Recommendations on how to separate the baby Orchid from the mother plant

Orchid is a rather capricious plant, but the process of reproduction through the "baby" should not frighten even beginner growers!

Once becoming the owner of this tropical miracle, I fell in love with orchids with all my heart, I learned about them a lot and now I just want to share a few secrets and rules on how to properly separate baby.

And to begin with, there is no need to rush. In order for the baby to take root well in a new place, the following conditions must be met:

At least 3-4 roots of at least 5 cm long have grown at the appendix;

· The baby has acquired at least 2 real leaves;

The shoot appeared on the mother plant at least 8 months ago, and even better - 1 year ago;

· The separation of the baby should not occur at the height of the orchid bloom.

In principle, I had the experience of transplanting babies formed in various places of the orchid - in the axillary buds, on the stems, at the roots, on the peduncles, and it seems to me, from the latter, they demonstrate the greatest vitality.

To separate the baby, you need to use a very sharp blade of a knife, scissors or garden pruner. The shoots never break - this ruins the whole venture and the plant!

The process of separating the baby itself, in a step-by-step version, can be represented as follows:

1. Wipe the knife (or whatever you got) with a disinfectant - chlorhexidine or alcohol will do.

2. Grasp the peduncle with one hand and, acting with the other, take the baby, stepping back 1 cm from the mother plant.

3. Sprinkle the cut on the mother plant with crushed charcoal or ground natural cinnamon.

4. Set aside the scion to lie on clean paper for 30 minutes to dry.

5. Moisten the orchid substrate with boiling water. Thanks to this technique, pathogens will be destroyed and the soil will become more tender - it will not damage the baby's root system.

6. Pour some expanded clay on the bottom of the pot as drainage, and add the substrate on top.

7. Place the baby in the pot, straighten the roots carefully and sprinkle them with earth. Never compact the soil to avoid breaking them.

8. There is no need to water the substrate - after all, it has already been previously treated with hot water.

At first, the baby should be placed in partial shade, and after a few weeks, when it gets a little stronger and takes root, it can be transferred to diffused light.

And of course, I don't move the pot often - orchids, in principle, react negatively to its movement, and their shoots even more so.