Christmas eve yesterday. A bit early, but hey. First time ever I am
trying to grow orchids from flasks. The paperwork wasn't that awful
either.

I got four flasks, containing
- ascocentrum miniatum - 25mm high foilage
- neofinetia falcata - 20mm foilage
- polyrrhiza lindenii - 15-20mm long roots, either side of "hub".
- angraecum sesquipedale - 15mm foilage

The gel in each flask is clear with black dots in the bottom of the
flask (is this some kind of fungus?). The ascocentrum is touching the
top of the flask, the others have room to grow some more. The flasks
were a bit shaken up, but I mostly managed to sort them out.

I guess opening the flasks is a big nono because the environment will
become polluted by fungus spores?

Right now, they are sitting at 25C. The ascocentrum is getting 10klux,
the others get 5klux from 6am to 10pm. The ghost orchid flask has a
couple of rotten roots and some black gunk on the surface of the gel,
the other flasks are nicely green all over, but with some dead, yellow
leaves.

I can provide anything up to 50klux of (artificial) light.

My flat has 22C night/28C daytime high at 35-50% humidity right
now. My winter climate is 18C/22C at 45-60%.

How long do I want to keep the flasks as they are to acclimatize them,
and what do I do afterwards? Is it a problem that there is dead
material in there?

I guess seedlings are very sensitive to low humidity. I had planned on
buying a seedling tray with a transparent plastic cover when I deflask
them. Is this a good idea? The roots have grown in gel media. How do I
acclimatize them to a new environment (moss/bark) without killing off
the seedling? How much root loss will there be?

I had planned on putting the angraecum and polyrrhiza in the
bathroom. How much light do these plants want (need to put in a timer
and a light, want to get the right size first time around)?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Geir

Welcome to the most rewarding and frustrating part of growing orchids.
Deflasking is just about all I do. I have a lot of good size and
speciman size plants but mostly I grow from flasks until they get to
bloomin size then I givem to good homes or sell them. (OK I'll admit I
keep a lot of them for myself)
My best advise is READ EVERYTHING you can find on any and every web
site, and any books you can find. When all else fails ask here.
Here is a link to Aarons quicky on deflasking. I buy from all over
the world, importing as well as here in the USA.OSP has been by far
the best flasks of plants in the last year. I don't think he exports
but check him out anyway.
http://members.cox.net/ahicks51/osp/...1/tubes_1.html
If your gell is broken up in shipping, deflask ASAP. Rotten roots and
black gunk is not a good sign, but doesn't mean it is a loss. I have
saved many a batch of black rotting plants.
Here is my quick down and dirty steps when i am in a hurry.
Before I remove them from the flasks I open the jars and just let them
hangout on the counter for maybe an hour. Next I pour just barley warm
water in the jar covering the whole plant. I let that hang out for a
while and every 10 min or so agitate it a little until the agar starts
to brake up. Then dump it out and put more water in and swirl until I
get the plants loose and out of the jar.
1. you will need a high humidity area (I startem out of flask at 100%
at the least for a few weeks, opening the lids for an hour or so every
day) to put them into once you deflask. It can be anything from small
pots to just long plastic trays. A lot of times I use just plastic
round trays that are sold to go under pots. Then I use one on top to
cover and keep the humidity in, but it doesn't seal tight so air can
flow through just a little.(I never close them up air tight but some
people do) I also use propagation matts under what ever kind of holder
I have put the seeds in (warm roots through the night seems to realy
help me). I have had good results with 85 to 90 degrees.
2. You will need some mix for them to sit on and in. Here again it is
up to you. First time out I would use just pure moss. Use NZ moss, I
have found it to be the cleanest of all the ones I have tried. I
allways soak my moss in Physon and water for at least eight hours
before use. If you use just moss change it fairly often to keep good
moisture properties. I use my own blends of substance depending on the
needs of the plantlets I am working on.
3. I used to use just a two tube 40watt each flor fixture 8 to 12
inches above the tops of the containers (for Stanhopieas and some
others i put opaque plastic sheeting over the top of the container to
diffuse the light a bit more while they are very young). I have made a
new cart that has a 4 tube fixture in it about 14 inches above the
tops of the containers and it seems to be working fine. I have not
seen signs of any body burning or wilting (I use a mix of cool white,
super sun, and aquarium lamps so it is not very strong light) I will
run 18 to 20 hours a day of light at the start then cut it back to 14
to 16 after a couple of months. I have several rooms with diff temps
and humidities so plants can go where they like it the best. When they
get established I like to put them outside in the regular world
enviroment, except they are behind screens so insects can't get at
them when they are so young.
4. Until Jan of this year I only used distilled water that was a PH of
6.8 to 7.3. This year I put in an RO system and then I pump the waste
water up to a disstiller and reclaim as much of that as I can. Then I
mix the disstilled with the RO to bring the PH up a little (5.8 to
6.6). I mist the seedling everyday, most of the time I do it in the
morning and the afternoon. My rule of thumb on fert is: never when
they are fresh. I don't start giving them any fert until they are
several months out of flask and then it is the tinyest amount in a
seperate mist btl that I just mist around the plants and let the roots
just barley get to it.
I also seperate all the plantlet roots from each other. Most people
compot them all together and them break them up later, I put them in
compot pans and the roots will grow together over time but for the
most part they are cared for as a one on one. ( yeh that is probably a
little anal), but as I wrote here a while back I had a problem with
worms hatching from cold pressed seaweed fert. The worms stated eating
the baby shoots but I didn't loose that many because, A: I see each
plant at least once a day and, B: I had each plant spaced apart far
enough and was able to stop them before they could get to the next
tender shoot.
I am sure I am leaving stuff out and i am sure you will read stuff
that is directly opasite of what I have writen here. Thats OK.
what I have Spouted here is what I have found works for me in my
conditions. I have been deflasking for quite a few years and have a 85
to 90% rate of sucess for the first year of growth.( I am small time
so I have more time to devote to each little dude).


Good luck NOOK



On 07 Aug 2003 10:32:39 +0200, Geir Harris Hedemark
wrote:

Christmas eve yesterday. A bit early, but hey. First time ever I am
trying to grow orchids from flasks. The paperwork wasn't that awful
either.

I got four flasks, containing
- ascocentrum miniatum - 25mm high foilage
- neofinetia falcata - 20mm foilage
- polyrrhiza lindenii - 15-20mm long roots, either side of "hub".
- angraecum sesquipedale - 15mm foilage

The gel in each flask is clear with black dots in the bottom of the
flask (is this some kind of fungus?). The ascocentrum is touching the
top of the flask, the others have room to grow some more. The flasks
were a bit shaken up, but I mostly managed to sort them out.

I guess opening the flasks is a big nono because the environment will
become polluted by fungus spores?

Right now, they are sitting at 25C. The ascocentrum is getting 10klux,
the others get 5klux from 6am to 10pm. The ghost orchid flask has a
couple of rotten roots and some black gunk on the surface of the gel,
the other flasks are nicely green all over, but with some dead, yellow
leaves.

I can provide anything up to 50klux of (artificial) light.

My flat has 22C night/28C daytime high at 35-50% humidity right
now. My winter climate is 18C/22C at 45-60%.

How long do I want to keep the flasks as they are to acclimatize them,
and what do I do afterwards? Is it a problem that there is dead
material in there?

I guess seedlings are very sensitive to low humidity. I had planned on
buying a seedling tray with a transparent plastic cover when I deflask
them. Is this a good idea? The roots have grown in gel media. How do I
acclimatize them to a new environment (moss/bark) without killing off
the seedling? How much root loss will there be?

I had planned on putting the angraecum and polyrrhiza in the
bathroom. How much light do these plants want (need to put in a timer
and a light, want to get the right size first time around)?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Geir

You've been shopping from Mick at HBI, right?

Try this for a completely different deflasking method.
http://www.ladyslipper.com/compot2.html I've been using it with very good
results lately. I realize it's written for Paphs and Phrags but I and lots
of others have been using it for a bunch of other genera as well. I'd
suggest growing the ghosts up in the flask then mounting them per Mick's
instructions (if you didn't buy then from him, his website its
http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/f/...s/orchid.html, click on
the questions and answers link and you'll find deflasking info as well as
his suggestions for growing ghosts.

Good luck and have fun!
Jerry

"Geir Harris Hedemark" wrote in message
...
Christmas eve yesterday. A bit early, but hey. First time ever I am
trying to grow orchids from flasks. The paperwork wasn't that awful
either.

I got four flasks, containing
- ascocentrum miniatum - 25mm high foilage
- neofinetia falcata - 20mm foilage
- polyrrhiza lindenii - 15-20mm long roots, either side of "hub".
- angraecum sesquipedale - 15mm foilage

The gel in each flask is clear with black dots in the bottom of the
flask (is this some kind of fungus?). The ascocentrum is touching the
top of the flask, the others have room to grow some more. The flasks
were a bit shaken up, but I mostly managed to sort them out.

I guess opening the flasks is a big nono because the environment will
become polluted by fungus spores?

Right now, they are sitting at 25C. The ascocentrum is getting 10klux,
the others get 5klux from 6am to 10pm. The ghost orchid flask has a
couple of rotten roots and some black gunk on the surface of the gel,
the other flasks are nicely green all over, but with some dead, yellow
leaves.

I can provide anything up to 50klux of (artificial) light.

My flat has 22C night/28C daytime high at 35-50% humidity right
now. My winter climate is 18C/22C at 45-60%.

How long do I want to keep the flasks as they are to acclimatize them,
and what do I do afterwards? Is it a problem that there is dead
material in there?

I guess seedlings are very sensitive to low humidity. I had planned on
buying a seedling tray with a transparent plastic cover when I deflask
them. Is this a good idea? The roots have grown in gel media. How do I
acclimatize them to a new environment (moss/bark) without killing off
the seedling? How much root loss will there be?

I had planned on putting the angraecum and polyrrhiza in the
bathroom. How much light do these plants want (need to put in a timer
and a light, want to get the right size first time around)?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Geir

"Jerry Hoffmeister" writes:
You've been shopping from Mick at HBI, right?

Actually, no. http://www.speciesorchids.com/ . Ian has been very
helpful and professional about doing business with a complete
newbie. When these flasks die, I will probably go back to him to try
again.

Looks like the flasks are liking their new climate, by the way.

instructions (if you didn't buy then from him, his website its
http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/f/...s/orchid.html, click on
the questions and answers link and you'll find deflasking info as well as
his suggestions for growing ghosts.

Ah. I will surely have a go.

But - my big vandas are potted in coarse bark. Do I use fine bark for
the ascocentrum seedlings?

From the links posted here and what Ian has told me, I will let the
flasks sit until next week. Then I will do my very best not to kill
off more seedlings than I have to.

Geir

Have you seen this?

Caring for Seedlings Removed from Flasks and A Method of
Compotting in Sphagnum: http://troymeyers.com/index.html
--

Irrational beliefs ultimately lead to irrational acts.
-- Larry Dighera,