Nobby's Amy Cross

[ilikeorchids]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

thanks.
OB is great in that I can track the development of the seedlings......in one thread ! Hopefully its of use to others too, though its a bit like showing your holiday photos. Only you are the most interested

Better keep us updated!

[orchidsarefun]

I have started to repot a couple. Big boy/girl pants time !
Pliable plastic pots are 3.5in, old pots 2.5in.
Roots are in great condition. Pure, tightly packed sphagnum - I seem to have the most success with this medium in pots up to around 4in.

Yep - these seedlings are the same age...

[tucker85]

Very impressive! I wouldn't even know how to do to do that. Good job.

[Silje]

Really interesting thread! Keep the updates coming!

[orchidsarefun]

anyone have advice on when to repot into individual 2inch pots ? I think a couple of mine are reaching the stage when that may be beneficial. The trays are almost 2 inches wide at the top, which means a couple have a leafspan of almost 2 inches.

Deflasked 5 July 2013 - so almost 6 weeks since "birth"

[orchidsarefun]

I repotted a couple into 2 inch pots - see photo. I think I am going to have to do most of them soon as the roots are very healthy and penetrating into the seedling mix. Also spreading out because of the shallow trays.

[NYCorchidman]

OMG! They are so cute!!! you got lots of babies to take care of

I hope they all grow healthy.

[ALToronto]

That's funny - most of mine are sending roots straight up as well. I potted some of mine into 2" net pots from the start, and it was surprisingly easy - wrap the roots around a small clump of sphagnum, wrap a bit more sphagnum around the roots, and stuff them into the pot. As long as the roots are wet, they're very pliable (unlike paph roots, which are always brittle).

[orchidsarefun]

tapatalk was down for a while, and seems like I can only load one photo every 4 hrs !
Al - not sure why you think mine are rooting upwards ? ( edit - oh I see, from the photo. The seedling in the photo is upside down )
What is happening is that they are growing down, hitting the layer of seedling mix, not penetrating this layer but spreading laterally. When repotting I have to squoosh these lateral roots into the pots......but they are flexible as you note, so its hair-raising but OK.




Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

[ALToronto]

What do you mean by 'seedling mix'? Is the sphagnum just a top layer over bark chips?

Edit: just read your first post. I'm not surprised the roots don't want to leave the sphagnum. Most novelty phal growers grow in pure sphag, and their plants do very well. I have my seedlings in just sphag, so the roots are going down to the bottom and sometimes outside of the net pot or through a hole in one of the plastic compots.

I've never had success growing phals in bark, but maybe it will work for you. Now that I've found a local source for good NZ sphagnum, I don't think I'll use anything else.