Occasionally I get some type of contamination in flasks of very young
protocormy orchid babies that just mean too much to me to throw away. It
seems the more they mean to me and the fewer flasks there are the more
likely I am to get contamination. Anyway, I have taken such tiny plants and
laid them on a thin sheet of moss and more recently a shallow bed of pea
gravel and put them under a sprinkler system timed to provide daily to 3 or
four times a week watering. Otherwise I try to pretend they are not around
because if you pester them or acknowledge them too often they will die just
to prove the universe is perverse. I have had more success with gravel than
moss. I don't think daily or frequent misting is good for them. My daily
watering system comes on for 30 minutes and then goes off for 24 hours in
the area where they are left to fend for themselves. I am often pleasantly
surprised by how many survive and grow into plants, but I think Ray is
correct, they are probably goners.

"Jack" wrote in message
oups.com...
I know that I know this but..

When you get a flask and some of the seedlings still haven't developed
roots how do you compot them? I was potting out a flask yesterday and
acouple of clumps of seedlings were anchored togather with what looked
to be seed hulls (brown and kinda lumpy) and hadn't developped roots.

Do you toss them or do you put them in the compot and wait for roots to
develop?

and is sterial technique very important in compotting?

Jack