Clowesia dodsoniana seedlings
 

Dear all,

Last fall two seed pods of my Clowesia dodsoniana matured, and I spread the seeds throughout the entire garden, especially onto palm trunks. During the rainy season I found many of them germinated. But especially they seem to like Phoenix robelenii. The seedlings I am showing in the pictures are about 4 inches long, with well shaped pseudobulbs.

Next spring I would like to move some of them to a different location. Would it be safe? Or would it be better to wait for another year?

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

can i ask why you want to move them to another location? if it isn't for safety reasons, i would suggest leaving them there because orchid seedlings especially depend on mycorrhizal fungi for nutrition and in this early stage may not deal well with transplantation. besides their reliance on fungi, the general shock of transplantation would not be conducive towards the seedlings' health. also, the Phoenix roebelenii, which is a tree fern, is an excellent substrate for the seedlings because it retains moisture well.

Phoenix robelenii is not a tree fern: it is a palm tree. That "substrate" clowesias grow in will eventually dry out and drop off. Besides, it is almost full shadow, whereas clowesias like full sun. That is why I would like to move them. But perhaps I will wait for another year.

if you think the substrate is going to fall off very soon, you might want to move the seedlings. when/if the substrate is very loose, you might want to simply peel off the bark/dead leaves/whatever it is altogether without damaging the roots of the Clowesia. this is also good because some of the naturally occurring fungi will stay with the seedlings. to be honest i don't know the light requirements of Clowesia but i doubt that the fragile seedlings need too much sun; they might get sunburnt. :)

of course, you could also try tying the plants as tightly as possible to the trunk of the tree and hoping to God they stay secure. :P

Remember, too, those Clowesias will soon be thinking about dormancy, if you have to move them at least try to wait for that (and then move them with the substrate). But I'd agree with neophyte that it would be better to just let them be where they are for another year if possible.

Dear Neophyte and Roberta,
Thank you very much for your posts. I think I will wait, at least one more year, and then decide.

Seems like you've got a bunch of them! Why don't you move some this year (when the plants are dormant) and some next year? If you've got plant that can dump seed every year, might as well have some fun and do some experiments!

Oh, and send me one of the seedlings! ;););)

Well, this year I have next two seed pods: will do the same.
I would gladly share the seedlings, if not customs/border protection.

I assume they are fairly similar to Catasetum in growth habit. If so best to leave them where they are till they grow a psuedobulb that's big enough to handle the move. I tried moving some Catasetum that hadn't yet developed a PB and they didn't make it because the roots got damaged and they didn't have enough reserves to grow new ones I'm guessing.
They seem to be growing nicely so once those leaves die back I'm guessing they'll have a PB. Should be fine to move them then, though I've had good success waiting till I see Catasetum start developing new growth after the dormancy to move or split them. Roots are then soon growing over their new home.

Thanks for the tips SG in CR!