Seedling care - should I repot?

[avisignis36@gmail.com]

Good evening everyone!

I have several seedling orchids of various genera (cattleya hybrids, dendrobiums, oncidium intergenerics) that arrived potted in sphagnum moss. Two of them (Howeara lava burst 'Pacific Sunrise' and Ondonticidium Rex's Luck 'Firefly') arrived with wrinkled pseudobulbs, were unsteady in the pot and had some visibly dead roots, so I went ahead and repotted those and both of the root systems were 90% dead. Both also had plenty of new growth and seem to be doing alright now. All of the other ones look pretty healthy, though I do see a couple dead roots on one of the catts and a dendrobium. Should I just go ahead and repot all of the seedlings from this batch, and if so, into what? The two I already potted I used a mix of sphagnum moss and XS orchiata. Any other care suggestion are welcome, I'm a newbie! The sphagnum moss seems really densely packed, and it makes me nervous of overwatering...

[fishmom]

If they were mine, I would repot if I see any hint of new growth/new roots. I like to use the medium I am used to, and I can better predict when the plants need watering that way. A small Orchiata with some sphag added seems like a good solution. Depending on the size of the young plants, you may not need moss for the Catt. since they like to dry out between waterings, but if it is small, I wouldn't worry about that. Without a developed pseudobulb, it shouldn't really dry out much either.

[avisignis36@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by fishmom

If they were mine, I would repot if I see any hint of new growth/new roots. I like to use the medium I am used to, and I can better predict when the plants need watering that way. A small Orchiata with some sphag added seems like a good solution. Depending on the size of the young plants, you may not need moss for the Catt. since they like to dry out between waterings, but if it is small, I wouldn't worry about that. Without a developed pseudobulb, it shouldn't really dry out much either.

Thanks! The catts are pretty small. I *really* want to repot them all to see what's going on in there, but I also don't want to kill them with love haha. I do see new growth on pretty much all of them, so I think I will start repotting all of them!

So - maybe use a little less moss for the catts, or do they need more due to their size? One of the dendrobiums has a 5" cane, should I use less (or no) moss for this one as well? The other dens are under 3".

[estación seca]

Are those from Olympic Orchids? They usually arrive with brand new sphagnum. I think they may be taken from community pots and put into fresh sphagnum just before shipping.

I would not repot those plants. Keep the sphagnum just moist, not sopping wet. It looks fresh.

[Dollythehun]

I order from them too. I agree with ES. Wait until you see some new roots. Also, I have found that small babies like that can't take the light mature catts can. Its easy to sunburn them.

[Merita]

Most of my cattleyas come from babies sold by Better Gro and they never gave me problems, I took them out of the way they came from, washed them well and put them in hanging baskets, which many criticize me but which I like. I use thick bark. The main thing is to fix them well, that they can not move, and hang them outside, receive a little sun in the morning and all the rain that falls, you have to keep them more humid than the adult plants, and the heat benefits them a lot, for those that do not have almost roots is to water them with kelpmax. Some that I have bought have flowered before the expected time and have never fallen ill. The ones that I find difficult to adapt to my environment are the adult cattleyas I buy and that I buy them from good nurseries

[estación seca]

Hanging baskets are excellent for Cattleyas if you have enough humidity and air circulation, and can make sure they get enough water.

[avisignis36@gmail.com]

Thanks everyone! So I guess my next question is - should I stop worrying about a couple dead roots as long as the rest of the plant looks healthy? The two I already repotted had shriveled pbulbs, but I see a dead root or two on a den, a zygo, and a catt. Otherwise the plants look healthy and all have new growth. I think the moss just makes me nervous because I don't have a lot of experience with it, and the top seems to go from damp to crispy really fast, but it's hard to tell what's going on in the rest of the pot. And then there was a time I have the catts a good watering one day and then it was overcast for like a week and a half, so they took forever to dry out! My thinking is maybe a different mix would be more forgiving? I just need to learn and get more experience!

[Roberta]

On nearly all sympodial (grows along a rhizome) orchids, the old pseudobulbs (back bulbs) typically lose their roots and the energy stored in them gets absorbed by the growing plant. As long as dead roots are on the oldest pseudobulbs, it's just force of nature.

As far as medium is concerned, I would suggest getting away from sphagnum on the Catts (even young ones). Bark, of size proportional to the plant, does much better at drying out and providing air around the roots. But wait to repot until you see new roots, on any plant. Phals and Paphs grow roots pretty much all the time so its not critical. But for most orchids, there is a definite rooting cycle. Especially when changing the medium, you want new roots to be just starting to appear, and then they will establish quickly. (Change of medium often kills roots, so it's especially important that you do this when there are new ones that will adjust to the medium)