Question
Hi Wayne King,

Now, my phalaenopsis leaves on splits on it either at the edge or staring from middle? Is it a disease? Why does this happen? This is mounted on tree chunk. Any remedy?

Secondly, I've heard unopened nodes from phalaenopsis flower spike can produce small plantlets using keiki boost or something like this. Is is true? Could you please provide me the link to buy from online?

Can plantlets be produced without keiki in case keiki boost is not readily available? Do you have recipe to make it?

Thanks in advance,
Nwe Lay

Answer
The splitting is not a disease but a deficiency in the biochemical makeup of the plant that results in insufficient incorporation of magnesium and/or calcium essential to the structure of plant tissues.  Dynagrow markets a silicon based product called Pro-tekt which can be fed to the plant to strengthen new growth.  Be sure to follow the diections carefully because too much can result in brittle leaves.

You can find the keiki paste at www.keikipro.com.  If you use the paste, be sure to first remove the node sheath to expose the meristemmatic tissue at the node to which the paste should be applied.  Then move the plant into the dark or very low light conditions for about a week.  Sometimes, keikis can be naturally produced through prolonged exposure to low light.  Some phalaenopsis hybrids naturally produce keikis with no special treatment but this is not true for most.