Plant Propagation
Using Hormones
Dr. S.K. Palai, Associate Professor (Floriculture), College of Horticulture (OUAT), Chiplima, Sambalpur, Odisha, India.
Dr. Devapratim Mohanty, Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontology, SCB Dental College and Hospital, Cuttack, Odisha, India.
Home vegetative propagation of Phalaenopsis
T
he desire to have a larger number of orchids is the
most widely shared emotion among the hobbyist and
collectors. Imagine how wonderful it feels when the coveted Phalaenopsis for which you had paid a small fortune
starts producing a kiekie. This acts as an insurance policy against
any unforeseen loss of the mother plant or you can exchange it
for some other plant on your wish list.
Now, what if I say you could control or at least have some degree of control on the kieki production and flowers spike formation of your prized plants. Won’t that be wonderful?
The good news is that you can actually
do it now using phytohormones that
allow you some control over your priced orchids.
What are Phytohormones?
Plant hormones are signal-molecules produced by one cell
and move to another cell, within a plant; phytohormones occur
in extremely low concentrations in nature. Hormones regulate
cellular processes in cells locally and when moved to targeted
locations, other cells in the plant. Hormones determine the formation of flowers, stems, leaves, the shedding of leaves, and the
development of fruit. Plants, unlike animals, lack glands that
produce and secrete hormones. Instead, each cell is capable of
producing hormones. Plant hormones shape the plant, affecting
seed growth, time of flowering, the sex of flowers, senescence
of leaves, and fruits. They affect which tissues grow upward and
which grow downward, leaf formation and stem growth, fruit
ripening, plant longevity, and even plant death. Hormones are
vital to plant growth and lacking them, plants would be mostly a
mass of undifferentiated cells. So they are also known as growth
factors or growth hormones. The term ‘phytohormone’ was
coined by Kenneth Thimann in 1948. (http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Plant_hormone)
Now days over the counter preparations are available which
can activate dormant nodes in the plants to produce kiekies
(plantlets) or flowering spikes. They come in paste or liquid
forms which can be sprayed or topically applied at extremely
low dilution. They are available under names such as Kiekipro™
Keiki Paste, Keiki Clone, and Keiki Grow; an eBay search for the
phrase “orchid cloning paste” will yield many results. The exact
formulations are closely guarded secrets.
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Phalaenopsis | First Quarter | Volume 24 | 2014