Caring for very small seedling orchid (phal schilleriana)

[PuiPuiMolcar]

My friends surprised me with a Phalaenopsis Schilleriana for my birthday, I am very happy. When he told me it was a seedling, however, it didn't expected it to be this young. From inspection this was taken out from flask culture and mounted right on the wood slab. Should I pot these up in sphag? They're so soft and brittle I'm afraid they might not make it.

[Roberta]

Transferring to pot with sphag sounds like a good idea to me. That piece of wood (lumber scrap) also isn't a good mount even if you wanted to grow it mounted. (Mounts should have rough surfaces for roots to grab) But unless you are growing in a humid greenhouse, or have a suitable indoor controlled environment like a terrarium, "mounted" is not likely to be successful.

[Paphluvr]

I totally agree with Roberta's post. Does anyone else think that the foliage does not look very schilleriana-ish? I'm used to alternate spotted transverse bars alternating silver (or gray) and dark green.

[Roberta]

I agree that it doesn't look much like Phal schilleriana. But so young, it's possible that patterns may develop. Whatever it is, it needs to be removed from the scrap lumber and nurtured in a pot.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

thank you, and and yeah since it was a gift it can't be helped so I'll just wait until the day it'll surprise me.

[3rdMaestro]

I’ve seen bloomifytech (an Etsy seller) mount seedlings on wood like that. And interestingly I just checked their store and they have phal schilleriana for sale, and the leaves look slightly spotty in the pictures. Maybe as Roberta said, the pattern will develop with time?

[Ray]

Looks to me like the plants are too deeply embedded in the moss, putting them at greater risk for crown rot.