Question
Hello Wayne!

About a year ago I bought a Dtps. Taisuco Candystripe x Phal amabilis and 2 weeks later the buds dropped off. Then halfway up the stalk a new plant appeared. It now has buds on it. I have done nothing with it so far but water the poor thing. Now I'd like to cut off the new plant from the mother plant and plant it in a seperate pot. The roots on it are very long! The poor things are probably searching for nutrients! Can I trim these roots and how do I go about seperating it from the mother plant without killing it?

Answer
Tiffany, it sounds like the roots are long enough.  If the leaves on this keiki are at least two inches long, it is a candidate for repotting.  If it is in flower, removing it from the mother plant will likely result in the loss of flowers so you may want to wait until the flowers fall or, if it doesn't matter, you may remove it now.  There are two methods of removing a keiki from its mother plant.  The first involves gently grasping it as close to its attachment to the mother plant as possible and gently twist or rotate it at the point of attachment in one direction and then the other. The other option is to just cut if from the mother plant at its point of attachment.

I do not recommend removing part of the long root.  Rather, soak any roots in luke warm water for half an hour or so and this should reduce the brittleness of the root and lessen the chance of breaking it.  After this, you should be able to gently bend it as you insert it into the pot before adding potting mix. If you bend it just enough to follow the inside walls of the pot that would be fine.  You will need a large enough plastic pot with lots of drainage holes to accommodate the roots.  Position the root mass before adding the orchid potting mix. Please feel free to ask followup questions as they occur to you.  Wish you well.