How to rejuvenate weak orchid seedlings? These care tips you need to master
1. Plant in a small pot. Because weak seedlings mostly have poorly developed root systems, if planted in a large pot, the potting medium is plentiful and thick, prone to waterlogging, and after watering the humidity is heavy and the temperature inside the pot rises slowly, which is not conducive to rooting and sprouting. 2. Plant in fresh medium. Because fresh potting medium contains no fertilizer and has less contamination such as pests and diseases, it is conducive to root growth in weak orchids. 3...
1. Plant in a small pot. Because weak seedlings mostly have poorly developed root systems, if planted in a large pot, the potting medium is plentiful and thick, prone to waterlogging, and after watering the humidity is heavy and the temperature inside the pot rises slowly, which is not conducive to rooting and sprouting.
2. Plant in fresh medium. Because fresh potting medium contains no fertilizer and has less contamination such as pests and diseases, it is conducive to root growth in weak orchids.
3. Plant deep and keep moist. Weak seedlings generally have few or even no roots, and mainly rely on the pseudobulb to maintain water supply, so the key to growing them is to keep the medium around the pseudobulb constantly moist. Using the deep-planting method (that is, burying with medium up to about 1 cm above the pseudobulb) can achieve this goal. If planting in soil, then it is only necessary to just barely cover the pseudobulb.
4. Avoid applying fertilizer. A weak orchid's own physiological functions are already weak, which is a pathological state. Under such circumstances, applying fertilizer again is like adding frost to snow; not only will it fail to rejuvenate the plant, it will instead accelerate its death.
5. The last point to note is that weak orchids should be placed in a dedicated spot on the orchid shelf and not mixed with other strong seedlings, so as to facilitate management and observation.
As long as they are healthy seedlings, give them as much sunlight as possible, do not be afraid of scorched leaf tips; with more sunlight the old leaves fade quickly, but the new shoots that emerge are also strong.
For old-backbulb seedlings, as long as new roots have grown, the new shoots should be separated from the old backbulb in time so that they have nothing to depend on.
It is misleading not to fertilize weak seedlings; as long as they are healthy, during the growing season a dilute liquid fertilizer can be used once a week.
With granular potting medium, do not insist on the saying "dry orchids, wet chrysanthemums"; especially in summer, water more.
First, cut off the burrs formed by rotting leaf sheaths, then use a toothbrush under a running tap to scrub the soil and rotted tissue off the pseudobulb, the purpose being to let the pseudobulb make close contact with the potting medium. When brushing, be gentle; if you are too rough and brush away the growth points, it will become a "thousand-year-old backbulb" that never sprouts.
Do not cut off the remaining root hairs from rotted roots; although they have no function of absorbing nutrients, they can anchor the plant and can absorb water and transmit it to the pseudobulb.
Cut off two-thirds of the leaves to prevent water from evaporating too quickly and causing the pseudobulb to shrivel. When transplanting trees in summer the crown must be cut off; it is the same principle.
When potting, the lower three-quarters of the medium should be ordinary potting medium with nutrients, so that after the new shoots take root they can absorb nutrients as quickly as possible and avoid producing spindly "toothpick" seedlings. The upper quarter should be fine-grained Kanuma pumice, the finer the better; some fine weathered rock powder can be mixed in, the purpose being to give the potting medium and the pseudobulb as large a contact surface as possible and to retain moisture. If the granules are too large, the medium and the pseudobulb only touch at points, and no matter how much you water, the pseudobulb cannot be kept moist.
After potting, in this season place it in a sunny, wind-sheltered spot and keep the pot surface moist, the purpose being to keep the pot soil temperature as high as possible to promote sprouting. In summer, place it in a cool, ventilated spot to prevent the sun from drying the seedling into an orchid jerky, haha.
A while ago I received a rootless Lijiang Snow orchid seedling from a fellow orchid grower; treated this way, it sprouted in less than a month.
First: weak seedlings are not easy to grow alone; it is best to find a pot of orchids with a similar plant shape, vigorous growth and well-developed roots and plant it together using the old potting medium from the original pot; when the weak seedling has grown into a medium-to-strong seedling, then separate it and plant it on its own.
Second: weak seedlings are best planted in fine-grained potting medium; below the pseudobulb use medium rich in organic matter, and from the bottom of the pseudobulb upward use fine-grained Kanuma pumice; when potting, place a few grains of Magic Fertilizer in the middle of the pot as a base fertilizer, so that after the new shoots take root they can absorb nutrients in time.
Around the pseudobulb of a weak seedling, fill in with even finer weathered stone, the purpose being to keep the pseudobulb area as moist as possible, so that the new roots that emerge can promptly come into contact with the "earth's moisture" and prevent blind buds and blackened tips on new roots, because weak seedlings have poorly developed root systems,
and the roots and shoots they produce are generally not strong either; if the granules around the growth points on the pseudobulb are too large, and it is dry in the early stage of sprouting and rooting, the new shoots and new roots will find it very hard to grow. On top of the ultra-fine granules, cover another layer of fine Kanuma pumice to prevent watering from washing them away.