Nobby's Amy Cross

[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.

[orchidsarefun]

let me clarify as I have said 2 different things ! Most of the repots hit the seedling mix layer - about 1/2 inch of fine bark/chopped spag - and then spread along the mix. A few had roots that penetrated and the mix stuck to the roots.
However, the big eye-opener for me is that they have grown so fast and I have had to plan to repot sooner than I had thought. The irony is that my other cross ( Sogo Lit-Sunny x ) deflasked about a week after Amy, is growing comparatively slowly........very slowly. As I would have thought !
I will do all the repots into pure sphag. My mature phals are either in sphag or bark, I don't have a preference. I don't like net pots though as I have had a couple of bad experiences with disentangling roots.

[dounoharm]

wow! so impressive!! you have done an excellent job with all those seedlings!! I have enjoyed the photos of their progress, keep posting! I got a 'lot' of those a few years back, little ones in 2" pots, and had a heck of a time with crown rot with them, so I know you are doing a fabulous job raising your babies! it takes patience and really good culture to keep them up the way you are doing! good growing!