Deflasking/compotting P. liemianum seedlings

[Justin]

looking good. don't keep them too wet by watering too frequently. do let them breathe. clip out any parts that turn brown. they should do fine.

 

[Ozpaph]

They look great. LOTS of humidity.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

This doesn't have to do with the gratrixianum but it does have to do with seedlings and light. In a few months (around March 1) I will be using my T8 light fixture for raising tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings and won't have any room for my P. liemianum compot. Will the compot be ok under the T5s if it's 1' 3" to 1' 6" from the light? Or would it be better to put it under the leaves of a bigger orchid like my sanderianum or oncidium? I have the compot in a humid terrarium now and it is a little less than a foot from the T8 tubes. I'm gradually adding more ventilation and light to harden them off.

 

[wjs2nd]

Harding-off the seedlings in your terrarium with T8 lights sounds good. Seedlings usually harden-off in a few weeks (I believe, I've heard 8 weeks or so). I've had my seedling, Roth hybrid, with my paphs and it hasn't stressed them at all.

 

[tomkalina]

Your P. liemianum compot should be fine approx 18" below your T5's. This is the same setup I use for all of our compots.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Sorry to bring up this subject of recompotting again... Below is a picture of how deep the seedlings are planted. They have new roots growing from between the leaves. I cannot add more media around the base of them or the media would overflow out of the pot and I would bury some seedlings that aren't leggy. Should I recompot or not? They are in active growth and all of them are alive and growing new roots and new leaves. I think I should but you guys are the experts, if I did I would do it like Troy Meyers does here: Our Compotting Method Also, what is a TN # and flask #? There were some #s and letters on my flask. I saved them in case they were important.

 

[Cheyenne]

The way I do it is if they are all the same height and at the same level then I pot as one clump. If some are leggy and some are not at different heights, I separate them to make them all the same. Or the other option is to pop them out, get rid of some mix, leave them as one clump and pothem deeper. Than add more mix which might cover some of them, but you sacrifice some to save the rest.

 

[cnycharles]

troy (meyers conservatory) puts everything in a database, so each entry of an orchid cross that's submitted to him gets a tn# and each flask has it's own flask#

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

I'm no expert, but I'd be leaving those babies alone. I have some micranthum that came out of flask that were leggy and had roots growing up high. I just potted them up the old regular way and they are doing just fine.

 

[Justin]

agree with bob, leave 'em be! they are looking great btw.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

So in 6 months or so when I decompot they will be leggy but fine and I'll just plant them deeper when I decompot?

 

[wjs2nd]

I'm leaving my compot alone and it looks the same as yours. The roots should be okay. Even my leggy one are growing down.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Well, I went against just about everybody's advice. I re-compotted all the seedlings using Troy Meyers method. I asked Sam Tsui about re-compotting and showed him pictures at the show and he advised me to do it. I did it around March 3rd. They are now doing well and don't seem to have suffered shock. They seem to be doing much better now.

Below are pictures of the compots:

Compot #1- Biggest and most seedlings

Compot #2- seedlings that I couldn't fit into #1

Compot #3- the tiniest seedlings in a 3" pot. These seedlings are smaller than my pinky nail.

I haven't lost a single seedling, not even any of the tiniest ones.

 

[Stone]

I haven't lost a single seedling, not even any of the tiniest ones

Not yet............Give it time

 

[cnycharles]

Not yet............Give it time

I was going to reply this morning and point out that I had some seedlings of the same cross, and the tiny ones were even doing well (using klite) and hadn't died since I had brought them home; looking more closely I saw today that two of the tiny ones had rotted at the base because I had watered them a bit too much and covered them so that they didn't dry off quickly enough (better not to tempt fate and things like that )

 

[Stone]

I was going to reply this morning and point out that I had some seedlings of the same cross, and the tiny ones were even doing well (using klite) and hadn't died since I had brought them home; looking more closely I saw today that two of the tiny ones had rotted at the base because I had watered them a bit too much and covered them so that they didn't dry off quickly enough (better not to tempt fate and things like that )

Yes very quick to die if too wet but very slow if too dry. I think there's a lesson there for all of us:rollhappy: That's also why I prefer my humour on the dry side.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Yes very quick to die if too wet but very slow if too dry. I think there's a lesson there for all of us:rollhappy: That's also why I prefer my humour on the dry side.

LOL! :rollhappy:

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Here are some pictures I took today of my Paph. liemianum compots.

Compot #1- The biggest, most vigorous seedlings. 23 seedlings This compot is getting pretty full.



Compot #2- Mediocre ones. 7 seedlings



Compot # 3: The runts in a 3 inch pot. 10 seedlings

 

[Ozpaph]

doing very well.