Expanding Your Orchid Family: Exploring 4 Methods for Orchid Multiplication

Propagating Orchids at Home: A Guide for Monopodial and Sympodial Types

Orchids, with their captivating blooms and diverse growth patterns, are a popular choice for home cultivation. The methods for propagating these plants differ based on their growth patterns: monopodial and sympodial types, which influence how they grow and reproduce.

Monopodial Orchids such as Phalaenopsis and Vanda have a single, central stem that grows upward continuously. They can be propagated through several methods:

Keiki Production: Sometimes the orchid produces small baby plants called keikis on the flower spike or stem, which can be removed and planted to grow new individuals.
Stem Cuttings and tissue culture are also used, especially in commercial propagation.
Repotting or division is less common since there is typically a single growing point.

Sympodial Orchids, like Cattleya, Dendrobium, Oncidium, Cymbidium, and others, grow laterally with multiple pseudobulbs originating along a rhizome. Each pseudobulb forms its own roots and flowering stems. Propagation methods include:

Division: The most common method where the rhizome is cut so that each section has a few pseudobulbs with roots, creating independent plants.
Some sympodial orchids produce bulb-like structures that can be separated and grown new plants.
Tissue culture is also used in commercial settings for mass propagation.

In home cultivation, orchids are most often propagated vegetatively, through cuttings or division.

To propagate orchids from keikis, slice away the baby orchids using sharp, sterilized equipment. Keikis look like a flower spike initially, but they will soon form leaves and aerial roots.

For germination at home, the seeds will be placed in a clear flask in a jelly-like agar substance called Asymbiotic germination, or flasking. When roots are visible, each seedling needs to be transplanted into a new container containing the agar jelly.

It's essential to note that harvesting pseudobulbs from an orchid should only be done when the plant is mature and healthy. Place the stems horizontally into a moistened tray of sphagnum moss and cover with a plastic bag or film.

Thin crowded orchid seedlings as they develop, and cut the stem into pieces with each having at least two growth nodes. Before potting up, wash off the agar jelly using distilled water.

Proper orchid care is crucial in nurturing both the seedlings and the parent plants. Eventually, young orchids can be repotted in containers filled with orchid potting mix. Some orchids will form roots within a month, but others will take months.

Orchids belong to an extraordinarily large group of plants, with approximately 28,000 identified species across 800 genera. Examples of commonly grown orchids with pseudobulbs are Cattleya, Oncidium, Dendrobium, Epidendrum, and Laela.

Apply cinnamon, charcoal, or antifungal powder on the cut ends to prevent rot and disease. Check the flask frequently as some orchids will germinate fairly quickly, while others can take months.

[References] [1] Orchid Care: A Guide to Propagation and Cultivation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.orchidweb.com/basicorchidcare/propagation.html [2] Orchid Propagation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.orchidinfo.co.uk/propagation.htm [3] Orchid Propagation Methods. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.orchid-info-center.com/orchid-propagation-methods.html [4] Orchid Care: Growing Orchids from Seeds. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.orchidweb.com/basicorchidcare/growingfromseed.html [5] Orchid Propagation. (2019, March 11). Retrieved from https://www.orchidcarezone.com/orchid-care/orchid-propagation.html

Maintaining a home-and-garden lifestyle, one might find themselves intrigued by the prospect of propagating various orchids at home, such as Cattleya, Dendrobium, or Phalaenopsis. Gardening enthusiasts could consider propagating sympodial orchids through division or harvesting pseudobulbs, while monopodial orchids like Phalaenopsis can be propagated from keikis.