kovachii seedlings

Slippertalk Orchid Forum

Help Support Slippertalk Orchid Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
423
Location
southern Indiana
Had a little extra time yesterday, so I potted out some kovachii compots into 2 inch pots. Most are from Chuck Acker (CA796 and CA735), but the 4 on the left are from Peruflora. They all seemed to be healthy with good roots. They are much easier to grow than the first kovachii seedlings I purchased 8 years ago. Mike kovachii for ST.jpg
 
I'll provide an update at six months with the seedlings in the same tray and same positions. Recent generations of kovachii from Chuck Acker really are easier to grow than the first ones. Most of the ones in this tray came out of a flask in January 2021, so you can see they have grown quite a bit in just 10 months. They seem to be just like my other phrags, but they don't like hot weather and the larger ones do better with limestone in a bark mix. Mike
 
Very nice! How do folks who are growing lots of seedling reduce the herd? Sales through your local orchid society? Just asking since I have about sixty seedlings of latouria dendrobiums and phals.
 
Nice job Mike. Very healthy and I like the way you have them diagonal in the pot. Here are some of my 735 seedlings in 3.5" square and 4.5" round pots. Mine are a little haphazard and less uniform. They were around the size of yours a few months ago and had a crazy growth spurt when I repotted them. I bet yours will do the same thing. I'm very happy with them. I also have 796 which are around same size as yours but mostly still in compot. CA-735-(01nov2022).jpg
 
Nice job Mike. Very healthy and I like the way you have them diagonal in the pot. Here are some of my 735 seedlings in 3.5" square and 4.5" round pots. Mine are a little haphazard and less uniform. They were around the size of yours a few months ago and had a crazy growth spurt when I repotted them. I bet yours will do the same thing. I'm very happy with them. I also have 796 which are around same size as yours but mostly still in compot. View attachment 30297
Interesting. I have moved some of my phrags into cubes + hydroton as an experiment, but none of the kovachii. Do you include limestone in any form? I noticed that yellowing leaves on seedlings respond quickly to the addition of dolomite powder, even though it seems to wash out in a few waterings. I have some of the larger 735 seedlings in 3 inch pots and they seem to be comparable in size to your plants. I use small Orchiata + perlite + granular limestone for the larger plants. Seems to work well for the multi-growth blooming size kovachii too. Mike

After reading what I wrote, I wanted to be clear that I do not add limestone to the smallest kovachii seedlings growing in moss. I have never seen those leaves turn yellow.
 
Last edited:
Hi, I was given a blooming sized Pk in Montreal, so that is still in Canada. I had no luck with the teeny-tiny seedlings I got. If anyone is getting rid of seedlings (selling) of the size in Ken's post, let me know. BTW, I have repotted a bunch of Phrags into a mix of Grodan cubes, Leca, coarse perlite, and Diatomite.
 
Interesting. I have moved some of my phrags into cubes + hydroton as an experiment, but none of the kovachii. Do you include limestone in any form? I noticed that yellowing leaves on seedlings respond quickly to the addition of dolomite powder, even though it seems to wash out in a few waterings. I have some of the larger 735 seedlings in 3 inch pots and they seem to be comparable in size to your plants. I use small Orchiata + perlite + granular limestone for the larger plants. Seems to work well for the multi-growth blooming size kovachii too. Mike

After reading what I wrote, I wanted to be clear that I do not add limestone to the smallest kovachii seedlings growing in moss. I have never seen those leaves turn yellow.
No, I don't add limestone but only because I don't have any handy. Do you get yours from a hardware store? I have rocks other than hydroton like pea gravel and also include some large perlite. I have added dolomite before but like you say it washes out. In the past, moss was my primary medium for flask seedlings but in the past I was growing seedlings either in a greenhouse or in house. Now, I'm putting seedlings in the basement and have killed many when using moss. Mostly paphs and some less water loving phrags but I just switched to improve mortality. Also having luck with seedlings with orchiata mixed with bonsai pumice and perlite.

I have some smaller 735s so we are probably pretty similar overall. I think I remember you posting that you got yours in September 2019 which is when I got mine. Ken
 
No, I don't add limestone but only because I don't have any handy. Do you get yours from a hardware store? I have rocks other than hydroton like pea gravel and also include some large perlite. I have added dolomite before but like you say it washes out. In the past, moss was my primary medium for flask seedlings but in the past I was growing seedlings either in a greenhouse or in house. Now, I'm putting seedlings in the basement and have killed many when using moss. Mostly paphs and some less water loving phrags but I just switched to improve mortality. Also having luck with seedlings with orchiata mixed with bonsai pumice and perlite.

I have some smaller 735s so we are probably pretty similar overall. I think I remember you posting that you got yours in September 2019 which is when I got mine. Ken
Ken

There is a feed store several miles away and I purchased 25 pounds of crushed limestone. It appears to be a slightly smaller particle size than most sand. It is more stable in the mix than powdered dolomite. Mike
 
Ken

There is a feed store several miles away and I purchased 25 pounds of crushed limestone. It appears to be a slightly smaller particle size than most sand. It is more stable in the mix than powdered dolomite. Mike
Thanks Mike. I will check that out. Plus when you said feed store it reminded me that I have crushed oyster shell that I forgot about. That was something I used a lot of times in the past.
 
David Bird of Bird's Botanicals explained to me in this interview how he grows his pk seedlings.
Live sphagnum and chicken grit.
Thanks for sharing. I know David. His cave was really orchid cool back in the day. A little bit confusing. What I have is called chicken grit, too.

Has anyone had issues with animals being attracted to the oyster shells? I keep some of my orchids outside during summer and don't want to draw animals to rummage through my plants.
 
Thanks for sharing. I know David. His cave was really orchid cool back in the day. A little bit confusing. What I have is called chicken grit, too.

Has anyone had issues with animals being attracted to the oyster shells? I keep some of my orchids outside during summer and don't want to draw animals to rummage through my plants.
Ken

I cannot answer your question directly, but I have a brush pile that has several dozen fresh water mussel shells next to it and the animals are always messing with them. I rake them into the pile and the animals pull them out in a few days. They have been there for about 10 years, so surely the organic material is gone by now. I don't know if it is raccoons or deer as we have plenty of both. Mike
 
Ken

I cannot answer your question directly, but I have a brush pile that has several dozen fresh water mussel shells next to it and the animals are always messing with them. I rake them into the pile and the animals pull them out in a few days. They have been there for about 10 years, so surely the organic material is gone by now. I don't know if it is raccoons or deer as we have plenty of both. Mike
For the same reason the woods are not overrun with deer antlers and bones; they get consumed rather quickly by animals looking to add calcium, magnesium and trace salts.
 
Ken, I don't think you will have a problem with the chicken grits/crushed oyster shell. I used them in the mix for some of my plants and I put my plants out at the edge of the woods for the warmer months, I had never had any problem...

edit: ps, My plants were sitting on a growing table, 3 feet off the ground.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top