Florist Foam?
 

I hope I put this in the right forum.

I have ordered seedlings from two different vendors: one paph and two catt alliance. Both times, they had florist foam on the roots. The paph just had a bit like it was supposed to be removed and someone missed a chunk, but the catts were sitting on a block of it.

So, now to my questions. What is the foam used for? Is this a common thing? Do I only need to watch seedlings only or is foam used with older plants?

Thanks!

I found this kind of stuff in noid phals from Lowes, so it's out there being used by some growers.

That foam is from the plug trays. The orchids are put into these plugs when they come out of the flasks. I have received a few adult plants that have had some of the foam potted within the media the plant is currently growing in. I do not believe it is cost or to time effective for growers to remove the foam from each seedling, so it's very possible to come across this in plants of different ages depending on where you purchase your plants from.

It is quite common to see seedlings started in the foam in plug trays. Next they wrap some spaghnum around the foam, and grow in 2" pots that way. Eventually plants make it into 3", 3.1/2" or 4" pots with a bark mix.

Thanks, guys. That makes sense.