have been to afraid to fertelize, somehow, different opinions on how, what and when to fertelize, and all the harm the wrong fertelizer can do, has scared the living daylights out of me! I haven't fertelized for about 6-7 months now, and with all the rain "washing away all the plant's food" i am sure it is about time again. I wasn't too worried about the buds not opening as, as you said, the temps have been low, but the sudden yellowing of the leaves got me worried about my little one. I also wondered if i souldn't maybe get rid of some of the buds to get rid of some of the stress on my plant, but somehow something is telling me that if that was what was bothering the plant it would have gotten rid of them it self? I wil try and fertelize it as you recomended, maybe that is all the little guy needs. Thank you once again for the kind ear, and advice. I will send a picture as soon as posible. Kind regards. Nandi

Yes figs are EXTREMELY easy to root and fortunately there are several good methods that can be used. However, M Taggart indicated he/she does not have a heating mat and is questioning whether or not moving to a warmer room is advisable. I believe that I have answered those specific questions. Al is the one confusing the situation by throwing in the use of propagation mats.....which M Taggert has already stated he/she does not have. Maybe one day we will see the details of AL's written fig rooting method(s). I know that he has been passing a rooting method around to certain forum members. The IMPROPER use of heating mats can be very problematic and is often THE CAUSE of rooting failures. IMO the risk/benefit and cost/benefit analysis of using any external heating source is not justified for a hobby rooter when very reliable rooting can be conducted INDOORS at room temperature. Normal room temperature (70 - 75 degs F) works real well and no propagation mat is needed. Al recently posted this suggestion to another forum member: "I've rooted thousands of deciduous cuttings by sticking in a damp, sterile medium and applying bottom heat to keep the cuttings in the 70-75* range. I normally provide some type of tenting to keep humidity very high, but vent the tent. Keeping air temps a little cooler than soil temps (10*) is also helpful. I remove bottom heat a soon as the cuttings have struck." In answer to M Taggert's question in this thread, Al references a 55 to 65 degree rooting temperature. In the quotation I reference above Al recommends a 70 to 75 deg rooting temperature to another person. Which is it?????..... the 55 to 65 cited above or is it the 70 to 75 range he cited in another post???? A post, by the way, in which I was criticized by some forum members when I stated the obvious......that a 70 to 75 deg temperature range is plain old room temperature (see link below). It would be helpful to forum members if Al posted his exact fig rooting method(s). Maybe there would be less confusion. M Taggert, in answer to your question and in consideration of your particular situation.....move your cuttings as I've suggested above. Keep the top on your Rubbermaid box. Save your money and do not go out to buy a propagation mat.....it simply IS NOT NEEDED in your situation. FYI.... if interested in reading more about my preferred ROOM TEMPERATURE rooting method see the attached thread (link below). You will be very pleased with the results that you obtain if you follow this very simple fig rooting method. I consistently obtain a very high rooting success using this method. You DO NOT NEED a heating pad, nor a propagation mat, nor a temperature controlled device, nor any additional heat whatsoever from any source when rooting indoors. Many forum members have had their cuttings severely damaged or destroyed thru the improper use of heating devices that were recommended by others. Those devices are better used in an OUTDOOR (Greenhouse) type of rooting environment. Dan Here is a link that might be useful: An easy and reliable rooting method