Orchid Babies

[aesir22]

Hi all,

These are my orchid babies. I have had them about 5 months I think. They have grown slightly, but not by much. I know they take a long time to mature...can anyone guess how old they are? And should they be in larger pots or are they ok as they are? Do I have a five year wait ahead of me before flowers? I intentionally bought young ones because I wanted to have the experience of watching them mature into flowering orchids

[margo]

Hi, Danny! Your babies are very healthy looking!!! I don't think they need repotting from what I see. My guess about how old they are is appx one year after deflasking. However, some are growing faster than others and looking at the lables I think first you'll see flowers from the Laelia (I might be wrong!!!). I am thinking they are about 2-3 years from flowering. Enjoy growing them and when they bloom their flowers will be the most beautiful in the world!

[aesir22]

Hi Margo, thanks so much for the post They are younger than I thought! And I am glad its only about 2-3 years, I was wondering if it was going to be 5 years plus

I beg to differ about the flowers being the most beautiful in the world...I MUST get one of those ghost orchids from your avatar image!!!

[margo]

The time they need to mature is very different. I don't know how long your enc. is going to take as I only have very little babies (appx one month since deflasked) and don't know yet if they will grow fast or will take forever like Schomburgkia and its crosses.
Danny, good luck with the ghost... I have(had) one baby for a few months, but wasn't able to make it happy... Now it only has one green little root and is almost really a ghost... I was willing to wait all these years for a bloom, but... its not going to happen. I will give it another try tho!!!

[Cjcorner]

The time they need to mature is very different. I don't know how long your enc. is going to take as I only have very little babies (appx one month since deflasked) and don't know yet if they will grow fast or will take forever like Schomburgkia and its crosses.
Danny, good luck with the ghost... I have(had) one baby for a few months, but wasn't able to make it happy... Now it only has one green little root and is almost really a ghost... I was willing to wait all these years for a bloom, but... its not going to happen. I will give it another try tho!!!

I have heard, in order to get a ghost orchid to survive, you must keep it in a wardian type glass case with lots of humidity and air movement. I researched them to see if it would be a plant I would want to grow and decided they sounded too difficult for my basic growing methods. I'm impressed with anyone that even keeps one alive!