My first orchid seedlings arrived in the mail today. They were deflasked by the grower, sprayed with fungicide, and shipped 3 days ago. Here's a photo of all of them laid out.
Some were quite large...
Others, teeny!
I planted most of them in a long, plastic community pot full of "HydroBalls", an expanded clay product. I had rinsed this medium several times (until the water ran clear) before using.
The two biggest seedlings were put in pots (one terra cotta, one plastic) with small red lava rock. The lava rock was also rinsed several times before using.
The pots were then watered gently with lukewarm tap and set inside an aquarium. A seedling heat mat sits under the aquarium to provide bottom warmth.
A 400w metal halide lamp burns about a foot above the top of the aquarium, providing around 2000 footcandles of light to the seedlings. The photoperiod is currently set at 13 hours on and 11 hours off.
The current temperature in the aquarium (lights on) is 25C/77F with 66% humidity.
And so the journey begins...
---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 PM ----------
Correction - light is at about 1500 footcandles.
Also, just added a layer of pea gravel to the bottom of the aquarium in order to increase humidity.
And I should mention that the top of the aquarium has pieces of plastic wrap taped over it to trap heat and humidity. The ends and middle are still open for ventilation. The whole setup is right next to the air handler for the house, so whenever that kicks on there is a good amount of air circulated in and out of the area.
Cattleya rex seedlings
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