Orchid Propagation – Cuttings

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Blooming, Care and Culture, Propagation

The pseudobulbs, stems and inflorescence stalks of some orchids make suitable propagating material when they are divided into cuttings.

Each section must contain one or more dormant buds. Detached from the rest of the plant and kept in suitably humid surroundings, for example laid on a bed of damp moss or inserted in a pan of moist grit, the buds arising from these sections will form new plantlets. After a few months they can be removed from the old piece of plant and potted up individually.

The cane-like stems of Epidendrum and Dendrobium will often yield new plants in this way. The basal parts of the inflorescence stalks of Phalaenopsis, Phaius and Calanthe also have a few dormant which will each make a new plantlet under appropriate conditions. On many pseudobulbs, dormant buds will occasionally develop little plants, sometimes known as ‘keikis’, quite spontaneously – often to be seen on the top of Pleione pseudobulbs and on Epidendrum inflorescences. These can be removed and potted up as soon as they have a few roots to support their independent growth.