Early sowings (see post from last month) leads to early replatings and then to early weanings.
To explain - I sowed some Anacamptis morio and laxiflora and hybrids between them in early to mid June. On basic oats agar with B1 and Q414 fungus.
These are wintergreen orchids and I would usually sow in August, replate in September, wean in October/ early November.
Starting 6 weeks/ 2 months early is a bit of an experiment.
I have been preparing weaning pots a few days before by adding a lattice of cardboard plus a bit of cardboard growing medium at the base of the lattice and then inoculating with a few blobs of fungus agar. A previous trial has suggested to me that although this makes very little initial difference to weaning success, it does pay dividends later on in early spring (that’s the subject of a separate post).
After a ciuple of days you can see the fungal hyphae spreading along the cardboard and soil surface.
The shooting protocorms / seedlings are removed from the agar with forceps and planted in the soil (molehill) based growing medium.
Pots are watered gently to settle the compost and then placed in a propagator (for high humidity) in a
light position but with no direct sunlight.