Nancy: Rob is correct to say don't give up hope. We generally managed to
keep about 50% alive, to blooming-size, using the methods you described.
But, as you've noticed, it requires "overhandling."

We've had much better success rates by NOT rinsing the agar, NOT soaking in
fungicide, but just plopping the contents of the flask, agar and all, into a
prepared compot. This usually requires breaking the bottle [hammer, towel
to wrap the bottle while breaking to avoid flying glass fragments -- it's
easier to hit the big end, on a quart bottle -- and spatula required]. We
keep them shadier than their adult "cousins" for a few weeks, and if the
roots don't look good, we may spray the resulting compot(s) with Superthrive
or KLN -- no other special treatment. Kenni


"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...
Okay, I got bold or stupid and decided to try my hand at some flasks.
I've read articles, chapters, and advice at different websites.
Everybody has their own techniques, but I thought I had everything
right.

I sterilized the medium, rinsed the agar, soaked the seedlings in
physan 20, protected them from too much dry air while they got hardened
off a bit, etc. They've been planted and look pretty bad. It's been
two weeks.

Except for one. I found a stray today that had gotten tangled up in my
mop up rag left laying in a stainless sink. The stray had tumble
weeded around and was trying to grow to a dish cloth that I had used to
mop up spilled water, fungicide, plant food, and coffee.

I honestly think I over handled the plants while taking every
precaution. But a dish rag? Darn it, what happened to the need for
sanitation, air movement, light, and drainage? There is no justice.