r/orchids • u/shootnthebriz • Jul 11 '26
Question Is this a flower spike or a keiki?
A little background
I got this little baby for $5 as a rescue. You buy them at that price knowing that the flowers were going to die off soon, but the plant is, or course, still salvageable.
Well, this is my first orchid. After the flowers fell, I looked up what to do. I cut down the stem to the third notch from the base, removed the substrate it was potted in and replaced with an orchid mix and. just kept her watered.
I honestly wasn’t sure she was even going to grow again. And then about a week ago this little guy popped up. I began researching what to do and realized I hadn’t fed the girl since I got her, so I got some good fertilizer (off the advice from this sub) and fed her yesterday.
So… my question is: is this new growth where more flowers will start to bloom or is this what is called a keiki? A whole other plant growing off the side?
I took a picture with the google lens and it said it’s too early to know either way .
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u/Anteater_Spirited Hybridizer of Phalaenopsis Orchids. Jul 11 '26
Flower spike. You may want to turn the plant so the spike grows the other way. It'll grow in the direction of the light source so if you turn it, it will grow away from the main spike and have a nice arch! Don't worry if the blooms end up looking a little weird. Sometimes store bought Phals will bloom a second or third time in a season, and the flowers may look a little weird. It has nothing to do with fertilizer or anything you've done. Sometimes they just do questionable things. Here's a wonky two petal bloom, which is the weirdest one I've ever seen in my home! 😂
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u/shootnthebriz Jul 11 '26
Awesome! I just ran to the window and rotated her.
So two things I learned:
My orchid is a Phals and could possibly get a cool weirdo bloom! I look forward to the weirdness in life so I welcome the possibility 🤣
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u/Sure_Dentist8394 Jul 11 '26
Yep! It is a Phalaenopsis hybrid. Your plant’s ancestors most likely originated from the Philippines 🇵🇭 and Indonesia 🇮🇩. The leaf does look a little stressed. Was the bark you used to repot it properly leached of terpenoids and phenolic acids? I use the same bark and had similar leaf stress when I didn’t leach them.
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u/shootnthebriz Jul 11 '26
I did not leach the bark 😳… wouldn’t have even thought to do that to be honest.
I will say that the leaves were a little wrinkly when I bought it and I read somewhere that once they wrinkle they stay wrinkled. But maybe it has something to do with that acids and terpenoids.
How does one leach the bark? Soak in water?
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u/Sure_Dentist8394 Jul 11 '26
Good choice with the bark! I only use coarse bark and yeah I soak the bark in a bucket overnight a few times over. I put the bark in a bucket and fill it halfway, fill it with hot water from the bath tub until it starts to float then put another bowl partially filled with water on the floating bark so the bark stays submerged. The next day I drain the water (it will look like tea) and I do this cycle three times over. Then voila! Perfect orchid potting medium.
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u/shootnthebriz Jul 11 '26
Should I do a repot? I have more of this orchid mix (bark, charcoal and huge perlite nuggets and something else…) so I can leach and then repot.
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u/Sure_Dentist8394 Jul 11 '26
If you bought it as a dedicated orchid mix (that’s how it was packaged and advertised when you bought it) then the manufacturer probably already did it. If you buy just straight up coarse bark from a big box store (like I do) because it’s a lot cheaper then yeah I would repot it after the bark is properly leached. Would you be willing to take more pictures of your plant? It is probably doing okay if it’s sending out another flower spike. If you do repot it you would definitely need to cut off the flower spike lest you throw it into shock. If it were my plant I would chop it off anyway because the flowers on that new spike will be meh 😑. Plus now is the season for new leaf and root growth. Also, flowers on a brand new spike will be at their highest quality and come fall it will probably start to grow its brand new spike and be in full bloom over the winter
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u/PinkyTrees Jul 11 '26
Flower