Your Orchid Might Be Dying If You Notice This Strange Growth – but It Could Also Be Wonderful News

It usually gets spotted by accident, halfway through watering. The flower spike that finished months ago has a few green leaves sticking out partway up, and maybe a stubby root or two hanging under them. That's an orchid keiki. For a minute, finding one feels like getting a second orchid for nothing.

Then the doubt sets in. Read up on what a keiki is, and you'll soon come across the idea that orchids are more likely to sprout them when they're stressed or failing. Anyone whose plant has also dropped a leaf or two lately will find that hard to shake.

Stress can play a part, though it's far from the only thing. Heat, fertilizer, and genetics all factor in, and plenty of keikis grow on plants with nothing wrong at all. A few minutes at the sink with the parent plant will tell you more than the keiki does itself.

What Is This Strange Growth on Your Orchid?

The name is Hawaiian – keiki (KAY-kee) means baby. Look closely at a moth orchid (Phalaenopsis) spike, and you'll see small bumps along it, each wrapped in a papery sheath. Those are nodes, each holding a dormant bud, and once in a while one of those buds grows leaves. What grows is a miniature copy of the parent.

Keikis aren't an orchid disease or a parasite, and they can't spread to your other plants. They're simply one way orchids reproduce without seed. Where it grows matters more. A spike keiki sits up on the flower stem. A basal keiki comes up at the bottom, squeezed in next to the lower leaves, and on a moth orchid, that second kind can point to trouble at the crown.

Does a Keiki Mean Your Orchid Is Dying?

Sometimes a keiki does show up because the parent is in trouble. Moth orchids grow from one point only, right in the middle of the leaves. Lose that tip to rot, or a break, and no new leaves can form up there. With energy in reserve, the plant may instead push out a basal keiki below the damaged tissue. Dendrobium canes that lose their roots, or their link to the rest of the plant through rot or injury, sometimes sprout keikis as well.

Plenty of keikis turn up on orchids with nothing wrong, though. On moth orchids, they come naturally from the middle and upper nodes of the spike, and certain species and hybrids are just more prone to it. Hormones are what flip a dormant bud into a keiki. Dab cytokinin, one of those growth hormones, on a node and it can pull a keiki out of a perfectly healthy plant. Crazy Keiki Cloning Paste, available on Amazon, is a well-rated product that contains cytokinin.

Long spells of heat as a spike finishes, heavy nitrogen feeding late in the season, and too little light or humidity have also been tied to keikis.

Some longtime growers take a keiki as a sign orchid care could use adjusting – a dim corner or heavy feeding is a good place to start. On a plant with firm, flat leaves and plump roots, a spike keiki usually isn't hiding anything. A basal keiki pushing up beside a soft, dark center is the one to worry about.

How to Tell Whether Your Orchid Is Actually in Trouble

Start by checking for orchid leaf problems. Healthy moth orchid leaves are thick and firm, almost leathery. An occasional yellow bottom leaf is normal – the oldest leaves dry up as the plant ages. Several leaves yellowing at once is another matter, and so are newer leaves that have gone limp and wrinkled. Leaves that shrivel like that usually aren't getting enough water. And in fall, don't be fooled by a cold windowsill – nights below 60°F (16°C) can yellow lower leaves on their own.

Next, slide the pot off and check the orchid roots. Good ones feel firm and plump. They look green right after watering and silvery once they dry. Rotted ones are brown and mushy, and if you pinch one, the outer layer may slip off, leaving nothing but a thin string.

Now peer into the middle where new leaves come from. That's the crown. It should be firm and green. If it has gone soft, black, or wet-looking, crown rot has likely set in, often from water molds such as Pythium ultimum and Phytophthora cactorum, and rot that spreads through the crown can kill the whole plant.

One yellow leaf proves very little. Slow decline is different. If the leaves feel a little softer each time you check and nothing about the care has changed, look underground – usually at the roots, or at old bark mix that's broken down into soggy muck. Good news shows up in the same places. New leaves unfolding from the crown, or fresh green root tips near the base, mean the plant is still growing.

What to Do if Your Orchid Is Producing a Keiki

Did everything look fine? Then leave the plant alone, keiki and all. If the check turned something up, fix that and only that. Cut rotted roots back to firm tissue with something small and sharp, and wipe the blades with rubbing alcohol between plants. Fiskars' micro-tip pruning snips are narrow enough to get in between roots.

For repotting, use a specialist orchid potting mix, like Better-Gro Phalaenopsis mix, available at Home Depot, which is a fir bark blend. Use a clear slotted orchid pot, like these Holanhing pots, so you can keep an eye on the roots.

After that, water orchids sparingly until new roots reach the fresh bark, and water in the morning so the leaves dry before dark. Tip out any water that pools in the crown. Moth orchids do well in bright, indirect light, just not pressed up against cold glass or sitting above a heating vent.

The keiki itself can stay put. Without roots of its own, a spike keiki draws water and nutrients through the parent's flower stem, and snipping it off does nothing for rotting roots or a damaged crown. Many growers leave a moth orchid keiki alone until it carries a couple of leaves and roots about 1–1.5 inches (2.5–4 cm) long. Smaller ones often struggle on their own. Once it reaches that size, separating and potting the keiki is a quick way to propagate your orchid.

Can You Save an Orchid That's Starting to Die?

It depends on the damage. A moth orchid that still has some plump roots and a firm crown can come back once its care is fixed, though you may wait a while for the first new leaf. Rot through the crown is a much tougher case. So is a pot where you find almost nothing but mush. Even then, a plant with enough energy stored up can sometimes send up a new plantlet from its base.

This is where a keiki helps. It grew from the parent's own tissue, so it carries the same genetics and can keep that orchid going if the parent doesn't make it. Leave it attached while the parent holds up.

What if a declining plant has a green flower spike but no keiki? Try using keiki cloning paste, mentioned above, to coax one out, though results vary.

So it’s not time to write that orchid off, just yet, because of one odd growth. Check the plant it's growing from. If the leaves are firm and the roots and crown look good, the keiki is no warning at all, just a free second orchid hitching a ride on the first. With a little TLC, you can get that orchid blooming beautifully in no time.