Orchid babies. How to transplant an orchid baby from a mother plant

The most popular orchid today wears beautiful name Phalaenopsis. They say that one of the botanists, looking at an orchid through binoculars, mistook it for a butterfly, hence the name "phalaenopsis" - "like a moth". No less popular are the Dendrobium species - Dendrobium phalaenopsis and Dendrobium nobile. Distant relatives of these flowers came to us from the tropical rainforests of South Asia and Australia. They are accustomed to a certain habitat and therefore rarely form babies or cakes. This is the name of the shoots of an orchid, completely repeating the parent plant and having their own roots. The happy owners of orchid babies should learn more about how to transplant them at home in order to preserve the mother flower and not injure the young process.

One of the most beautiful houseplants is the orchid.

Phalaenopsis Cakes

Unlike the hybrid Dendrobium phalaenopsis, which can reproduce vegetatively (cuttings, dividing the bush), the Phalaenopsis orchid reproduces by growing cakes (children, air offspring) - fully formed small plants. Orchid babies can grow on stems, on a peduncle, or sprout from roots. It's pretty a rare thing. It is believed that children grow up in two cases:

when caring for a flower is far from ideal, the plant, with its last strength, fulfills the program laid down in it - it reproduces its copy;
healthy, blooming and contented orchids, in gratitude for the care, give their owners a new sprout.

You can use shoots to propagate orchids.

Whether it is worth planting an orchid baby or leaving it on the mother stem is up to you. Both approaches have their advantages. If you want to create perfect new flower(for example, as a gift to friends), then you can separate the baby, with some care, at home. And you can leave a new orchid. The result is an interesting branched plant.

New home for orchid babies

Unlike other types of orchids, Phalaenopsis cannot be propagated by dividing the rhizome; for this orchid, only reproduction by new shoots is used. Breeders also work with seeds, but at home this is problematic.

A baby can be transplanted only when 3-4 leaves appear on it, and its roots grow to 5 cm (minimum). The presence of roots of this length indicates that the new mini-orchid is fully grown and can be transplanted. It is not worth tightening it - strongly overgrown roots are more difficult to fit into a container without damaging them.

You need to transplant an orchid baby, knowing certain nuances

Step one - we prepare the tools to transplant the process:

soil (substrate) from the bark of a fine fraction (chopped pieces of bark about 1 cm in size);
sphagnum moss;
a transparent pot with a diameter of 7-10 cm (you can cut off a part from the bottle, take a plastic cup or a container for cotton buds);
sharp tool (knife, pruner);
crushed activated charcoal tablets or cinnamon powder for disinfection.

Now you can separate the sprout from the trunk and transplant it:

Carefully separate the shoot from the parent stem. With a sharp tool, cut off the cake with part of the peduncle. A peduncle of at least 1 cm should remain at the base of the sprout. In the event that the orchid has started a basal baby, before transplanting the sprout, make sure that the new plant has already formed its root system. Then it must also be carefully separated with a sharp instrument and transplanted.

Before transplanting the process, be sure to dry the cut points in the air (half an hour), then sprinkle with cinnamon or crushed charcoal.
Make in plastic pot(it should be transparent) drainage holes. Transplant the baby so that root neck was at the level of the upper edge of the container. When you fall asleep chopped bark, make sure that the roots are not damaged. It is important that the pot in which you are going to transplant the plant is small size, a little cramped for an orchid.
Fill the pot with soil, holding the shoot. Make sure the roots are completely covered with the substrate. If the capacity is not enough, the roots can be left on top, but then they should be carefully covered with moss. Shake the pot a little or tap the container to loosen the soil. Do not crush the substrate with your fingers - you can damage the roots.
Water the orchid should be on the second or third day. This pause is needed so that the cut made on the peduncle dries up. So we save the orchid from the possibility of infection with various diseases from the moist environment of the bark and moss.

After transplanting, the orchid must be placed in a room with high humidity. An adult orchid is recommended to be watered only a week after transplantation, but a young sprout will not withstand such a period, so do not forget to moisten the soil on time. In the future, you need to water the orchid as the substrate dries.

To transplant an orchid, you can buy a ready-made substrate or cook it from pine bark at home. If you buy soil, check that it does not look like fine dust. It is important that the substrate is moisture-absorbing and breathable.

Sometimes it is advised to add sphagnum moss to the mixture. If you add moss, then carefully monitor the moisture content of the substrate. When there is too much humidity in the room, there is a danger of waterlogging the soil and rotting of the roots.

After about a year, you can once again transplant the plant, and then take care of it as an adult. With proper care, after two or three years, the orchid will delight its owner with long flowering.

We root the baby

Children are often stubborn, orchid babies are no exception. If roots have not formed on the cake, then the process can be helped. To do this, you can make a mini-greenhouse out of a plastic cup, pebbles (expanded clay, pebbles), moss or other moisture-retaining material and a plastic bag (or a cut plastic bottle).

We make drainage holes in the bottom of the glass, turn it over, put pebbles on the bottom (this is ballast, it will not let our greenhouse turn over), cover it with wet moss on top. In the upper part of the glass, we install a support on which the cut-off socket will rest.
Carefully lower the process onto the support so that the base does not touch the moss. The sprout can rest on its leaves, then additional fastening is not required. If the leaves are still small, then you can add another support.

You can root an orchid baby yourself

We cover the entire structure with a cut of a transparent plastic bottle - the mini-greenhouse is ready.

If there is no bottle, take a regular bag. Just pre-cut a few holes in it for ventilation. Put the whole structure in a place with diffused light and wait patiently. When the roots grow to 5-7 cm, the sprout needs to be transplanted into a pot.

The structure of orchids

It is important to understand the difference between a baby, a peduncle and roots. On the initial stage these parts are similar to each other.

Peduncle - the main (in our opinion) part, this is what beautiful flowers later appear on. The peduncle comes from the center, is necessarily directed upwards (unlike the roots) and has a sharp tip.
The root grows from anywhere on the base, usually pointing down (but not necessarily). Its tip is always rounded. Be careful - sometimes a basal baby successfully disguises itself as a peduncle or root, but is a bit different from either one or the other.
A baby (cake) is a mini-plant that has put out leaves and roots.

Theoretically, an orchid can reproduce not only by children, but also by seeds. The last option is used by breeders. At home, it is safer and easier to use new mini-orchids - kids. They can grow:

in leaf axils;
from dormant buds on the peduncle.

Orchid babies may appear in specified places plants

It is important to remember that completely healthy orchids with at least 4 leaves can be propagated. Even if your orchid gave birth to a baby, make sure that she is healthy and not trying to continue her race with her last strength.

Reproduction of Dendrobium orchids

Despite the fact that outwardly Dendrobium phalaenopsis is very similar to a “moth plant”, its reproduction occurs not only by a baby, but in other ways:

rooting cuttings (cutting);
dividing the curtain (bush).

Orchids Dendrobium can not fail to attract attention

Regardless of the variety of Dendrobium (phalaenopsis or nobile), shoots may appear on the upper end of the pseudobulb, which are quite realistic to transplant.

Reproduction of Dendrobium by a process can begin when the roots of the baby reach 5-8 cm in length. The junction of the mother orchid and the new shoot should be very carefully separated with a sharp knife or, no less carefully, broken off with a rotational movement ("unscrew"). It is recommended to dry the place of separation on the sprout during the day, i.e., replant not earlier than a dried crust forms on the cut. Alternatively, process the cut garden pitch and transplant. For planting, a bark substrate with a fraction of 5-10 mm is used. If the orchid is properly cared for, it should bloom in two years.
The cuttings of Dendrobium begin with the separation of the pseudobulb from the mother bush, which must be divided into several cuttings, about 10 cm each. Places of incisions must be treated with garden pitch. Then you need to arrange a mini-greenhouse or just take a bag with a tight clasp, put wet moss (sphagnum) inside and 1-2 cuttings on top of it. To root the cuttings in a mini-greenhouse, you will need daily ventilation, lighting (diffused light), constant moss moisture, and a temperature in the range of 22-25 ° C. After about two weeks, roots form on the cuttings. After that, new orchids can be transplanted. Old pseudotubers are also suitable for propagation. At home, the new Dendrobium with good care will bloom 2-3 years after transplantation.

The division of the Dendrobium curtain can be carried out no more than once every four years. And then, only if the bush is healthy, well developed and has at least six bulbs. It is most logical to do this during the transplantation of the mother orchid. The plant is taken out of the pot and cleaned of the substrate. With a sharp tool on a hard surface, the bush is divided into several parts. On each "delenka" (cut off part) there should be at least 2-3 tubers (1-2 pseudotubers and a new shoot can be) and part of the root system. All places of incisions must be closed with garden pitch. After that, new plants can be transplanted into the prepared substrate. Flowers on new orchids, if properly cared for, may appear as early as the year of division.

If your orchid is in a desperate attempt to survive or in gratitude for proper care let the baby in, take a moment and try yourself as a master florist. The appearance of side shoots is a rare occurrence. It is important not to damage the young sprout, not to transplant it ahead of time, to choose the right soil and pot.

Leaflets on the shoots, as a rule, appear several months earlier than the roots. Do not rush to transplant them, let the sprout fully form. To properly transplant a sprout, use a sharp, clean, even sterilized, tool, a transparent pot with large quantity drainage holes, disinfectants for cut points.

It is difficult to create conditions in the house that are completely suitable for capricious orchids. Choose hybrids with a large margin of safety. For example, Dendrobium phalaenopsis is less whimsical, withstands large temperature fluctuations, and appearance as beautiful as the classic Phalaenopsis.

The fragile grace and elegance of orchids are worth spending a little time and care on them. Looking at the tropical guests grown with your own hands, you will not only enjoy their charms, but also be proud of your success.

Sometimes on the peduncles, stem or roots of phalaenopsis, children are formed - KEIKI. Kids are new miniature plant phalaenopsis with its roots, leaves and with its own miniature peduncle. If your phalaenopsis has a baby, consider yourself lucky, because this does not happen often. How to separate a phalaenopsis baby from the mother plant without damaging the roots? How to plant a phalaenopsis baby in a separate pot? Is it possible to specially raise a baby phalaenopsis? Read about it in the article and see the photo of the phalaenopsis baby.

‘A branch with future buds climbs right from the center of the baby, like an adult orchid. And it’s the same with mom orchids ’, writes our reader Tatyana. Her baby phalaenopsis on a peduncle, not even separated from the mother plant, was immediately about to bloom. Photo 1.

There are different opinions as to why some orchids produce babies and some don't. In the case of the appearance of children on the peduncle, it is sometimes said that the baby is evidence of far from ideal care for phalaenopsis. For example, lack of light, excessive watering, or even decay of the growing point. In these cases, the dying orchid reproduces itself with the last effort, fulfilling the evolutionary biological task of preserving the species. In addition to such cases, children are also produced by very healthy orchids that bloom without ceasing and feel great (like an orchid with a baby in the photo).

Do I need to separate the baby phalaenopsis? It's up to you if you become the owner of the baby. Some people want to get a new orchid, absolutely identical to the mother, for themselves or as a gift, then your way is to separate and set aside the matured baby. And some create interesting plant with one or more children on the peduncle who already have a developed root system. If there is a lack of moisture in the room, then the roots of the phalaenopsis baby growing on the peduncle of an adult orchid can be wrapped in moss and moistened regularly. Some put on small moss flower pots with many holes that help retain moisture and develop the baby's root system, and also 'teach' the baby's roots to twist inside the pot. Sometimes phalaenopsis babies themselves fall off the mother's peduncle.

How to separate the apical phalaenopsis baby from the mother's peduncle

To successfully separate and transplant the Phalaenopsis baby from the mother orchid, let it grow a little. A phalaenopsis baby should have several leaves, as well as a developed root system. The leaves on the baby usually appear earlier, and the appearance of the roots can take several months. When the roots of the phalaenopsis baby have reached a length of 3-4 cm, you can separate and plant the baby. With clean scissors, carefully cut off the flower spike of the mother plant a centimeter from the baby on both sides. Now the baby is a separate independent plant.

How to separate a phalaenopsis baby on the roots

Remove upper layer substrate and see if the baby has developed its own root system. If it is, then it remains only with clean scissors to cut the root connecting the baby to the mother plant, a centimeter from the baby and carefully, without damaging the roots, remove the baby from the mother pot.

How to separate the basal phalaenopsis baby (on the stem)

Such children do not have their own root system, they completely use the roots of the mother orchid for nutrition, which is carried out through a common stem. Such children cannot be separated from the mother plant! Instead of one, you will have two plants in one pot (see photo by reader Alexandra).

Basal babies often appear in place of the dead growth point of the mother orchid, in which case just wait until the mother plant dies off on its own and the grown baby remains the only orchid in the pot.

How to plant a phalaenopsis baby

Soak the phalaenopsis baby separated from the mother plant in water with growth hormone diluted in it for 10-15 minutes. This soaking serves two purposes at once: growth hormone promotes faster root development in a new orchid, and water softens the roots, which will be easier to lay in a small pot with substrate (some babies grow quite long roots). After soaking, the baby can be transplanted into a small orchid pot (with many holes) in. A young orchid can first be kept in plastic bag along with the pot to ensure high level humidity. If you decide to put the plant in a bag, remember not to put it in direct sun, otherwise it may simply burn inside the bag.

How to raise a phalaenopsis baby

Is it possible to get a phalaenopsis baby, grow it on purpose? You can try to stimulate the growth of a dormant bud on a peduncle by using a special hormonal agent. The agent is applied to previously opened nodes (sleeping buds) of the peduncle. Before applying the product, carefully remove the bracts on the dormant buds and remove them without damaging the bud itself. Apply some hormonal agent to the kidney. Babies can form on one or more kidneys a month or two after applying the remedy.

Orchid baby or offspring - this is new young plant formed on the mother flower. It can have its own roots, leaves and peduncle. Sometimes the children, not yet separated from the mother plant, are already starting to bloom (for details on whether it is possible to transplant an orchid if it blooms and how to do everything right, read).

Places of formation

They may appear:

on the roots;
like a shoot on a trunk;
on peduncles.

At first, a kidney is always formed, as a small seal. And after that, a young orchid grows. Most often, children are formed on peduncles.

Why is it important to share with a parent?

Many beginner gardeners have questions:

Is it worth it to plant a baby from the mother flower?
When and how to seat?

Note! A successfully transplanted and grown baby is a new independent flower in the collection.

But be that as it may, it is possible and necessary to plant a baby from the mother flower. Since when it appears, the load on the mother flower increases significantly. And if the planting is not done on time, then the orchid may get sick or die. In some cases, if the flower has sprouted, the grower is faced with a choice: mother plant or baby?

In what period is it right to plant from a flower?

If he has shoots, then how to determine when they can be transplanted? There are several signs that babies are ready for a transplant:

Don't be in a hurry to put your baby down. Growing roots with a young plant is a long and tedious process. It is much easier to let the baby get stronger on the mother flower.

Preparatory work and inventory

What is needed to separate the baby from the mother plant and transplant:

Sharp sterilized sector.
Substrate (you can buy it in the store, or you can cook it yourself).
activated charcoal, ground cinnamon or charcoal for disinfection of the cut site.
Small transparent pot with holes.
Gloves.
Mini greenhouse (if necessary).

For self cooking you need to mix fine pine bark and sphagnum moss, you can add a little charcoal.

The substrate should be well moistened, but not wet.

There is no need to rush to separate the baby from the mother.
The pot where the young orchid is placed should not be too large. You can use a regular plastic cup.
must necessarily have holes not only at the bottom, but also on the sides, so that the roots can breathe.
Do not place a young plant in a glass of water. This can lead to decay.
Top dressing should be done no earlier than four weeks after transplantation.
It is advisable to place a young orchid in a mini-greenhouse to maintain the desired microclimate.

Transplantation at home: step by step instructions and photos

This is done in several steps:

The instrument is being sterilized.
The baby is carefully cut from the main plant.
The cut places on the baby and the mother flower are sprinkled with cinnamon or activated charcoal so that the infection does not get into the wound.

How to properly plant a shoot from the base if it grows on a peduncle:

With this rooting method, Special attention give the microclimate inside the greenhouse. It should be very humid and warm (tropical). Air temperature and humidity are of great importance!
You can watch the video and learn how to separate a baby from an orchid if it has sprouted on a peduncle:

with roots

How to care after the procedure?

Watering

It is necessary to water the transplanted plant very carefully with a frequency of two to three days. Water should be at room temperature.

Note! Do not allow water to enter the outlet. This is fraught with rotting of the leaves. It is impossible to allow both the drying of the substrate and its waterlogging.

When watering children, you need to consider:

season;
humidity and air temperature.

If after two to three days the soil is still too wet, increase the intervals between waterings.

Be sure to have a mini-greenhouse. Since the baby is still very weak after transplantation, she requires careful attention to the microclimate. Namely, the greenhouse will help create it. It will help keep the moisture level and maintain the temperature. Thus, the difference between day and night temperatures will not be too sharp. Can be used as a greenhouse plastic bottle with a cut bottom or a regular plastic bag.

A plant in a mini-greenhouse should be ventilated. To do this, you need to lift the bottle for several hours a day to provide air access. If a package is used, then it should be slightly opened.

top dressing

A young orchid needs to be fed. But the amount of fertilizer applied should be half that required by an adult plant.
Fertilizers for the most part should be mineral, it is better to refuse organics.
If the orchid is sick or affected by pests, top dressing should be postponed.
The soil must be moist, otherwise there is a risk of burning the roots.
If the plant is at the stage of growing roots and leaf mass, then nitrogen fertilizers should be preferred.

Conclusion

Separation and kids will not be difficult if you follow all the rules. But it should be remembered that the orchid is a capricious flower. Not always manipulations with it bring the desired result. Don't despair if something doesn't work out. Patience and practice will surely bring results!

Phalaenopsis orchids are popular and in demand among lovers of indoor plants - this is a tribute to their beauty and grace. Many grow this butterfly orchid at home. Breeders successfully develop new varieties and hybrids to satisfy the most demanding taste with unusual colors and flower shapes. On sale you can find miniature and medium-sized variations.

For fans of the big ones giant plants of the "grandiflora" group are imported. Those who like abundant flowering, can choose a "multiflora" with highly branching peduncles, on which up to a hundred flowers or more can bloom at the same time.

If you pay attention to the cultivation of your orchid, provide it with the right care, it will live in the house for many years. There comes a moment when an adult phalaenopsis becomes ready for reproduction and releases baby. Another reason forcing the orchid to multiply is the threat of death. If a flower has rotted roots or a growing point is flooded, it cannot continue to exist and throws its last strength into the reproduction of offspring. The plant has a baby, sometimes not one.

Let's consider the first case in more detail. If you want to with my own hands to grow a new plant with love and give it to relatives or friends, you do not need to cut off the peduncle after the orchid blooms. This should be done only when the branch that has lost flowers has begun to turn yellow and fade. On a viable green peduncle, flowers re-form over time, or a baby is formed from a sleeping bud. It is only advisable to shorten it, leaving two internodes and making a cut 1-1.5 cm above the last bud. Since the peduncle is hollow so that it does not lose moisture after trimming, it is advisable to seal it with wax, ordinary plasticine will do. This type of education is the most common.

If you want to focus not on flowering, but to get a baby provide the plant with bright diffused light and high air temperature (about 30 °). Naturally, such conditions are created in summer months. It is at this time of the year that the chances of getting a new plant are great. With such climate parameters, the plant prefers not the laying of buds, but the growth of the baby.

New plants can also be basal, growing at the base of the trunk. This happens more often if the plant does not have a peduncle and the growth point is damaged. Not being able to develop, the orchid gives all its strength to the creation of a new life and forms a baby. Some do not dare to separate and transplant a new plant from the mother. In this case, two phalaenopsis will live in one pot at once.

When can a daughter plant be separated

You can not plant the resulting baby too early. Without its own root system, it is not viable. Approximately half a year is required for a new phalaenopsis, to grow roots. Up to this point, it feeds on the mother plant. By 6 months, 4-5 of their own leaves and roots up to 5 cm long grow on a small orchid. Then you can safely separate it.

Take care of the substrate for transplanting a young flower in advance. On sale you can find a special soil for home orchids of various compositions, but the best substrate is considered to be pine bark with the addition of sphagnum moss. The bark can also be prepared on its own, having previously boiled it to remove resins, dried it and broken it into small pieces. Specialized horticultural stores offer ready-made bark of various fractions for sale.

Types, varieties and homeland of the houseplant spathiphyllum

This substrate allows air circulate freely in the pot reducing the risk of root rot. You can additionally make several holes in the walls of the pot through which it will evaporate faster excess moisture. From above, it is better to cover the soil in a pot with a baby with moss, which will not allow the air roots to dry out. Sphagnum is periodically moistened by spraying.

Replanting Orchid Babies

How to transplant a baby orchid at home into a separate pot? First, prepare a place for transplanting work. Tools should be disinfected first. Prepare:

Use either a pruner or a knife - whichever is more convenient for you. How to separate a baby from an orchid if it developed on a peduncle? small plant cut off along with the part of the peduncle to which it is attached. The length of this piece should be approximately 1 cm. After that, the plant is left to dry for a while, then the sections are powdered with crushed coal or cinnamon powder.

How to transplant an orchid offshoot from a stem? Here they act in a similar way, separating a young plant with roots from the mother's stem with a knife, and perform manipulations with drying and powdering. Then the baby is transplanted into a pot, without deepening the root neck, it is better to place it flush with the edge of the pot.

Holding the plant by the base of the stem, gently fill the space between the roots with pieces of bark with your free hand, periodically tapping the bottom of the pot on the table so that the substrate lies evenly. If the topmost roots do not enter the soil, they are covered with pieces of moss. Do not make any effort when filling the pot with the substrate, the roots of phalaenopsis are very fragile and easily damaged.

Growing dahlias of the Gallery series

To home plant grew and developed well, it is important not to make mistakes in care from the first days. After transplanting any plant going through a period of adaptation. The planted process is placed in a well-lit place inaccessible to direct sun. It is better if the room is no more than 21 ° C. East and west windows work well.

If you have finally joined the ranks of those happy flower growers who waited for the offspring of their orchid to appear, then congratulations, but now you have a logical question - how to plant an orchid baby at home?

In fact, there is nothing particularly complicated about this. You just need to follow the sequence, and closely monitor the condition of the little beauty. We will tell about how orchids reproduce by children, and how to do it at home, in this article.

Phalaenopsis orchid babies - what they look like

As you know, on a phalaenopsis orchid, leaves grow only at the bottom. Usually there are 3 to 7 of them. Many are surprised when leaves begin to grow on the peduncle. Indeed, this can raise many questions if you do not know that this is the phalaenopsis baby.

What do orchid babies look like? Just like the parent, only in miniature. First leaves appear, then roots begin to grow. It even happens that the baby blooms directly on the mother plant.

However, there are other situations when a baby cannot develop fully without help. Then you need to take certain measures.

Proper pruning

You can’t just take and separate the offshoot of an orchid from an adult plant. In order not to harm either the mother flower or the baby, you need to carefully cut the baby, following some recommendations.

Regardless of where the babies appeared on the orchid, pruning is carried out with a very sharp tool that needs to be pre-processed. alcohol solution, vodka or other disinfectant. You can cut with scissors, scalpel, knife or secateurs.

In advance, you need to prepare coal or cinnamon powder. Suitable and Activated carbon from a pharmacy, but it will need to be crushed first. This powder is required to process all sections that have formed, both on the baby and on the parent.

How long do babies live on phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis orchid babies develop for quite a long time. First, the kidney wakes up, and it is clear that something is growing from it. Then the first leaves appear. They are quite small compared to their parents.

And only then the formation of roots begins. A baby is considered mature when it has several roots, at least 5 cm long.

The time it takes to develop can be different, and depends on the microclimate, and the nutrition of the bush. On average, this time can be designated as 6 months. If during this time the baby has not fully developed and has not grown roots, then you need to take action.

Stimulation of the appearance of roots

First of all, you need to try to stimulate their growth, and force them to give roots. To do this, there is one simple trick. You need to take a small amount of sphagnum moss, moisten it, and fix it in the place where the roots should grow in the baby. Wrap the outside with a film or a bag so that the moisture does not evaporate.

You can periodically moisten the moss so that it does not dry out not just with water, but with Kornevin's solution. After 2-3 weeks, you can evaluate the result. Of course, there will be no roots yet, but you can understand whether they have begun to develop, or there is no result.

Formation features

The orchid is unusual in many ways. So it is with reproduction - it is never known where the offspring is formed and how it will develop. However, this is not at all uncommon, but a completely natural process.

There is an opinion that offspring arises before the death of a flower. But this is only partly so. If the baby appeared on the peduncle, then it is quite logical that it will dry out soon. The plant has already flowered.

But if we are talking about the radical baby, then there is no reason for concern. Such a phalaenopsis baby should not be considered a harbinger of something bad.

How to separate the offspring from the mother plant

How to properly separate a baby from an orchid depends on where it grew up. And it can happen in different places, because this is an unpredictable plant.

Above, we wrote about the rules for pruning, and below we will tell you how to separate an orchid baby from a mother plant in each case.

How to transplant a phalaenopsis orchid baby

It is almost impossible to say in advance where and when a process forms on a flower. It is believed that this depends on the age of the plant and its health. But, of course, and external conditions leave their mark on it. But every baby that has grown up can become a full-fledged plant, with proper care.

On the peduncle

The most common development option. How to grow a baby orchid from a peduncle? It is very simple, do nothing, do not cut, but wait. The phalaenopsis peduncle is older than 5 years, capable of not only flowering, but also reproduction.

If the process appeared on the peduncle, then this is called a stem baby. It is cut off along with part of the peduncle. Leave it both above and below the baby. Enough for a couple of cm on both sides.

Radical

If the baby appeared as if from a substrate, at the base of the flower, then this is a basal process. Before separating it from the parent, you need to rake the substrate a little and make sure that the baby has roots. You need to cut it in the place where it fuses with an adult flower.

The basal baby is not difficult to separate, it is important not to damage the mother plant.

From the leaf axil

The third type of babies are those that grow from the growing point of the leaves. Also, after making sure of the normal number of roots, it is cut off with a piece of tissue from the mother plant.

The baby from the sinus of the leaf develops from the dormant bud located there. Under other circumstances, a peduncle could grow from there.

Rootless

Wherever a young shoot appears, it may develop correctly, or it may have certain problems. A baby without roots is not a sentence for a baby. It is possible to plant an orchid from a shoot even in the absence of a root system, it will only take more time and diligence.

If the baby is already 6 months old, and there are still no roots, it's time to transplant it. For her, a greenhouse is created from a plastic transparent glass. Drainage is poured into it and moss is laid. The baby is fixed on weight so that only its root neck slightly touches the moss. Cover with a cropped bottle on top to create a greenhouse effect.

There is also a way of rooting babies on foam. A hole is made in a piece of foam plastic and a process is fixed in it so that the root neck does not stick out on the other side, but is 5 mm inside. The structure is lowered into the water. The method is good if the room has a suitable microclimate for the development of a process without a greenhouse.

Basal

This is a process that was formed in the root zone and does not have its own roots. It feeds on the system of the mother plant, and is part of it. It is believed that this is how the plant renews itself, and soon top part an adult plant will die, leaving in its place the growing offspring. Such shoots are not separated, but left to develop on the flower.

Baby care at home after transplant

The shoot is transplanted into a separate pot when it has its own roots. As we have said, their length should be at least 5 cm.

Further care is practically no different from caring for an adult plant. If the transplant was successful, orchid babies at home develop very well. But it is not enough to be able to separate the process from the trunk, and properly land. The shoots require careful observance of the recommended microclimate.

It is important to ensure comfortable temperature in the range from 22 to 27 degrees. Observe the watering regime, avoid excessive moisture, and provide a daylight hours of at least 12 hours.

When the baby blooms - the beginning of flowering

On average, orchid shoots reach maturity at the age of one and a half years. Then at favorable conditions, and if necessary, after some stimulation, the plant will be ready to bloom.

The first flowering begins as usual, with the forcing of the peduncle. On a branch for the first time, usually no more than 5-7 flowers bloom. But with each subsequent flowering, there will be more and more of them. And after 5 years, from the trunk of a new orchid, like its parent, a new baby is formed.

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