On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:29:42 -0500, "Bruce Musgrove"
wrote:

The mix probably is rotting. They were sitting in standing stagnant water
when "rescued" from Home Depot, and have tons of fungus gnats..

I had seen keiki's on my Dendrobium and Cattleya hybrids, and they (of
course) looked quite a bit different.....

A Phal can have a keiki form on the spike or off one side of the base
of the plant. Since you think the mix is bad.. FIND OUT! Tip the
plant out and check what is going on the bottom. Usually a basal
keiki only forms when the crown (center of the swirl of leaves at the
top) is rotting. So check that out too. If the top is growing new
leaves and you have decent roots below the keiki - pop it back in the
pot and let it be for a while. If the keiki when you uncover it, has
its own roots ( at least 4 inches when you sum all the keiki roots)
you can detach it gently from Mom. Then since you have Mom out of the
pot - go ahead and pot her up in fresh mix.

If the bottom of the plant is rotting and the keiki has no roots to
speak of you will need to cut off the rot and put cinnamon (yes from
the spice cabinet) on the cut. This antibacterial will help heal the
cut and may stop the rot. Then you will need to keep the keiki above
the mix. This may involve using sphagnum moss to cover the bottom
half the aerial roots and letting the plant rest more on an angle than
you prefer to grow it. When enough roots come off the keiki or the
base at the level of the keiki detach the keiki and pot it up.
Because the keiki has very few or no roots to speak of you will need
to keep an eye on it. This plant will be identical to Mom - if Mom
has a tag make the same one for the keiki. IF not give Mom a 'house
name' and tag the keiki the same. In a couple of years you will have
two plants close enough you may need the tag to remind you who is Mom.

Many of us use NOID as a name meaning no identification or Phal HD for
Phal Home Depot. You can develop your own 'house names'.

Good luck
When you have them both blooming post the photos over on
alt.binaries.pictures.orchids . Do not post a photo here on RGO.
This is a text only site. In the meantime please join us on ABPO, we
enjoy beautiful photos of plants from around the world. Almost every
day there is a new view to enjoy.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/orchids