sick baby dends.

[playtime8978]

I recieved an order of just deflasked seedlings 2 days ago and after advice from the seller I put them into clay chips ( cant recall the name right now) I got some dends encyclias phal and ansellia all are ok other than the den antenattum and den aphyllum who look decidedly sick I have attached some photos, they are not the best but hopefully you can see a little of what worries me the growth tip is yellow not green and they are limp, some appear to have some rotting ? to the leaves. they are in plastic 'greenhouses' to keep the humidity up until I can start acclimatising them to the room, There is obviously something I am doing very wrong so any advice is greatly appreciated and welcome. I have not had any experience with such young delicate seedlings before so I am sure I have done something rather stupid tog et them to look this way though the tips were yellow when I recieved them but I dont think they looked as unwell as they do now. temp is around 23c by day and 17c at night they are under a HID lamp about 3 foot away maybe 3 and a half. the temp is due to the lamp though maybe it is too hot?

[playtime8978]

here are the rest

[JoeW]

Did you soak the pellets before planting?

[playtime8978]

Yeah I had soaked them for about 6 hours

[cindiras]

I have been buying babies (very young plants) off the internet. Lost a few-maybe as many as 1/6th. One thing I can tell you, the younger plants need a constant supply of water, do not let them dry out between waterings.

[Ron-NY]

I have been buying babies (very young plants) off the internet. Lost a few-maybe as many as 1/6th. One thing I can tell you, the younger plants need a constant supply of water, do not let them dry out between waterings.

and keep them in shade until established with fairly high humidity yet air circulation

[playtime8978]

How do I get the air circulation I thought they were to be kept sealed ( ie bottle lids on /covered) and then the air let in very gently. this was the bit that confused me setting them up, thanks for the advice on watering and light I have been doing that wrong I will put them into reservoirs which isnt a problem and move them away from the HID lamp I think they might be getting too much light frm what has been said. everyone here rocks! I cant say where I bought the seedlings but they were a trusted source even though I have some as phal lobbii which I am not convinced are phals lol they look more like tolumnias but I have never seen a baby phal lobbii before so that will be fun waiting for them to grow up and see what I get!

[Lambert]

I have deflasked my first orchid seedlings 4 months ago and they and are doing surprisingly well. Some of my observations:
Bottom heat works great (better than the heat from a lamp which could wilt the very tender leaves), like placing the pot on a heating pad.
Good humidity.
Not too much light the first couple of weeks then, phal light is good until they get a second set of leaves and can be moved to their permanent spot.
Some air circulation.
Finding a good balance between not letting the mix go completely dry and not stay too wet for the first 2-3 weeks, I had the seedlings in sphag only for a week but changed them into a small bark/charcoal/perlite mix in mini clay pots that would not retain as much water as the sphag. This way I could mist them between waterings.
Some of the flask roots will die which is normal and the seedling will grow new ones adapted to the new medium, some leaves will die but the seedlings will grow new ones as well. Good luck!!

[playtime8978]

Thank you lambert that is great, we are currently rtying to purchse a small fridge that my husband will alter to get a fan in and flourescent lights and we have the heat pads already so that would be great just to give them a more stable environment for a while I think still the light is too strong so I need to do some jiggling about and move them for now I might put them on my garden seedling shelves where the light isnt so bright, there is fans on there also which should help them I will leave them in the clay pellets for now and then in a couple to 3 weeks I will get some mini pots and get them into a bark mix I am a lot happier using that as I am familiar with it. thank you so much for your advice I really appreciate all the help I can get.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I hope they do well for you, Carrie. Thanks Laurent for the information.

Cheers,
BD