Thank you, Richard and la countessa. Yes, all these species were collected from the wild. They have VNese names and some folks over here referred to them as (1) Den. Capilipe and (2) Coel. viescen. The third one I haven't got the name yet. My trouble is ... they didn't tell me how to care for them, which is so crucial to me. What you both said above will be my general guidelines... until I can have some live experience with them, maybe years later! Many thanks again. BTW Richard, all my cym backbulbs are doing well and I have since potted them in tree-fern + pine bark mix, the "keiki/seedlings" are growing all green! Success accredited to your advice! Xuan

I have a plant that looks like yours, and dang if the name doesn't fall out the back of my brain every time I haven't used it for a few days. I only ever remember it is a fairly long word that starts with a "P", and has Mona something in it. OK, dug it up: Plectranthus possibly Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'

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.

Keikis will grow in time into a completely separate orchid, but they draw resources away from the mother plant. To detach a keiki, simply cut it off with a sharp, sterile blade. To prevent more keikis from forming, you may want to cut back the mother orchid's spikes after they're done blooming.