Thank you so much, 126, so much good information to go from. I didn't know about the tight fit issue. I'll repot soon. There is healthy green to the stalk above the Keiki so I'll hold out hope that maybe the mother is still vital. I'm thinking that the mulch medium isn't staying soggy at all as they hang outside and we're less than 1000 feet from the Atlantic, there is always a nice breeze. I wait about 7 days in between watering until the dead heat of summer, then about every 5 days, and when I water everything is fairly dry. Does that sound like a good schedule or should I change that ? Can you quantify the nitrogen that I should be looking out for ? Or maybe just recommend a readily available fertilizer ? I also have Cattleya, would one single fertilizer suit both plants needs ? Thank you so much.

I found the instructions on the internet.Apparently it will take 6 months to have several leaves and a nice root system before planting in bark. I am excited to be having a replica of the mother plant. It is my best orchid so I hope it all works out.

No. don't worry about the roots. I usually let them get a boat load of them before I start potting them up. I think I gave some pointers on the keiki FAQ, so you might want to look at that one. PHals generally have the same sized roots over all...like worms sort of, and not several different sizes (that is to say thicknesses) with some on top or underneath. Phal roots can photosynthesize (that's why they are green), and you'll often see them reaching toward the light. When I repot my plants (and I'm doing a bunch of them now because I didn't get to it earlier and they are WAY nuts), I soak them first so the roots are more flexible, then I put them in the pots by gently bending them if I have to, and putting the bark around it. Sometimes I break them, sometimes they get cracked. I just don't worry about it anymore. Sacriledge! However, when we first start growing I think most of us tend to mother-hen the plants....they actually do better if we don't hover over them, but that's just mho.

Hello Andrea, you must be doing mostly good things with the culture to get a couple of blooms though they are out of season. Most bloom in spring which is a good time to detach the keikis and plant them in tiny pots. Some clones are more inclined to make keikis than others. Though too many keikis are the result of fertilising and too much water in the resting season (Late autumn through to winter).