Orchid Keikis: How to Use Them to Grow Another Orchid

Once you successfully keep an orchid alive and see it rebloom, you probably will want to get another. Orchids can get expensive so learning how to propagate is a good way to build your collection.

One of the easiest methods of propagation is to encourage your plant to produce a keiki, which can be removed and planted in its own pot as an identical replica of the parent plant.

What Is an Orchid Keiki?

Orchid keikis (pronounced kay-kees) are baby orchids that develop on parent plants. Some orchid varieties, like Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium, are more keen to form keikis than others.

Keikis form naturally but can also form when a spent flower spike is cut back. By doing so, this encourages a secondary spike and extends the orchid's bloom period.

These baby plants usually look just like a flower spike when they first emerge, but soon, leaves start to form, and eventually, the plantlet actually develops aerial roots.

Should You Cut Off an Orchid Keiki?

First, assess the health of the parent plant. If the orchid is stressed, it may produce a keiki to ensure its long-term survival as a species. Leaving a keiki on a stressed plant results in the baby orchid further taxing the health of the parent.

When this occurs, the parent plant may not survive, so removing the keiki may improve your chances of reviving it. If this isn't possible, you can replant the keiki in its own pot. With good care, it will grow into a mature clone and produce the same flower as the original orchid.

If a healthy parent plant develops a keiki along with a flower spike, the keiki can be left on the original orchid until the bloom period ends. Keep a close eye on the orchid to make sure it isn't being unduly stressed by the keiki.

Look for signs like failure of the flower spike to mature with unopened buds that drop off or fail to open. If this occurs, remove the keiki and either dispose of it or, if it is big enough to survive on its own, you can replant it in its own pot. If you want to eventually remove and grow the keiki, mist the roots to keep them healthy until the bloom period has ended.

How to Remove and Repot an Orchid Keiki

To grow a new orchid from a keiki, allow it to develop three or more leaves and several roots 2- to 3-inches long.

To remove and repot the baby orchid, you'll need a sterilized razor blade or gardening shear, small clear plastic cups or pots, cinnamon, and orchid potting mix.

1. Using the sterilized cutting tool, slice through the stem where the keiki is growing at the base of the plantlet. You can slice up to 2 inches below the base of the keiki to preserve aerial roots that may wrap the stem.
2. Remove any stem remaining above the keiki.
3. Treat all cuts on both the keiki and the mother plant with cinnamon or an orchid fungicide,
4. Place the keiki roots down in a small pot and backfill with orchid potting mix.
5. Water well and place the new orchid in an area with low, indirect light. As it develops you can begin to increase light exposure according to the specific needs of the orchid type.

Alternatively, you can repot the keiki together with the mother plant in a slightly larger pot. Soil conditions around the mother plant can encourage development of the keiki.

Orchid Keiki Care

• Planting keikis in clear plastic pots allows you to monitor their growth and moisture levels. Water the new plant weekly and mist daily or add a pebble tray.
• Initially, keep it in a location that receives a small amount of indirect light daily. Increase amount and intensity of exposure slowly as the baby orchid matures.
• Add a stake if necessary to help keep it upright and withhold fertilizer until it's well established. When appropriate feed with a diluted orchid fertilizer.
• An orchid keiki may take from two to three years to flower. However, a large keiki can sometimes produce a bloom in the first year.