A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Orchids

I hope this is the right place to post this. I have an orchid that bloomed wonderfully for months. Then it grew leaves in place of blooms. I separated and potted the new plant. Now none of them bloom. No stems are growing either. How do I get the original one to bloom and the baby to grow a stem?????

Some orchid enthusiasts call the plantlet a 'kiki.' Some orchids make them more easily than other. If I remember correctly, some dendrobiums will form them readily if the humidity is high enough while they bloom. Generally, you wait until the plantlet has 2-3 roots before separating it from the mother plant. Most orchids (to my knowledge) bloom only once a year, and blooming is triggered by fluctuation in daylight...meaning most orchids bloom either spring or fall (you'll find Phalaenopsis orchids on sale in the fall/winter). Do you know the type of orchid you have, or can you post a picture?

From what I can tell it is a Phalaenopsis - Moth orchid. I have pictures but I don't know how to upload them here. If you can help with that I can do it. Otherwise, the kiki leaves are growing slowly but are growing. The mother plant has grown new leaves but the stem is only about 5 inchs and is now growing at all. Should I cut it off alittle?
Thank you for responding!

to upload a picture, you need to first upload it to a picture hosting website (photobucket, flikr, etc.) then here, put the exact link to the image between [img] and [/img] (<- there has to be a slash only in the end). So youll be typing something like this:

[img]www...[/img]

you'll see the picture after you hit submit. Make sure your picture isn't too big. I've also sent you a message with a link :)

This is the baby. Note no stem:(


This is the Mother,( After reading the link you sent, I cut the stem down to the next nodule.



This is the original beautiful one.



I was able to change the size of the original but the change to the other two will not take....

I still need help with the original question on how to make the stems grow.

you really can't get the baby plant to put out a stem. growing a phal from a keiki is like growing from a seedling. I think it's at least a 2 year wait before the plant is mature enough to flower. as the the nights grow longer, and the temperature gets cooler, a flowering spike will form. there isn't anything that you can do, to my knowledge, to force a totally new spike. Phals only blom once a year. orchids aren't like other garden plant in the sense that they do not bloom repeatedly. by cutting the faded spike to above, you're trying to 'wake up' a bud. If it works, you'll notice a small green bud growing, if it doesn't, the stem will start to turn brown and wither. If it withers, then completely cut the stem down and wait for next year. the main thing to care about when it comes to orchids should be roots. often the leaves get eaten where they grow wild on the mountainsides, and as long as the roots are healthy, they can always regenerate new leaves. spikes and flowers just indicate that the orchid is happy with its environment.

Thank you for all your help. I will be patient until next year and see what happens.:)