Seedling care
 

Hello, I recently just deflasked some paphiopedilum druryi seedlings. I have rebloomed paphs in my environment and made sure I could meet the requirements of this species before I purchased. That being said, is there any other specific care that seedlings need? (I have never deflasked seedlings or taken care of them before) Also how come some leaves have a weird indentation on them? Thank you for your time and help.

You need to use fine grade bark with moss to keep the mix moist at all time since it is deflasked recently. The leaves will have some pitting due to changes from the flask environment to your condition. I use a ziplock bag to keep it moist until many months later to get them to grow it bit more and slowly acclimatize it to your condition. If you use a ziplock bag, make sure you use straws to keep the bag from folding over and trap excess moisture that can lead to rot. I also keep the bag open a little bit open.

Thank you paphman. I just put them in a ziploc bag as you specified. Do you think my medium should suffice if I water every day or close to that? Also when would you think they are ready to be taken out the ziploc? Once they have adequate roots?

Should be fine with the mix. Make sure you use toilet paper after you water the community pot to get water out of the crown of the seedlings. Just keep an eye to see new roots and they should keep growing bigger. Once they are established, you can open up the ziplock bag more and make sure you repot yearly in new mix.

Keep the Paph druryl compots in warm conditions. Seedlings require warmer condition than adult Paph druryl.

Thank you once again. I have been drying out the crowns with a tissue after each watering. Would you recommend a heat mat so they can stay consistently warm?

Glad you are keeping the crowns dry!

It might be a good idea to use heat mat if you get temperatures that lower than 65F at night.

Ok thank you. Is it natural to see some leaves dying and withering away? Should I cut them off to prevent growth of mold or any fungus?

In general, seedlings straight out of flask should be cared for differently from mature plants of the same genus:

1. They need constant & high humidity:

I use a mix consisting of chopped spaghnum + seedling size (1/8"-1/4") bark & charcoal, in 4:2:1 ratio.

I then place the compots in flats with clear plastic domes.

2. They need significantly lower light than larger seedlings or mature plants.

For Paphs, if you grow adult plants at 1200-1500 footcandles, keep recently deflasked seedlings well below 1000.
After 6 months or so, they can graduate to 1000-1200.
After 12-18 months, they can handle 1200-1500.

3. They need higher temperatures than more mature plants. I keep my trays with domes on a heat mat for at least one year. Caution: On the heat mat, they dry out faster - even with the dome cover.

Treat them with a probiotic such as Quantum-Total (also sold as the privately-labeled and more pricey Quantum Orchid) or Synergro.

Several commercial growers have shown it to be a particularly good way to improve survival rate of ex-flask seedlings. The live microbes will attack pathogens and prevent future infections as well.

What do plant probiotics do?

Thank you so much. I will be following your advice.

---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 PM ----------

Thank you, I recently bought some. I look forward to seeing the results :biggrin: