Skipping the compot process?

[Forever-mango]

When i deflasked my first Dendrobium, i potted them straight into a 50mm pot with a mixture of mini perlite, mini bark and mini charcoal. I was recommended my a couple of Orchid nurseries to skip the compot process because if the fragile babies get exposed to root rot, the entire lot wont die in one hit. One will get effect and the rest will be ok. But if you want to do the compot method, its your own risk.

I also see a lot of people placing their newly deflasked orchids inside so the plants can harden up. But, I was told once again my the growers to place it straight outside under 70% shade. They also recommended the first week to be under cover, then place with other orchids afterwards.

So far the deflasked babies have been growing nicely. But my local orchid club seems to disagree with them. They say its important to grow them in compots because they are still fragile and need to grow larger before they can be transferred into the 50mm pots.

What is your suggestions? Because im in the process of purchasing another flask, preferably a Paph. or a Phrag flask.

Regards
Stephen

[digitalgate]

U have to understand your hybrid before you decide what you want to do with your plant. Normally , if it is a laisanthera (are we talking about dendrobium?) blood just throw it into 30% shade. That what i do. Intermediate type will have start with 50% shade gradually increase from there. As for compot , it is really individual. It depend on what work for you and what wont work for you. For slc or sc (talking about catt now), it would be kiss of death for me to use compot. However , Blc seem to do fine in compot.
I dont like to leave the plant in compot for too long as it is difficult to propagate them afterward . Roots everywhere , all over the pot , all over the other plant. So save me some trouble by potting them into individual thumb pot or 2 inch pot. But the down side is individual pot take a long long time for me. I am talking about days if you have 200 seedling! So when i am too lazy, i just throw them into one big pot and sort them out later.( urgh... roots everywhere) Beside who just cross one hybrid and wait for 3 years for that plant to flower. I probably have 2 or 3 hybrid every time to transplant with 200 seedling each!

[Forever-mango]

200 seedlings each is abit too much. You must have lots of room to house that many plants.

[rcb]

Originally Posted by Forever-mango

So far the deflasked babies have been growing nicely. :

Stephen - I think you answered your own question here.

Personally, I've done both - straight into their own pots and compots. Depends on the size of the orchids you are deflasking. If they are big enough for their own pots, I do so, if they are not, then I put them together in a compot.

As for hardening off, again, go with what is right for your conditions at that time. I deflasked some back in Oct, and I gave them as much light as they could handle. Right now they are inside, only because it is too cold for them outside - freezing.

One thing I will tell you, after growing orchids for over 10 years, whenever I have something growing and blooming well, and I'm told I'm doing it wrong (has happened many times) and I followed their advice and changed what I was doing, the orchid went downhill.


Don't mess with success - whether or not it is "wrong".

Now if I have an orchid that is not doing well, I follow advice given if it makes sense, cause if it's not doing well, then I need to change something.

[Brooke]

Ditto to everything Renee said.

The only thing I would add is when I do a compot of very small seedlings, I also keep the compots on the small side. The bigger the compot, the longer for the entire pot to dry out - seedlings around the edges will be dry while the seedlings in the middle will still be wet.

Digital I can't imagine 200 seedlings - my biggest flask was 40 seedlings and I hated keeping all of those going until they bloomed. Now I pick out the biggest and best and throw the rest away.

Brooke

[Forever-mango]

Thanks girls

Just wondering, how would you know if a seedling is good or not? If one is growing well and faster than the rest? Because I got some growing very fast with little fat round canes and others have stayed the same size.

[jerrymeola]

Commercially the use of compots is diminishing. Commercial growers are going to plug trays. A 72-85 plug tray is about a 20-25mm pot. The tray is 10x20 inches and keeping so many close together keeps the moisture level high.

The plug tray prevents the roots from intermingling. It makes it much easier to pot later and the yield is better.

Your 50mm pots are the same effect but a little large for the seedling and drying is often uneven.

[rcb]

Stephen, when you ask if a seedling is good or not, do you mean straight out of flask, or after you have been growing them along a while?

[Brooke]

Stephen you get all kinds of size variation in a flask. Some get shaded in a flask, or a compot - some catch up to their big fast growing brothers, some don't.

Brooke

[Bolero]

I originally used compots but found it difficult to ensure equal watering and to make sure they all grew properly. I ended up with some plants growing and others not growing.

As some of you saw late last year I repotted into 50mm pots using bark, charcoal and perlite for both cattleya hybrids and paph hybrids and aside from 2 early losses (mainly due to the plants being small with no roots) I have managed to maintain over 150 seedlings with no problems at all. I don't think think there is anything wrong with individual potting and I think it helps monitor the plants individually.

Whatever works for you is the way to go for sure, I think everyone else has echoed these sentiments.

[doodlekitty]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

Commercially the use of compots is diminishing. Commercial growers are going to plug trays. A 72-85 plug tray is about a 20-25mm pot. The tray is 10x20 inches and keeping so many close together keeps the moisture level high.

The plug tray prevents the roots from intermingling. It makes it much easier to pot later and the yield is better.

Your 50mm pots are the same effect but a little large for the seedling and drying is often uneven.

Hi "ya'll" ....

Maybe I got a little over confident after having so much success with the flasking process, because I have managed to effectively kill so many of my little babies. I have tried various methods to raise my babies and am really frustrated. I have been wondering about the plug trays.....can you tell me where I could purchase some? I'm still hopeful that I can be successful with the few dends I have left (still to be deflasked).

[Forever-mango]

Originally Posted by rcb

Stephen, when you ask if a seedling is good or not, do you mean straight out of flask, or after you have been growing them along a while?

Rcb, what i mean was, after i have deflasked the plants, and planted in small pots. After about growing for 3-4months. How would a grower know which is best to keep and which is best to be sold off?

I have some flasklings which has grown quite large with over 10 leaves, and some still remain with 3 leaves. Some grow faster and some are very slow.

[rcb]

Stephen - you ask the hard to answer questions lol

There is no right answer. It depends on what you are wanting.

Obviously the plants that are growing really well for you are showing vigor in your conditions, so the easy answer is of course keep them.

But vigor at this stage does not necessarily go hand in hand with flowering quality/quantity.

So what are you looking for? Personally, I would keep all of them except ones that are declining (which would eventually cull themselves). The ones that are not declining, but not growing as fast, I'm not sure 3 - 4 months is enough time to have given them to prove themselves. And you take the risk that one of those are the plant that has the best flowers. It is a crapshoot.

You also mention selling off. I personally wouldn't sell off a plant that I think is no good. If your goal is to keep a couple, and sell the rest, the only way to absolutely know for sure is to wait until they reach flowering size and flower. But that takes so long. Again, it is a crapshoot. But if you have to make the choice, I would keep the ones that are growing the best - they are the ones that give you the best chance of getting something good.

[rcb]

Stephen, I reread my answer, and sorry didn't quite explain well.

Bascially, the ones that are not growing yet, it is hard to say after only 3 -4 months if they are going to be good growers. Those ones may have been putting their energy into root development (they don't all come out of the flask equally) and are just about to sprout off into great growth.

After a year or so - then it is much easier to determine the vigorous ones.

[Forever-mango]

Thanks Renee, the kid has got to learn I have them (Den spec. Australian Goldrush 'bonsai') grown in an undercover area with 70% shade. They get a couple of hrs of direct sunlight and i fert them weekly with Peter's Hi-K. I mist them in the morning and water with rain water in the afternoon. Should i place them out in the open under 70% so they receive all the rain with the bigger plants?

[Bolero]

I do have some problems with uneven drying out with the individual pots but I don't often lose plants as a result. I have found that often by rinsing the mix in the pots that don't dry out as quickly I can open up the mix which results in a more even drying out.

I have been experimenting with that lately and it seems to work.