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I've had these white phaelenopsis orchids for going on six years now. A month or so back I noticed one of them looked like it was shriveling and drying out, even though it was being watered regularly. So I unpotted it to try to figure out what was up, and it turns out there was just a bit too much water being retained by the mix it was potted in and was rotting from the bottom up.
I replaced the mix with just bark chips (more to hold the plant upright than anything), cut off the rotted parts and gave it daily misting on the leaves and air roots trying to save it. To no avail. I did notice, though, that on one of the flower spikes it had put up there were a couple of buds becoming active and they didn't look quite right to be bloom spikes. I think they're developing keikis. I cut that spike off and have it in a glass with water and a little orchid food when I declared the parent plant beyond my ability to save.
A keiki is a baby orchid plant produced asexually and is genetically identical to the plant it grew from. My orchid (hopefully) gave me a couple of babies before it bit it.
I replaced the mix with just bark chips (more to hold the plant upright than anything), cut off the rotted parts and gave it daily misting on the leaves and air roots trying to save it. To no avail. I did notice, though, that on one of the flower spikes it had put up there were a couple of buds becoming active and they didn't look quite right to be bloom spikes. I think they're developing keikis. I cut that spike off and have it in a glass with water and a little orchid food when I declared the parent plant beyond my ability to save.
A keiki is a baby orchid plant produced asexually and is genetically identical to the plant it grew from. My orchid (hopefully) gave me a couple of babies before it bit it.
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