My kingianum, having grown like a weed for the past few years and
keiking madly, has now started dying. This year it produced no new
basal shoots, only keikis which dropped their leaves after turning
brown at the tips. I had repotted it in spring and the roots seemed
Ok, but I guess are now dead. I think it may have been kept too dry
last winter and spring.
I have tried detaching larger keikis but none have grown - all
shrivelled and died. I am now down to about two small keikis which
still have roots with a green growing tip - how can I save them?
Should I cut the shrivelled cane which supports them and pot the whole
thing up so that the keiki roots can be in the growing medium, and
what would be best for that given this situation? How much should they
then be watered?
Hope someone can help because this was the one orchid that I had not
been able to kill, all others never lasted no more than 3 years! And
yet I still keep trying - strange eh? :-)

My kingianum, having grown like a weed for the past few years and
keiking madly, has now started dying. This year it produced no new
basal shoots, only keikis which dropped their leaves after turning
brown at the tips. I had repotted it in spring and the roots seemed
Ok, but I guess are now dead. I think it may have been kept too dry
last winter and spring.
I have tried detaching larger keikis but none have grown - all
shrivelled and died. I am now down to about two small keikis which
still have roots with a green growing tip - how can I save them?
Should I cut the shrivelled cane which supports them and pot the whole
thing up so that the keiki roots can be in the growing medium, and
what would be best for that given this situation? How much should they
then be watered?

I can't imagine what you could have done to kill this species.
If the keikis have roots, and look alive, detatch and plant in a bark mix. At
this time of year they should be in bright light, and watered enough to keep
them evenly moist at all times. There is a good chance that these will flower
at the regular season this coming year.
Kingies need full sun, copious water during the growing season, low N ratio
fertilizer, and a dry period starting in Nov-but not more than for a 4-6 week
period, otherwise there will be a severe crenation of the canes.
This species is virtually foolproof. It will grow at any temperature, and any
light, but if you wish it to flower it needs full sun, and above all, a
temperature below 50F in fall and winter together with a short drying period.

hi Brumman, the way I pot up keikis is to put them in spag moss in a pot
that is as small as possible , I have just started doing this years, keep
the moss moist. when you see new growth then I pot into bark . last year I
done 40 this way & lost 1 I have them scattered around the shade house &
they all seem to grow the same. ps I live in NSW Australia
"brumman" wrote in message
om...
My kingianum, having grown like a weed for the past few years and
keiking madly, has now started dying. This year it produced no new
basal shoots, only keikis which dropped their leaves after turning
brown at the tips. I had repotted it in spring and the roots seemed
Ok, but I guess are now dead. I think it may have been kept too dry
last winter and spring.
I have tried detaching larger keikis but none have grown - all
shrivelled and died. I am now down to about two small keikis which
still have roots with a green growing tip - how can I save them?
Should I cut the shrivelled cane which supports them and pot the whole
thing up so that the keiki roots can be in the growing medium, and
what would be best for that given this situation? How much should they
then be watered?
Hope someone can help because this was the one orchid that I had not
been able to kill, all others never lasted no more than 3 years! And
yet I still keep trying - strange eh? :-)

I think the problem was that I repotted it in spring and then kept it
rather dry, and someone has been looking after it for the past month
and simply misted it every couple of days. There is severe cane
crenation and I don't think any of the keikis have roots big enough to
survive on their own. It is especially disappointing since I had just
successfully propagated a piece of cane from Den. (Michael Sado x
Ekapol) x Rakpaibulsombat - it keikied, and these are now actively
growing, but that stem was nice and plump unlike the thin shrivelled
kingianums.
How big are the roots before you detach the keikis? Are roots without
a green tip alive anyway? On my plant the keikis have several very
short (1-2cm) roots, but only one with a green tip. I am wondering if
it's better to wrap moss around the keiki roots and leave them on the
canes on the dying parent plant, rather like air layering? Would
keeping the plant in a plastic bag create too much humidity? I am in
Southern Ontario and it's quite warm here until october.


"PIETER ZUYDERVLIET" wrote in message . au...
hi Brumman, the way I pot up keikis is to put them in spag moss in a pot
that is as small as possible , I have just started doing this years, keep
the moss moist. when you see new growth then I pot into bark . last year I
done 40 this way & lost 1 I have them scattered around the shade house &
they all seem to grow the same. ps I live in NSW Australia