New to Orchids - bought vanda seedlings without realizing difficulties.

[TomThumb]

Hi Everyone!

I just started collecting orchids three weeks ago because my mother loves the ones we see at the hospital. Of course I jumped in before doing research and got Vanda seedlings since i have airplants. I thought oh they're like airplants!. Of course i did my research right before they arrived and realized i was in trouble.

I have five little seedlings. Three are doing very well with no issues and starting to grow new roots. One was doing well? her roots are thinner and more fragile than the other seedlings and just today i noticed a purplish blush to her crown so now i'm not so sure she's ok. The last one arrived with a clipped leaf and the remnants of a leaf that had been removed close to the stem. This one is suffering. My decision is to keep them bare rooted for now (i had tried sphagnum before i realized how badly off the last one was) and do a good roots only soak for an hour a day early in the morning and a light wetting in the late afternoon. Hopefully the two ailing ones will survive as one of them is my favorite. (tessellata x luzonica which are a hybrid of my two favorite vandas so far.)

Of course after realizing i got the difficult vandas i decided to order a bunch of spiking phals. I repotted a week in (just in time as i noticed the one time i watered them they hadn't dried out at all. Turns out they were packed in super dense sphag) and they seem to be doing fine with the buds growing bigger and some leaf growth (this was unexpected as the phals are in bud. I thought they would conserve energy and not actively grow but who knows?!)

Anyway, good to meet everyone!....and yes i have another phal and a cattleya on the way.....