Found this stuff browsing on Amazon. It seems might be useful for some stubborn buds. At the moment, I have 2-3 cuttings with extensive roots but no leaves are growing. I was thinking maybe this paste will help with this??
Anybody has used it?
Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Keiki-Power-Orchid-Plant-Cloning/dp/B00948K1J4
From the manufacturer:
All plants respond to biochemical signals that cause them to do different things, such as growing a new leaf, putting up a flower, extending a root, or making a new growth (keiki).
One biochemical signalling phenomenon, called “apical dominance”, occurs when cells at the growing tip of a plant (e.g., a flower spike) produce a biochemical hormone (called an “auxin”) that suppresses the growth of new shoots elsewhere on the plant. In other words, the growing tip “dominates” the rest of the plant by preventing growth of new shoots which would otherwise compete for resources that the growing tip needs. When this apical tip has completed its job (for example, by finishing the flowering cycle or getting broken off by a cat), that tip no longer emits the dominant suppressive signal. Potential new shoots elsewhere on the plant no longer have this suppressive auxin hormone shutting them down.
Next, new biochemical hormone signals (called “cytokinins”) enter the picture. Now that the suppressive auxin is gone, these cytokinins are freed up to stimulate the growth of new shoots. Some plants, however, don’t make enough cytokinin to get those new shoots growing. These “lazy” or “stubborn” plants are usually plants that are not making enough cytokinin to make new shoots grow.
That’s where Keiki Power Pro steps in. Keiki Power Pro turboboosts the cytokinin growth activation process. Specific parts of the plant treated with Keiki Power Pro get a big blast of activating growth signal to boost the growth of a new shoot.
The carrier (i.e., the paste material) in Keiki Power Pro sticks to the plant and thereby keeps the concentration of cytokinin high at the site of the potential new shoot. The molecules of cytokinin in the dab of paste diffuse into the plant tissue, signalling to the plant to begin growing a new shoot. And that’s how new keikis are born.