Dry seedling

[Orchitty]

Hi guys. I bought a Rhynchostylis gigantea seedling from Thailand off Ebay. It was relatively inexpensive so thought I'd give it a shot. Well... it took about 2.5 weeks to get to my post office. I also didn't see the delivery slip until 3 days after the delivery attempt because it was in the bottom of my mailbox. By the time I got the plant, it was pretty dry. The plant had it's roots in and around a 1" styrofoam block and they were pretty much dry, flat, and dead. The plant itself looks pretty dehydrated with thin leaves that are greenish brown. Is it pretty much a goner? Any chance of rehabilitating it?

[fishmom]

I hope you've already started soaking it, before posting on a forum!

[Dollythehun]

I second, fishmom. Soak it. Do you have some fish extract to dilute?

[Orchitty]

Yes. I soaked it. Well... I soaked the roots. Didn't soak the plant. Don't have any fish extract but I had some Rootone powder and put that on the plant. I've put it in a plastic container with some damp sphagnum moss.

[Subrosa]

I'm guessing you don't realize that ordering plants from foreign countries on EBay without first obtaining the necessary paperwork is illegal.

[murph7]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

from foreign countries on EBay without first obtaining the necessary paperwork is illegal.

Good point. As I live in the middle of Europe, but not in the EU, I cannot buy anything across the border without all the legal papers, so I do not even bother.

[Orchitty]

Hmm... No I didn't realize that. I figured if they could ship it through USPS, they must have taken care of all that. I've bought betta fish from Thailand that were first shipped to a transhipper who then re-ships within the US. Thought this was going to be like that.

[murph7]

read this

"All orchids are covered by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and therefore require CITES permits for transport between countries. This requirement applies to large commercial shipments as well as small quantities of plants for personal use."

CITES

[fishmom]

I wouldn't jump on Orchitty to hard. You don't know if the vendor has followed the rules or not, although the "inexpensive" part may indicate not.

Orchitty, next time you soak the plant, soak the whole thing, leaves and all. Be sure to let it get some air exchange as it sits in your container with moss; you don't want to get mold started. A kelp fertilizer in the soaking solution may help get growth going also.

I believe rhynchostylis is a plant that likes to have the wet/dry cycle, so even though it likes humidity, it will benefit from getting dry between soakings.

[Dollythehun]

ES and I just talked about this. He said they are almost succulent. All I have read indicates a coarse potting media and a wet dry cycle with varying amount of light being successful. Very, painfully slow growing.

However, in Leca and bark mine was not thriving. I bought another which was in a chopped spag, bark and leca mix which was faring better. In fact Hausermann's had them in that more retentive mix. So, I switched to that. They are under a sheer umbrella in very bright filtered light. We will see. If I were going to buy another, I would spend extra for blooming size.