Seedlings from OS meeting

[Call_Me_Bob]

i picked up these seedlings from the OS meeting last night. it was great, and the speaker had some nice stuff.

AA battery for size.

pic 1- cattleya intermedia var. orlata with a small lead in a plastic cup

pic 2- phalaenopsis hieroglyphica 'kaleidoscope' in dixie cup

these are my first seedlings, do they need special care?

do you think i could mount either of them?

[Call_Me_Bob]

and the phal...

[Izzie]

I have a var orlata myself- my first cattleya! They're hardy little buggers.

In my experience, seedlings dont' like drying out as much as adult plants. Not staying wetter, but not drying before watering.


ETA: Can't say much to mounting. I've seen the C. intermedia mounted pretty often. It's easier for me to keep roots happy in my dry environment when they're potted.

[Call_Me_Bob]

thanks for your input! it is my first cattleya also, but i got my laelia first.

i am worried about mounting them now. i have to water my laelia everyday, even though its in ark, so id be watering anyways. but maybe ill save my mounts for maybe my second catt

[Royal]

They look like they are past the point of needing any "special" care. Just treat them like adults with smaller pots. Mounting can be done anytime, but like repotting, it is best to wait for signs of new root growth.

[Call_Me_Bob]

okay, both hve lots of root growth, and the cattleya has a tiny lead.

the phal is 4 months out of compot

and idk how far the catt is, but its pretty far. im more worried about the phal because its so much smaller, but its my first catt,so im still worried

[Izzie]

What do you mean about the catt being "far"? As in, far along?

If it were me, I'd postpone mounting until it was larger.

And about the lead- one thing I've learned with my catts with leads, and keeping them trained to stay compact: positing the plant so that it is facing the sun in such a way that the lead will grow towards the center of the plant. Does that make sense? So I position the plant so that the side opposite of the lead is towards the sun, so when the lead grows towards the sun, it grows into, or closer to the rest of the plant.
I've noticed that the leads on my Laelia anceps are growing much more compact than the existing ones, now that it is not growing in a dark forgotten corner of a greenhouse. As in, the rhizome does not grow as long in search of light, and the pbulbs develop much closer to the home plant. (I dont' know if you recall the pictures of my plant, there's a good four inches of rhizome between bulbs, but the new bulbs are developing almost right against their mother bulb.

Yay for long convoluted replies!

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by help

okay, both hve lots of root growth, and the cattleya has a tiny lead.

the phal is 4 months out of compot

and idk how far the catt is, but its pretty far. im more worried about the phal because its so much smaller, but its my first catt,so im still worried

Don't worry about this catt. Trust me when I say that it's really one of the more forgiving species out there.
In fact, if you look at some threads on here where people were asking about good "beginner's cattleyas"- C. intermedia is recommended by a lot of people on here.
Heck, mine, who I neglected repotting until it was done blooming- turned out to have no roots. The vendor I got it from had not repotted in some while, and I won't even go into what was growing in the media.

Of course, as soon as I repotted it, all hell broke loose in my life and the poor thing was put on a back burner for almost a month and a half until I got home from vacation.

Found it's one lead rallying on and trying to put out roots, and the bulbs very dehydrated.
Unpotted, soaked for forty minutes in a kelp solution, and repotted in hydroton with a loose sphag top dressing (the rhizome is just sitting on top), wired the rhizome into place in the pot, and put it in a miniature 'incubator' in an old fishtank.
A week later, everything is still dehydrated and the poor thing is taking energy from a few leaves, but several new root nubs have finally appeared.
I have it's clay pot sitting in a water reservoir that comes about halfway up the pot, until it gets some roots that can get farther into the mix.


So there you go- really speaks to it's hardiness that it can live without roots for who knows how long.
The blooms are lightly fragrant during the day.
I love the orlata variety, though it's perhaps not as common? Here are pictures of mine:

[Izzie]

Oh- and this plant is where I got my 'mystery seedling from', which I found in the pot. Thought it was part of this plant, but turned out to be a separate one.

Hence, my first seedling- also rootless. Repotted in a thumb pot. It got pissy and hated me until I replaced the top half of the media with loose sphag with a little small bark. Put out new roots right away after that.
That's how I learned that they like to stay moister. Of course, I should have done research and asked on here about care.

Just 'listen' to your little guys. They'll tell you what they want. I see Royal's point- they are Large Seedlings, and bigger than the one I have.
So water how you want, and pay attention to the pbulbs of the catt, and the leaves of the phal, and the roots of both.
I suspect that the phal will want to stay moister, being smaller and (maybe?) younger. I would start out with watering just before the roots are silver.

With new plants, I've finally figured out a good watering plan for me. I start on the low end of the water I think the plant will like. I stop increasing the watering as soon as I keep the bulbs/leaves from getting annoyed. It's kept me from overwatering.

[Call_Me_Bob]

thank you soo much for all your help!!! i dont think im going to mount them.

the intermedia is in small bark and chc so i think ill keep it like that.

the phal is in spaghnum, and that worries me. i was thinking about repotting into a 50/50 mix of spagh and small bark. im not confortable with the spagh.

i didnt notice that your laelia has a LOT if rhizome. im glad you said to keep it compact, i never even thought of that. luckily, i keep my laelia so that the led is making it more compact, i guess that was just lucky. by the way, i think i can call the lead, a leaf and p-bulb now, its graduated **tear** im so proud of my little guy!

your pictures are great! i cant wait until mine blooms! should bloom in a year or two, or at least thats what the vendor said.