How can you propagate orchids

Once it seems to be rooting well, you can place it in a normal orchid medium. It can take quite a while for one to come out of dormancy and reach flowering age, but it works! Tip : Try not to divide while your orchid is flowering.

As with most other houseplants, growing an orchid from seed is a propagation method best reserved for the most dedicated hobbyists. Growing new orchids is simply easier through vegetative propagation the methods listed above. Growing from seed is a very slow process, but it is of course very rewarding if it works out! Getting the pods is the easy part — the rest of the process is what scares Orchids tend to be grown in flasks, with special nutrient mixtures and very careful handling of the babies.

Tip : Wondering how to care for your brand new orchid after a successful propagation attempt? Have a look at the care guide for Phalaenopsis , the most popular orchid houseplant.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. How to propagate an orchid: The myths One thing to keep in mind about how to propagate an orchid is that, as with other orchid care aspects, there are quite a few myths out there about how to propagate them. The same applies to trying to propagate a Phalaenopsis orchid also known as the moth orchid through flower stem cuttings. Re-growing a plant from a single leaf works for some species, like succulents and Begonia, but unfortunately not for orchids.

Vanilla orchids are vining plants that can be propagated in water or soil. Sympodial orchids like this one grow canes and can be propagated through division. Once the orchid stem segments have sprouted small plantlets from the buds, place one in each container, covering the remaining stem segment and roots with potting mix. Line a tray with smooth, flat stones and add enough water to nearly cover the stones.

Place the orchid pot on top of the stones to keep the air around the orchid humid. Keep your new orchids in an area that receives bright, indirect light, and mist them daily. Dendrobium orchids prefer temperatures between 55 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the species, and a minimum night temperature of 50 degrees for maximum flowering. Water your new orchids until water leaks from the bottom drainage holes once per week and fertilize every three weeks with a liquid orchid fertilizer from spring to mid-fall.

Alternately, dip the bottom of the container in a bucket of water, allowing it to soak through the drainage holes. Tips: Sprinkle cinnamon on the cut stem shoot of parent orchid to help it fight off bacteria. Cinnamon is a natural bacteria fighter. A keiki baby in Hawaiian is a plantlet that may sometimes form on a stem or near the base of an orchid.

Allow it to continue growing on the parent plant until it has roots at least 1 inch long and with two or three leaves. Water the parent plant on the day before you plan to remove the keiki.

The worst reason is that the orchid is subjected to a lot of stress, and the appearance of a keiki is a way to try to reproduce before dying.

We will know quickly that we are in front of a keiki, when we observe that from a knot of the floral stick, some aerial roots begin to appear. Then begin to be born some leaves identical to those of the mother plant. Do not be in a hurry to cut the keiki, let it grow a little, its roots are about 5 or 6 centimeters long and at least have three well-developed leaves. Here we can put into practice the following trick. When the orchid has finished blooming and we are going to cut the floral stick, we cut the stick just above a knot that it has.

This way it will remain on the air and it is very possible that roots and a Keiki come out. There are also products that we can apply right in that knot.

The plant hormones that carry some special products for this purpose can be applied to a node in the stem or flowering base to stimulate the growth of a Keiki. After the orchid has bloomed, if we want to cause it to produce keikis, we must cut the floral wand over a knot, about half the length of the floral wand.

Then carefully remove the skin that covers the yolks of the knots , to get more exposure to light. Another trick to stimulate the appearance of keikis, is to apply plant growth hormones on the knots. Once we have cut the keiki, we can place it in a proper pot or let it grow in the pot of the original plant.

Some gardeners recommend this last option. That the keiki grow during its first year in the shelter of the mother plant, since the original plant can regulate the soil conditions so that the new orchid fruit of the keiki, is adapted little by little.

We have to be careful that the plant does not receive too much direct light, and we will gradually increase the amount of light it receives.

The logical thing is that we get our first flowering after two to three years , although in rare cases it is achieved in the first year of life. It is recommended not necessary to plant both together in the same pot.

When the Keikis are very small it is better to plant it next to the mother plant in the same pot so that it has the same conditions of growth and humidity. We cut the Keiki around 3 or 5 centimeters on the floral stem or stem and gently place the small plant next to the mother.

Put the roots down and cover slightly with the substrate. The piece of rod that we cut previously must also be buried. It can be folded and placed on the ground as an anchor. Once the Keiki has grasped and is growing properly, the Keiki can be separated from the mother plant. This has to be done with care. Above all, we must wait until it is bigger and stronger to be able to transplant it.

If your orchid has not awarded you a keiki, do not despair, you are still in time to get new orchids from the flower varas. As with other plants, such as roses or hydrangeas, it is possible to reproduce the orchids with cuttings, even if they do not have keikis. This way of getting new orchids should be put into practice in fast-growing varieties , such as Phalaenopsis or Vanda orchids , but never with slow-growing ones, because we would need years until the cuttings became flowering plants.

To obtain viable cuttings, we will need:. Certain species of orchids have an organ responsible for storing water and nutrients, the pseudobulbs, which are produced from a creeping stem called a rhizome. By dividing a plant by the pseudobulbs through a cut, it is possible to generate two or more plants.

With careful separation of the roots, following the appropriate technique, several plants can be created from one. With the technique called hormonal pulse, which basically consists of promoting through the buds, the growth of new plants or buds.

Through tissue culture that is only mentioned here, because its realization is very specialized and requires very particular working conditions. As orchids grow and develop, they generate more pseudobulbs. When the time comes to transplant the orchid, because it has acquired a considerable size and does not fit in its current pot, we can take advantage of the occasion to separate part of the pseudobulbs, generating a new orchid.

The process is simple:. When a mature orchid plant has grown and flourished for several years, the novice grower finds that the plant is too large for the pot.

Then we have 2 options:. You can transplant the orchid to another basket or larger pot, as we explained in this article: How to transplant an orchid. You can also divide it into two or more separate plants, to which we are going, reproduce orchids.

If the plant has only one head you can divide it by cutting the plant into groups of three or four bulbs. It is important the amount of 3 or 4 bulbs, if you take only 1 it is very possible that it does not grip or grow. There will be bulbs that look dead, do not throw them away because they will probably grow too. Now we have to cut the roots. Cut the oldest, rotten or those with mushrooms.

You have to clean the roots well. Then a solution of water, alcohol and if you have a little cinnamon powder is applied to the wound.

The next step is to plant the bulbs. Fill a pot of your favorite substrate. You can put chip, pine bark, etc. Prevents the substrate from keeping too much moisture.

Insert the bulbs and place them vertically. We will have to water from time to time but only spraying with a can of water. Forget about watering with the shower until it soaks everything In about 2 or 3 weeks we will have new roots and buds. Now we have to wait a few weeks and we can separate the children of orchids. This step is simple, we do as if we were to transplant, and you should untie the roots in case of being tied and that you notice you cannot handle them properly.