Aerangis - irritating keikis

Can't answer your question but what the hell are you feeding them? I am actually jealous that you got basal growths. I have three clones of Aerangis luteo-alba rhodosticta . They bloom every year but they have no basal growths that I have been hoping for, all single growth.

 

Tom - I have a handful of rhodostictas and all are clumpers - even the seedlings with 2" leafspans are already throwing basal keikis. All of mine came from Alan Koch at Gold Country Orchids in northern California. Some of Alan's parent plants look like tufts of coarse grass because of all of the keikis.

 

Hot Damn! Not sure the origin of my plants... I need to grow mine a bit warmer and see if they will have basal growths.

 

Calvin, too bad you are in Canada, otherwise I will divide it for youoke:

For me, Summer day time high is under 75 and winter daytime high is low 60s. Night time low is from 55 to upper 60s depends on the time of the year. so mostly it is on the cool side of intermediate condition.

 

Calvin, I have seen the behaviour you described in two of my Aerangis in the past. Both were stressed and I think that shortened leaves and proliferation of basal pups may be a natural response less than ideal conditions. It certainly would help if it were possible to lower your night-time temps by a few more °C. If you could get even to 18 or 17°C in winter it would be great.

 

Can you get ahold of Safari?
Excellent systemic.

 

Calvin,
I have both of those aerangis species. My kirkii in particular likes to keiki -- as you can see. But I don't seem to have trouble getting it to bloom. The lower nighttime temps will probably help, and mine gets a fair amount of light but is very humid. If nothing else when it does bloom you'll have quite a show. If the temperature adjustment doesn't work -- let us know.

 

Calvin,
Hey there. Yes, I do have a couple of photos. As you can see -- mine tends to keiki and then those keikis keiki. The only photo I could find quickly with it in bloom was taken with my phone, so it isn't the greatest quality. But -- you get the gist. (And I didn't clean the leaves, just brought it in and snapped a photo by the laptop as I responded.)

And looking through my notes, my kirkii tends to keiki in the spring, but it spikes in the summer with blooms in the fall. I do give it higher light in the summer--and it probably gets more fertilizer too as everything does in the summer.

And, I don't know if you have it in the great north, but one great option for potted plants at least is a Bayer Tree and Shrub. It is imidipidicloride -- basically Merit in granular form. The packaging here says it is for trees -- but a generous teaspoon to a 6inch pot works great for killing scale and mealies on orchids. It is sold in all the big hardware store chains here-- so you might check.

Good luck

 

Oh lordy that is one magnificent plant, Reyna!

 

Thanks guys -- and Calvin good luck. Let us know when it blooms.

 

It's possible that you are feeding your plants at the wrong times of the year, encouraging growth rather than flower production. Feeding every watering is excessive, and can lead to root damage and excessive growth. maybe you could back away from the fertilizer during the late fall winter months and just water the plants. Resume watering with fertilizer in February when the growing cycle starts again, every other or third watering. As for you scale, ugh. I have had luck recently with Seven.