(50 Seeds) Phalaenopsis Orchids/Butterfly Orchid for Planting

This is fairly fraudulent selling. Unless you have a sterile lab conditions, you will never get orchid seeds like phalaenopsis, cattleyas, dendrobian, and dozens of other types of orchids to germinate from seed. And they have to go have been kept under really good conditions while they get to you. I have seen people buy seeds from these people and get all excited that something is growing in weeks and gets to 3-4” and realize these aren’t orchids — they are some annual like zinnias, or some perennial like daylily, etc. Even in the wild they don’t germinate and grow well except in very small numbers under rare conditions which why it’s so important not to dig up plants in tropical jungles. That said, most of us don’t live in tropical jungles jungle countries. As mature plants, They can spread in the wild jungles along tree branches but most don’t have the conditions to grow from seed produced.. Majority of young to mature orchids you see in stores do not grow in the soil but in special bark such the brand Orchiata which is pinus radiata, or in blond high quality sphagnum moss (not peat moss) for those that need more moisture. Once older can go in a variety of bark like fir, redwood, or in tree fern etc. or in a variety of inorganic materials like horticultural charcoal, LECA, volcanic rock, even river rock etc, mounted on tree fern boards, etc. but require in these more watering. But in nature and in tropical countries they grow up in trees along the branches, and in little niches that allow the plants to get moisture from daily showers but dry out quickly so their roots don’t rot. They need an area that has the very rare type of orchid mycorrhizae, nutrients, and conditions to cause the seed to germinate and grow. Virtually all the professionals plant the seed under sterile lab conditions ie using flume hoods into flasks with specialist agar and nutrients and stay in that bottle for up to couple years depending on type. They are highly susceptible to any dust, fungi, yeast, etc from the air that gets in the bottle mold etc and will form in the flask and will kill the plants. Even when replating, the sterile conditions must be maintained. Then they go into community pots or trays with 70-80% humidity, lots of air circulation, ventilation and nutrients before they go to individual 1- 2” pots or cells. Temps must be maintained at 75-85F and when mature with about a 5-10 degree drop in night temps at night so they will grow well. Growing from seeds It is a difficult balancing act and is virtually always done in labs and greenhouses even in Southeast Asia. Many orchids are epiphytes ie they grow up in and on trees. Even some like cymbidiums which can grow in the ground or in pots or high quality potting mixes in areas which never frost or freeze, the mixture has to be just right so roots don’t rot or get root diseases. They do not live off or feed off trees, they are not parasites. And most like phalaenopsis don’t grow in soil ie the ground nor in potting soil. There are some ground orchids like Ladyslippers but even those will almost certainly die if moved from the specialize areas ie the mycorrhiza they have grown in. It’s why you rarely come across patches of lady slipper in the woods and should never be dug up unless they are under attack due to bulldozers as they will most certainly due but if being run over well saving them by expert growers may be worth trying. There are some that grow up in cloud forests where it’s so misty, you can barely see through it, it’s like 90-100% humidity, many to most in steamy jungles to keep their exposed roots green after daily showers and bright green, pinkish root tips but they get lots of trade winds to dry them out so the roots turn white or pale, pale green and they wait for the next days rain. There are some ground type orchids that grow in specialty potting mixtures but the ones you see in stores or online growing are not those types and need specialty bark mixes. Growing in trees, keeps them up in the air where they get dappled light and lots of rain and wind to keep them growing well and not rotting. They are fed off debris coming down the tree, dead leaves, bird and animal poo, dead insects, etc. orchids that like more light, grow further up in the trees and on the more lit side to get more light. When brown in cultivation you fed them weakly, weekly meaning very lightly in strength and each week, or even lighter but daily. So weekly, if a fertilizer of a NPK of 10-10-10 or a 20-20-20 you feed at quarter to half strength each week. Maybe daily at 1/8 to 1/4 strength. And most people collect rain water using a tarp into a bucket so as not to introduce water molds, fungus, disease, etc from gutters or they use RO or distilled water. Tap water has chloramines (ammonia and chlorine which doesn’t evaporate out for a long time in order to keep our water supplies safe due to aging grid) and worse is fluoride. Water can be hard from calcium and magnesium — these minerals don’t harm the plants in the right quantities but some areas have excess hard water cause a lot of difficulties for the plants. And you always want to feed potted plants a complete fertilizer meaning it could be a 7-5-6 NPK but it also has secondary nutrients of calcium, magnesium, and sulfur, and has all the trace minerals and its all in the container in right proportions and you feed as indicated mixing it into the water supplies I mentioned. With potted plants, we are respinsiblemlike with a body to feed it everything it needs. Plants like perennials, etc growing in native ground soil get some of what is needed from the natural soil.In the summer, I like to sat mine out on the table at night during rain storms to flush the fertilizer salts from the pots. The root tips and new roots just go crazy from all that pure water. Never water from tap water that goes through a water softener system. It will end up killing the plants. If you live in a hard water area and in an apartment make sure they don’t have a softener system for the complex. If your water soaps really easy it could be you have a system like this. It’s necessary if you want your orchids to last decades and decades to use a pH meter, and a TDS meter to make sure TDS is 50 and under no more than 100 and once you mix your fertilizer and it sets over night to make sure the granular fertilizer is fully diluted to check with a meter or strips that the pH is around 5.7-5.9 in order for all nutrients to be absorbed. No more than 6.5 and not under 5.5. You use pH up or down, or baking soda to raise pH make it more alkaline, and citric acid to lower the pH ie making it more acidic. These last 2 items ie at home methods are very unstable and within hours go back to where it was. The pH up and down products are very stable and chemicals will hold the desired/needed pH.Growing orchid plants aren’t all that difficult but it can be a bit intimidating and challenging in the beginning. It’s a lot to learn. Most people who have grown orchids for 20-50 years are still trying to get that perfect conditions to get flowers and roots to produce the largest flowers. Orchids only grow maybe 25-30 roots if lucky compared to say a tomato or a geranium plant which grows in the native soil or potting mixture and have 100s, 1,000s of roots depending on the plant size. So orchid people are always concentrating on getting great roots and know great roots are needed for great flowers.