Very interesting and timely for me!

I had to cut a blooming spike off a phal that was doing poorly, so I stuck the spike in a vase to enjoy for a while. After seeing your post, I looked closer to see if there was anything to see.... and there is a tiny green nub poking out of the stem! I don't know if it will be a keiki or if it is just still trying to geow and branch... but I will keep an eye on it.

And to think I glanced at it yesterday and throught the flowers were beginning to fade and I shoudl probably toss it.....

Thanks for the inspiration!

Alexa

Interesting idea. Sounds like something that it would be fun to research a bit and see what kind of percentage of old spikes can become "divisions" of nice Phals.

Thanks olya - I love the pictoral! I think it was pcan (Pat) who also grew keikis on old spikes. I'm going to try this summer with a couple of mine. I'm going to cheat and use keiki pro.

Brooke

Oh cool Olya!! I've made some with cut spikes in water. It's the WAITING thing....LOL...
I've got a couple going now that look pretty good.
Did you keep the moss wet? damp?
Pat....

Glad someone will find it useful
Pat's pictorials were the inspiration :)
Pat, yup, moss is constantly wet (old stuff from when I repotted another orchid and did not want to throw it away :))

Olya

Hey, Olya. Thanks for the re-inspiration.

I've been trying the stem thing with keiki paste since reading about Pcan's stem keikis. I did get tiny leaves on one, but they were so fragile... I fretted too much over then, and killed them spraying physan on them to keep them from rotting. LOL. That'll teach me to keep my hands off next time!

I never thought of keeping the stem in sphag for moisture. That's a good idea.

I have some precious $$ darlings I would dearly love to have a second plant of, either as backup or to give away.