Cattleya Seedlings- Care Video

[isurus79]

Hi All,
William Green and I made another video together, this time about caring for Cattleya seedlings. We've got plenty of props in this one to chat about!

Here's my version: Cattleya seedling care w/ William Green - YouTube
Here's William's version: Cattleya seedling care ? Chat with William Green and Stephen VKL ? 26 November 2020 - YouTube

I think our versions of this particular video are almost identical! Enjoy and feel free to ask questions!

[Bayard]

I did buy one of those Cattleya Triumphans 4N compots. They had really good roots. At H&R they use Promix HP with biofungicide/mycorrhizae. Some I re-compotted into sphagnum. Others got a mix of bark, charcoal and perlite with the same Promix formula.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Bayard

I did buy one of those Cattleya Triumphans 4N compots. They had really good roots. At H&R they use Promix HP with biofungicide/mycorrhizae. Some I re-compotted into sphagnum. Others got a mix of bark, charcoal and perlite with the same Promix formula.

Such a rare cross, I had to snap it up!! And the leaves are giant and clearly 4N, as says on the label. I have great plans for those future flowers!

[Bayard]

Good - I also got the Cattleya dowiana var. aurea 4N.
It’s only 5-7 more years until they bloom!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Bayard

Good - I also got the Cattleya dowiana var. aurea 4N.
It’s only 5-7 more years until they bloom!

I should have gotten that too!

[Orchidtinkerer]

Hey isurus,
thx for posting this very long video lol but good watch.
I've tried my luck with seedlings so had something to relate to - especially the different growth rate of seedlings which intersted me the most but the tip on keeping better record is also good advice.
I can't tell who was who on the video, sry, but the Rex seedling shown was really small and slow growing if it's siblings have already bloomed by now.
Is it worth carrying on growing them? They might turn out interesting but if they take that long to flower would you want to use them for breeding?

To me that is another advantage of buying seedlings, you can see how it grew up and know which is the strongest to use. But such a long wait .

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Orchidtinkerer

Hey isurus,
thx for posting this very long video lol but good watch.
I've tried my luck with seedlings so had something to relate to - especially the different growth rate of seedlings which intersted me the most but the tip on keeping better record is also good advice.
I can't tell who was who on the video, sry, but the Rex seedling shown was really small and slow growing if it's siblings have already bloomed by now.
Is it worth carrying on growing them? They might turn out interesting but if they take that long to flower would you want to use them for breeding?

To me that is another advantage of buying seedlings, you can see how it grew up and know which is the strongest to use. But such a long wait .

Ha! I try to keep my videos between 10-15 minutes (same with William), but whenever William and I start chatting we end up geeking out and make 30 minute videos

As for the Cattleya rex question, I personally would have tossed that small seedling long ago (you can see the surprise on my face when he says its the same batch of siblings)! lol Reminds me I need to do some culling of my own this weekend... I personally would not breed with them, but we discuss the potential of having a polyploid variant showing up in the slow growers that could end up being something super valuable. A 4N plant could be a useful breeder, but a 3N plant likely would not. Its' tough to tell until you actually grow it out and then breed it with something else.

It really depends on what you want to do with a batch of seedlings! Maybe William will see this and chime in.

[My Green Pets]

Tinkerer, I agree I probably would not want to breed with that tiny, 9-year-old rex seedling. But as I said in the video, I am curious! It's not taking up much space and I plan to take it all the way to blooming. Who knows what it will look like!

[Orchidtinkerer]

I think I saw one of your Rex's in flower Green Pets,
Rex is a lovely one.
Was good to see the passion you two shared. I am focussing my effort on some Cattley mini purple's. So far I did lose one of the largest ones. When it goes downhill it happens fast but fingers crossed I do ok. I am gutted it was one of the bigger ones, the stragglers you half expect to lose.

[thefish1337]

I was looking into the literature surrounding the "runt" hypothesis that Roy has put forward. For reference he also is generally referencing looking through mericloned seedlings to find the polyploids arising from this cloning technique (in the context of his personal anecdote). This allows you to find one "type" of tetraploid as there is multiple mechanisms that result in a duplication of chromosomes. There is documentation that colchicine induced tetraploids in some plant types results in dwarfism and these plants have some disregulation with plant hormones because the doubling of the chromosome increases the amount of a regulatory mRNA which disrupts the signaling pathway. Additionally, runts may also be >4n which also results in other types of regulation of growth, so that precious tetraploid you think you have could just be a crazy chromosome mutant that will be cruddy its whole life.

Which is to say, all polyploids are not created equal and you are better off culling any weak plants, plants that lack characteristics of vigor, ect. than hoping for a rare tetraploid, which may or may not have anything good about it. This is why breeders have moved to oryzalin and colchicine treatment of protocorms because you can generate a lot of tetraploids with select plants and then select the best ones. This results in significantly more "useful" plants compared to the old needle and the haystack approach.