Small Paph Seedlings - difficult to grow???

[Bolero]

Hi guys,

I have finally worked out Paph culture for my growing conditions and managed to get through winter without losing a plant which is a good sign. You might remember earlier in the year when summer turned to fall and the nights turned very cool that I managed to rot quite a few seedlings. Well that no longer happens and most of my plant are growing beautifully now that it's spring.

"Most" because the very smallest seedlings I bought haven't really started growing at all, they have no root growth (just one or two very small roots which haven't developed. The slightly bigger seedlings and the near flowering sized ones are growing so well I can't believe it and have wonderful roots. Does anyone have an opinion on growing the tiny seedlings that are just out of flask? Is there a special trick as they seem to be far more sensitive and although they aren't dying, they aren't really growing either and yet I am getting new leaves and roots on the more mature plants. From now on I plan to buy slightly more advanced seedlings and not be so keen on getting the very young ones.

Ones I found today that seem to be struggling a bit are Paph Pink Sky and Paph esquirolei. I grow them inside my home but outside when it warms up. Sometimes I think that these plants were never going to grow, especially the way I baby them at times. They get treated like royalty.

What do you all think??? I know Kevin might have one or two suggestions for me........;-)

Thanks

Darren

[tom499]

There was a good thread about flasking, Gore42 gave them good tips for seedlings, especially paphs. He grew them in trays together, and kept the flask gel on the seedlings, and added potting material around it.

Have a search for it, its quite recent.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Bolero

... the very smallest seedlings I bought haven't really started growing at all, they have no root growth (just one or two very small roots which haven't developed. ....Ones I found today that seem to be struggling a bit are Paph Pink Sky and Paph esquirolei.

My experience is that the intermediate and warm growing Paphs slow way down, some completely stop growing, if keept cool in winter. My growing area gets down to around 12-14C (around 55F) in winter and this has happened for me here in Australia for 2 winters now.

I should point out that Pink Sky is a roth hybrid so one should expect slower growth with that, especially if cool-ish. My Pink Skys grow (what in my opinion is) very, very slow.

Originally Posted by Bolero

Does anyone have an opinion on growing the tiny seedlings that are just out of flask?

I am becoming of the opinion that here in Australia, many Paphs are taken out of flask too soon. I have seedlings that are in the 4-5cm range that were potted into individual pots. I now believe that was too small to be removed form flask and that they should have first gone into a compot for at least a year or 2 before then being potted up individually. When I get my flask form my first cross made here, i will leave it in flask longer and then leave them in compot longer too.

Regarding seedling culture, the only real difference between my seedling care and my mature plant care is that the seedligns get watered more and get less intense light. My temps for them are all the same as for their mature counterparts.

Somewhere here on the forum gore??? (can't remember the numbers after his name) posted an excellent few posts about growing Paph seedlings, complete wiht pictures of compots, etc. I can't find it now but it's here somewhere, maybe Fred or someone else can find it (I'd like to look at it again myself).

[tizzycat]

I think this was the thread from Gore42, I keep going back to have a look and decide whether to try a flask??

http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/gen...d-orchids.html

[Bolero]

Great guys, thanks for the advice and the link.

These were taken straight out of flask and into bark. I think they were way too small and when arrived and limited root systems.

I guess it all takes practice though.

Thanks again!!!

[Anton]

Kevin, what do you use for seedling mix ?

I will have my six flasks in about 3 weeks and curious whether seedling mix is a special formula.

Matt, is there anything special you use ?

[gore42]

First of all, it depends on what size the seedlings in question are. If they're large enough to be out of a community pot, they're usually large enough to go into my typical mix for adult plants, which is a 50/50 mix of medium CHC and LECA (sometimes with some perlite or charcoal thrown in, depending on species, and sometimes with crushed oyster shell or dolomite lime as a top dressing, again depending on the species).

I usually deflask seedlings when they're about 4-6cm in leaf span. I usually remove them from compots and pot them singly when they have 4 leaves, or when they are 10-15cm in leaf span, depending on the species.

However, if the seedlings appear to be too small for an adult mix, and they're not in community pots, then I use the following mix:

Fine bark
perlite
shredded green moss (or sphagnum)
charcoal, if you have some handy.

Mixed for your conditions. Paph seedlings should be grown warm and as humid as possible (one of the advantages in keeping seedlings in community pots is that the density of little plants keeps the humidity higher). They are also less tolerant of drying out, which is why my seedling mix contains moss.

If your conditions are such that your small pots with seedlings dry out quickly, add more moss. Moss will help Paph roots develop and will keep the plant moist enough that the leaves will continue to grow. However, if your conditions are such that they will not dry out quickly, add more perlite and cut down on the moss.... you don't want to rot the roots, either. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that works in all conditions.

Another good mix is Lance Birk's "A pretty good mix", from his book: The Paphiopedilum Growers Manual. It's similar to the one I listed above, but he uses river sand in the medium as well, to help it drain, and he doesn't use charcoal (although I rarely do, either).

Don't know if that will help much, but if you need clarification, let me know.

As Ever,
Matthew Gore

[Bolero]

I've been using small coconut chips and some perlite mixed in. It works for most of them but the smaller ones struggle so maybe I need to try something like you suggest. I will be repotting most of my plants soon so I will try an alternative to coconut for the small ones. For the larger ones the pots are packed with roots so the coconut works well for those.

Thanks Matthew, I have some good ideas now on what to do next.

;-)