Journal - March 18, 2017 - Clone your orchid, the easy way.

If you want to clone one of your favorite orchids there is a fairly easy way to make an exact duplicate. Keikis, or baby plants, grow on the canes or flower spikes of some orchid species, such as Dendrobium, Epidendrum, and Phalaenopsis orchids. Growers use Keiki paste on nodes on the canes or flower spikes to encourage the orchid to produce Keikis. I purchased mine on Ebay for about eight dollars and it can be used to clone hundreds of orchids, as you only need to apply a tiny amount, one time.

You simply use a razor and tweezers to remove the protective sheath covering a node and apply a tiny amount of the paste on the undeveloped node beneath. The paste contains a growth hormone that encourages the node to develop into a new baby plant or Keiki. I applied the paste to four nodes on the flower spikes of two Phalaenopsis plants on March 5, 2017. In only twelve days I can see new plants forming on every node that was treated. If the plants are flowering at the time you apply the paste, like mine are, there is a slight chance that the baby plant will form and produce a flower spike. How cool is that?

It will take several months before the Keiki forms a decent root system and can be removed and planted, so leave it attached and let it grow. There are several how to videos on youtube.com.