Fairly new to orchids. I have my first basal keiki. It's as big as the mother plant with atleast 5 roots. Mother plant has a terminal spike but shows no signs of dying. Infact all of her flower stems are still green. Do I remove the keiki, or just let it be? The root system is very strong and the plant as a whole is very healthy.
I would leave it personally. Just let the plant do its thing.
2 LikesIt is entirely up to you, now that the keiki has roots to feed itself. The mother plant is not sick, it just cannot grow anymore since the crown is damaged. Eventually, the lower leaves will wither away and the plant will die off-(but that could be years!) It is still helping sustain the baby plant, I would probably leave them together, but maybe repot into a larger pot to accommodate the keiki’s new roots to start acclimating them to media vs being aerial roots.
3 Likes