Mounted seedling has two new growths, and they're on opposite ends of the mount

[galguibra]

Hey everyone! First of all, happy to report that the discoloration on my C. intermedia v aquinii f coerulea seedling really were just some light/heat damage after all. I guess that one day I had to skip watering was just enough to throw off the balance of air flow/light/temperature/humidity I had going at the time, but after moving the grow light a bit further away and increasing the air circulation nearby, things seem to have stabilized. One of the new roots has even grown several inches in just a couple weeks, and it's now tunneled through the mount and made it out the other side!

As it happens, though, that vigorous growth might be turning into an issue. After an early redo on the original mounting orientation, I was pretty sure I'd lined everything up nicely to accommodate the direction of new growth more or less indefinitely. As it happens, though, the seedling got a little excited, and it now has another new lead on the exact opposite side of the rhizome. I'd heard of orchids developing multiple leads before, but I assumed it was mostly just much more mature orchids that had settled into optimal conditions and amassed large enough energy stores. I'm glad the little guy seems happy, but I'm not really sure what to do with this extra new growth that's now coming in at the bottom of the mount.

See below for pics of both developing leads, as well as a wider shot for perspective:







Both leads are still small, so I'm not panicking yet, but there really isn't a lot of room there at the bottom, so I'm not sure how well it would play out for the seedling to continue growing in that direction. At the same time, though, remounting at this point seems like it would do a lot more harm than good. Should I just attach the mount to a larger mount or something? Seems a bit of a waste with SO much space left on the rest of the mount, but I'm not really sure how else to accommodate the surprise lead at the bottom there. Is this even a problem at all? I'm also pretty wary of how close the new growths are to the floral wire, but I only just mounted the seedling in May, so I figure it's too early to be messing around with the support fixtures. Any ideas very appreciated!

[Waterdog111]

Being fairly new to the hobby, I hesitate to offer any real advice. I will say though you have given your seedling plenty of territory to roam, and as healthy as it appears to me, I would just watch and see what it does next. It seems to have a plan.

[Roberta]

For now, just observe. If it starts to grow off the mount, best is to tie it to another mount. If you have a lot of empty real estate you could just saw off the empty part of the mount, and tie it at the bottom - not wasting it, just relocating. And this is a learning experience, watching this one. Your placement will be be better the next time (unless the plant fools you, which they do... frequently). But don't try to unmount it, it is growing very well.