Help with compots...
 

Hello and Happy 4th to all of you,

I need some coaching from those of you with success in separating your compots... it will be my first time with this issue. I have several compots with paph babies and need advice on when you seperate them, bark medium they will do best in etc. Is it going to be difficult seperating them or are their roots very minimal? Should they be keep moist? (I would think so)
If it is too hard to explain if you can pass on an accurate web site you like and trust.

Thk you for your time and consideration!!
Take care and love those Orchids!
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

By the time they have outgrown a compot they should be pretty tough and ready to be treated more like an adult. The tricky part is over and these teenagers will do fine, but they'll need what all teenagers want - a good balanced diet. You may want to go with a finer medium than you use for your adults, but other than that it's pretty similar to the rest of your Paphs.

If the roots are still very small, just leave them in the compot a bit longer. As long as they're happy in there I'd leave them as long as they can stand it. They really do like the company. I usually break up compots too early, but evidently I never learn my lesson. :blushing:

I have 3 paph compots that I'm starting to get a little nervous about. The vendor suggested a few months ago to try to move the leaves around so that some of the lower ones will receive light etc. So I am doing my best with this, however the plants are very crowded and I'm wondering if I should split the compot in 1/2 and spread them out a bit. This scares me though as it would be a disruption to the roots etc. maybe I should just keep doing what I'm doing and losing the odd one in the bottom....or maybe I should cull some of he bigger ones and put them in individual pots or pots of 2... Any advice or thoughts w/b appreciated. Thx.

not sure if this will help you, but I had a miltoniopsis compot from a vendor that looked overgrown and crowded when I received it. Fortunately it was a peat pot ( a really good idea ! ) and easy to break up. Despite that it took me almost an hour to untangle the roots of each plant.
I put the bigger plants into individual 2" pots and the smaller ones back into a 5" lily pot ( of about 15 plants ). I thought that I would lose about 10% but so far, so good.
That was about 2 weeks ago and they have really taken off, so much so that I am thinking of transplanting a couple into bigger pots.

yep- the original compot of about 3" contained about 35 plants !

yep- the original compot of about 3" contained about 35 plants ![/QUOTE]

35 plants. Wow! Now that's a compot.

I have taken 8 and repotted into slightly larger pots with a different potting mix. I think that I won't use coco-chip/sphag mix for seedlings again, its difficult to keep moist. My preference is fine fir bark/sphag mix in 2 1/2" clear pot with slitted sides. ( its the Hausermann's seedling mix, works well )
I need to take photos because the differences in seedling size are interesting. I have a compot with tiny seedlings, then the 2", then the 2 1/2". The biggest is probably 15x times the size of the smallest.
I am also experimenting in allowing filtered sun of about 2 hours per day. Its certainly greened up the seedlings. I will be watching for any burn though.

Ok, so you left the rest of the compot as is...but took the larger 8 out exposing roots etc, then repotted them together is that right? So the remaining smaller ones will get more light and have some room to grow...I'd better do something cause Im noticing some of the smaller ones on the bottom are getting yellow leaves and not looking great. Thanks for your help.

to be clear:
I bought the 3" peat compot - it ultimately contained almost 40 seedlings !
I split it up - and put all except about 15 into individual 2" pots. The 15 I put into a single compot made from a bulb pot - 5" shallow pot.
I subsequently took 8 from the 2" pots and repotted into clear, deeper 2 1/2 pots.
It was nerve-wracking splitting the original compot, I was worried about breaking roots, leaves. However it has worked out well and I am glad I did it. You probably need to pot into individual 2" pots. You will be amazed how fast they then grow....

I will often take the seedlings in a compot and sort them by size. The biggest ones may go into their own 2 or 3" pots, somewhat smaller ones go two or three to a pot, and the smallest all get shoved back together into a pot. Those 'mini-compots' take up less space and I think the smallest plants like the extra company.

I really like the peat compot idea and will use peat pots for my seedlings currently at a lab. Its the same type of pot they use for vegetable seedlings - and change colour based on water levels.
Its my first compot and I am happy with the way things have turned out - so far.