Compots - Dumb question

[coirchoir]

Yes, i can appreciate that humidity needs to be managed...
I just wondered if not crowding them detracted at all from the overall goal...there are all these do's and don'ts; best thing I read somewhere was something to the effect that "if its too wet, it's too wet, if it's too dry, its too dry...", so just trying to understand everyone's experience of what helps and what doesn't

[Orchidaholic]

Personally I plant all seedlings in small individual pots after deflasking. All the small pots go into one large tuperware. The bottom of the tuperware is lined with 'egg crate' or light diffuser so I can keep water in the bottom. I take a full month to acclimate seedlings to the harsh outside world by venting it little by little every day till the lid is off and they still have a semi enclosed humidity tray (small note, I do all my seedlings indoors under lights). The main issue with seedlings is humidity. since they were in 100% humidity in the flask, just make sure you slowly acclimate them to lesser amounts. I opt for enclosures over compots.

[coirchoir]

I think that sounds like a very fool proof system. How long are your seedlings when you deflask?
Perhaps you give smaller ones some more time to get out of the flask? Some of my stans had full leaves and small pseudo bulbs, but others were as small as an 1" long only. Similarly some of my zygos were even smaller.
Anyway they seem to have survived for a month now, with only about 3 or 4 demises succumbing to root rot and a bit of fungus problem. The small zygo tray underwent near weekly transplants, as I kept taking them from frying pan to frier, so to speak (ice-trays with no drainage; to a tray of peanut packing, coir and sphag moss layers which got a bit of fungus; and then to their present abode atop a wire shelf layered with coir and cleaned up sphag)
I should have left well alone, except last week I read the following and it seemed like a great process to try - now I'm keeping my fingers crossed - feels like a roller-coaster ride!! How to Grow Stanhopeas; edited April 2007

______________________________________
"From Joe Shragge (Salt Lake City, Utah):

"When raising Stanhopea seedlings in community pots, I have found they like lots and lots of water. So I place the compot (usually 4 ½ pot) in a 32 oz Dannon Yogurt container. Then pore water over the plants and fill up the Yogurt container until the compot slightly raises. The seedlings stay in the water/bath for approximately 30 minutes. Then the compot is taken out and left to dry until the next watering, which is usually in 2 to 3 days. When fertilizing, they soak for 15 minutes in plain water, followed with the fertilizer bath for 15 minutes. I use the same container with the same compot each time. This may not be practical for large amounts of seedlings. But it does work well and the seedlings grow quickly..."
"...I have been making several Stanhopea crosses for the past several years. I have been using a fertilizer that is called Bloom Plus 10-60-10, my thinking is strong roots has to have a bearing on the health of the seedlings."

[Orchidaholic]

It all depends on the seedling size. I have defalsked quite a few where the perimeter seedlings were over 2in tall and the ones in the middle were just above protocrom state (1 maybe 2 leaves). For the very weak seedlings I put them all into live sphagnum(no mater what Sp.) inside of sealed clear plastic containers. They stay in their "unsterile flask"(the plastic container acts as a biosphere and no involvement is needed) till they are atleast an inch or 2 before going into a pot and into the seedling tuperware. In the "biosphere" they do well planted together, the growth of the Sphagnum moss keeps the roots from intertwining. This is just my method of doing things so I can kinda forget about them and let them do their own thing without worries!

P. wardii & P. hangianum in "biosphere" 2 months in... The wardii (back plant)started out with a 1inch leafspan and my pinkey in the pic is 2 1/2inches...


My seedling tuperware (lid only open for the pic) with various Paphs, Areides and Catts seedlings around 2inches+

[Royal]

Neat ideas! Thanks for sharing. Where do you get the live moss? How do you keep it?

[coirchoir]

This is so helpful - basic conclusion: try to be a discerning orchid grower, rather than use a one size fits all approach -
I am learning a lot more than I knew when I started this (my first attempt, so hope the orchids will forgive me!)
I'm going to attach my pictures of the 3 living arrangements I offered my zygos.
These are:
1. Big Zygo batch in ice-tray in sphag moss wrapped in plastic bag - a newspaper bag actually
2. Same as #1 unwrapped
3. small zygo batch on layer of peanut packaging, coir and sphag moss (the tray had no holes, the peanut shells moved around a bit and the coir was found swimming in water a week later - taking me to the next step
4. wire shelf lined with coir and sphag and sitting on top of ice-tray - seems like the best set up so far.

[coirchoir]

And they are all sitting inside a zipped plastic bag as shown here

[coirchoir]

And Orchiaholic the orchids in your pictures look very happy and well cared for - your system seems v. effective

[Orchidaholic]

~Royal, the sphagnum I use is native to my part of the world. I'm a few miles from the Great Dismal Swamp(where Venus flytraps are native) and the sphag grows everywhere around here. I keep a large plastic tray stuffed full of the sphag in my greenhouse under the benches to always have some live stuff on hand. The wardii I sent you was in live sphagnum. To propagate it put a couple inches of fine charcoal in a clear plastic container. Add water to submerse 1/2 of the charcoal. Shred a few pieces of the sphag into little tid bits and disperse over the top of the charcoal. Close the lid and put under some artificial light or in a shaded area with dappled light(no direct sun).In a few months time you will have a container full of living sphagnum moss to plant certain seedlings into (the ones that like to stay moist). It's doing wonders for the Stanhopea impressa I got from you!

~coirchoir, Thanks for the compliment, they do seem to like my lack of attention to them and thrive on my neglect! LOL. Good idea on the large zipped bag (great use of a comforter bag). The "one size fits all" works for some people, but a true orchid grower needs to know the little things that will help grow a better plant. Also since you have so many of the same types of plants, do a little experimenting with planting medias. Try a few in fine bark/pearlite/charcoal and a bit of ground up sphag. Within a month you will be able to tell which media is more effective. Whatever you do, don't let those baby zygo's go above 85F. goodluck!

[coirchoir]

Perhaps I'll try that - I have fine fir bark, but no charcoal and pearlite, which I'll have to get.
And thanks for that zygo advice - our house is usually not more than 70-73.
Have been taking a look at them daily from their waterbath experience of last week and they're looking wilted. don't want to try that again.