Cattleya rex seedlings

[isurus79]

Purple is good. Distilled water is very devoid of nutrients though. You might want to start fertilizing sooner than later, but in very dilute amounts.

Its also kind of cool to see in your second pic that there is a purple one next to a green one. Did the green change to purple or did it stay light green? In many batches of orchids you can see light green seedlings next to dark ones and it gives you a glimpse of what the flowers will eventually look like.

[My Green Pets]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Its also kind of cool to see in your second pic that there is a purple one next to a green one. Did the green change to purple or did it stay light green?

I know! What is going on with these guys? They all started out this bright green color, then gradually most of them have been getting darker and darker, almost gray-looking, with bright purple on the undersides of the leaves. Very disconcerting. The green one has stayed green throughout, for whatever reason.

I will see about introducing a very small amount of fert into their water. Thank you!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

I know! What is going on with these guys? They all started out this bright green color, then gradually most of them have been getting darker and darker, almost gray-looking, with bright purple on the undersides of the leaves. Very disconcerting. The green one has stayed green throughout, for whatever reason.

I will see about introducing a very small amount of fert into their water. Thank you!

The darker pigment is a type of natural sunblock. Your plants are getting the ideal level of brightness.

The light green plant has few of these natural pigments and will have light colored flowers, while your plants that are very dark will have much darker colored flowers.

[kindrag23]

Oh they are so tiny! Good luck. Hope you get better results soon!

[My Green Pets]

Originally Posted by isurus79

The light green plant has few of these natural pigments and will have light colored flowers, while your plants that are very dark will have much darker colored flowers.

Oh no way, could that mean I have an 'alba' ?!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Oh no way, could that mean I have an 'alba' ?!

Very possible. It could also be concolor, albescence or some other very light colored variety.

This is a pretty fun tool to have in your belt when picking out seedlings from a grower!

[My Green Pets]

There seem to be little white circles on the tops of the drying media which look like salt deposits...even though I've been watering since the 2nd day with distilled and no ferts ??

I think this little experiment with hydroballs is going to have to be over soon. All the roots in this media seem to be dying. There's plenty of light, air, water, and humidity, so I can't understand why. All the semi-hydro documentation says that the old roots will die when transplanted, but I didn't think this was semi-hydro as there is no reservoir.

Please don't die little ones! What is making you unhappy?

[isurus79]

Could be mold too, which wouldn't hurt the plants. But if the root tips are dying when they hit media, then something down there isn't right. Especially if your neighboring plants in lava rock are happy.

---------- Post added at 11:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Aren't those tips on the bottom picture growing though? They seem ok to me.

[My Green Pets]

Nope, they're sittin' there just looking worse every day. The root at left started to grow a little, but then aborted.

[orchidsarefun]

I would pot all the smaller ones into a compot of sphagnum moss and keep the moss damp........
Have you contacted Chadwick for advice ? they are the ones that recommend sphagnum and I have had good results with sphagnum - OK, not with catts, but phals and zygos.