Matt's baby orchids

[Fishmom]

In the middle of June, mattmcg, a member here, offered some phal seedlings of a cross that he had made--Phal. amabilis x Phal. Dutch Lady. Since I lived close to him and offered to come and pick them up, he kindly gave me one of his containers, which turned out to have 9 seedlings.

The first picture shows the babies with all their roots--more roots than leaves, certainly.

I potted them individually in 2 inch pots with styrofoam and LECA in the bottom to help with drying out. I used 3 different media--a bark/perlite mixture, the rePotme seedling mix, and sphag alone.


I then left for 2 weeks, depending on my orchid babysitter to keep them alive. I was thrilled when I got home the first of July to see that 8 of the 9 are showing TINY new leaves, too small to show in a pic with my camera limitations, but definitely there. Matt's hope, and mine, is that someday I'll be able to give one back to him in spike! If the person who got the rest of the seedlings is reading this, I'd love to see what you have done with them.!

Yay--pictures successfully showing! Now I just have to figure out how to make thumbnails instead of big ones!

[Dendian]

Very nice! Great job of potting them, and I like the idea of trying different media.
I like the big pictures too

[Greybeard]

Wow, your lucky you live close and a good idea to experiment with the media, keep us posted Wish I lived close

[orchids4me]

Nice job with them Barbara! They look great!! Keep us posted

[syndywindy]

They look great, will be interesting to see how each medium group responds. Keep us posted!

[mattmcg]

Looks great! Glad to see they are in a happy home and well on their way to maturing in a quicker fashion. I could tell the moment I met Barbara that these little ones were in good hands.....

[Fishmom]

This week I repotted the baby phals I got from mattmcg. Seven of the original 9 have survived. One that died was in a mix of bark and perlite, the other in sphag. The ones that were in sphag have not done any better than the others, so when I repotted them I put them all in the seedling mix I get from rePotme. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with their progress. It is interesting to see the differences in size and vigor between the individual plants.

[rlilia]

Originally Posted by Fishmom

In the middle of June, mattmcg, a member here, offered some phal seedlings of a cross that he had made--Phal. amabilis x Phal. Dutch Lady. Since I lived close to him and offered to come and pick them up, he kindly gave me one of his containers, which turned out to have 9 seedlings.

The first picture shows the babies with all their roots--more roots than leaves, certainly.

I potted them individually in 2 inch pots with styrofoam and LECA in the bottom to help with drying out. I used 3 different media--a bark/perlite mixture, the rePotme seedling mix, and sphag alone.


I then left for 2 weeks, depending on my orchid babysitter to keep them alive. I was thrilled when I got home the first of July to see that 8 of the 9 are showing TINY new leaves, too small to show in a pic with my camera limitations, but definitely there. Matt's hope, and mine, is that someday I'll be able to give one back to him in spike! If the person who got the rest of the seedlings is reading this, I'd love to see what you have done with them.!

Yay--pictures successfully showing! Now I just have to figure out how to make thumbnails instead of big ones!

How cool!
Lilia

[newbud]

Great success Barbara. I hope my babies all make it a year from now. Do you provide anything extra for humidity? Or are they just in the home with window light? Do you let them dry before watering? Food?
Thanks

[Fishmom]

The babies are in a plastic bin with a gravel bottom, which I try to keep moist, so a bit of humidity. When they get dry, it's not on purpose, as I try to keep them from drying out completely, but I know it has happened a few times I use skewers to monitor the moisture

They are on the upper shelf of my growing area, so above a light, which keeps them warm. They have a light above also. They get the same feeding all my orchids get, which is roughly "weekly, weakly", with an occasional shot of seaweed or a rooting hormone. I'm using a calcium-magnesium fert added in as well.

[mattmcg]

Barbara, those babies look amazing! Look at their progress! More leaves than roots this time around. Excellent job!!!!

[Fishmom]

Hi Matt! I'm glad you saw this--I think they are doing well. Maybe I really will be able to give one back to you some day--in spike!

Best to your daughter--tell her the babies are growing up.

[1joyceh]

Great job!
Looking great