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Old 12-29-2005, 08:59 AM
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Ray Ray is offline
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Location: Southeastern PA
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Mike,

Forget the sugar water. I used to recommend the use of a sugar and nutrient soak for desiccated, bare-root arrivals, but some folks with far more scientific knowledge of plant physiology than I told me that it throws off the osmotic balance, so would actually draw water out of the plant.

As the plants have been in 100% humidity for all of their lives - up until now - they cannot function well in the dry environment. I suggest putting them in a large pot of sphagnum and enclosing the whole shootin' match in a clear plastic bag to simulate a mini-greenhouse. I accomplish that with clear domes over standard nursery trays:



Keep them at about 70°F in filtered light (direct sun will turn the mini-greenhouse into a mini-pressure cooker). Fortunately, both plants can be treated similarly.

Once you can see that they are resuming growth in the sphagnum, you can "harden" the seedlings by opening the "greenhouse" for an hour a day. After about a week of that, start gradually increasing the time (I double it at each step) it's open until they get used to the "normal" environment they're now in.
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