Well, some things need to be tried twice. I compotted three more
flasks. The flasks arrived jumbled, 1 was deflasked and the roots
cleaned. I have to wonder about the last one. Blame it on 20 years in
the military, but if the flask was planted with 25 plants and they
guarantee 20 live plants, does the person unflasking cull the other 5?
It's a matter of semantics, but I still wonder.

This time I cut to the chase, divided them more or less evenly into an
indentation on the fine mix then rinsed the plants with K-L-N and
superthrive. The compots were then set into a shallow plastic dish and
covered with a clear plastic cover. There is about a 1/2" gap at the
bottom on two sides ( the cover square, the dish rectangle). Right now
they are out of direct light, but I will move them gradually into
place. They will have to harden off under cover on top of the mix.
The area looks like an I.C.U. for baby orchids. The only thing it
lacks is a CO2 (oxygen) tube and heart monitor.

Fortunately T. left me alone to muddle through. He hates the disorder
(to him) that potting brings. He calls the various mixes my little tub
line up. Once he got a cup for a drink that had the holes melted in
the side for a seedling in S/H. (I'll plan my attack days in advance
then slide them back down into the sleave until I'm ready to use them
for potting.) Darn, you'd have thought I planned to sabotage him
deliberately. It was hysterical. He had two streams of water down his
shirt front and across the floor. I even got "the look", one eyebrow
up and the other down, and his eyes bugging out. Unfortunately he
didn't find it nearly as amusing as I.

I don't know, maybe I'm beginning to take flasks as a personal
challenge. It started out as a way to get some interestiing and
(relatively) inexpensive orchids for myself and the fledgling orchid
society I'm involved with here in my corner of nowhere. T's more
logical about it. He thinks I should divide the orchids I haven't been
able to kill yet for the members. He's right. My tried but true are
now speciman sizes and there's really nowhere else to go with them.
Most aren't available at the box stores either. Heck, everything has
been divided at least once, some twice, and need divided again. In a
couple of days I will have a little mount line up of tolumnia
prionochilum keikeis from the 5 spikes that survived to bloom (those 4'
spikes are a rascal to keep from breaking).

By the time I deflask, compot, divide into individual pots, then I've
got as much or more invested in the orchids and materials as more
developed seedlings cost, and I'm not counting time. Listening to some
of you hoping for a 50% survival rate, it just doesn't make sense. I
laughingly coined a term while still in the Army, I call it
auto-flagellation. If all else fails, I pound my head against the
wall.

Oh well, I'm having fun. Now to get them and me to survive for 5 more
years and see if anything was accomplished. At this rate, I'll live
forever in anticipation of the blooms of the new plants, if T. doesn't
kill me first. If he trips over another little tub he just might.

Nancy