Flasking questions

[The Orchid Boy]

And how much agar and P668 media should I order? I want to flask at least 3 more seed pods if I'm successful but I don't want tons of flasks from each.

[zxyqu]

Yup, that should be about right for media and water sterilization. At least it sounds right, and should work.
With regards to weighing out media. Yes, g/L is just grams per liter. So if it calls for 27.31 g/L, I will add 27.31 grams to each liter for full strength (or if I only need 250mL of media (1/4 of a liter), I use 6.83g (1/4 of 27.31)). If I'm making 1/2 strength P668, I only half the total weight of P668 powder. Everything else is kept constant. If you were to add 1/2 the recommended agar it wouldn't gel once the media cools (thus my worry with trying the P658 at 1/2 strength, as you'd be halving the agar).

A 50mL cup should work, just add enough water for the media you weighed out all to a pot, heat to a boil, then transfer to jars, seal, then pressure cook.

[The Orchid Boy]

A liter of media will do about how many flasks?

I'm trying to decide how much P668, coconut water, agar, and maybe banana powder to order. Should I get banana powder or not? I was thinking 1 50L thing of P668, 1 100G thing of banana powder (if I get it), 1 500 mL thing of coconut water, and 1 100G thing of A296 agar.

Does this sound good for amounts of everything or should I get more or less of something? I'm hoping to do mainly paph flasks in the future so more/less coconut water/banana powder? In the orchid media guide for paphs it says use it 1/2 strength with 15% coconut water for seed sowing and full or 1/2 strength for replating.

[zxyqu]

Originally Posted by The Orchid Boy

A liter of media will do about how many flasks?

I'm trying to decide how much P668, coconut water, agar, and maybe banana powder to order. Should I get banana powder or not? I was thinking 1 50L thing of P668, 1 100G thing of banana powder (if I get it), 1 500 mL thing of coconut water, and 1 100G thing of A296 agar.

Does this sound good for amounts of everything or should I get more or less of something? I'm hoping to do mainly paph flasks in the future so more/less coconut water/banana powder? In the orchid media guide for paphs it says use it 1/2 strength with 15% coconut water for seed sowing and full or 1/2 strength for replating.

I'd use 25-35mL in baby jars and 50 mLs or so in mason jars, so ignite 1L of made media is enough for at least 20 flasks. I could t tell you how much to buy, as that will depend on how much flasking you'll do. I do and plan to do a fair bit, so I buy in bulk. I also have no idea I you'll need coconut or banana for Paphs. If its recommended by Pyhto, that's what I'd get. I just know you need coconut, banana and potato for Phals with P668. Try and field some answer from maybe the orchid seed project, but it's best to just try a few things and figure out what works best.

[The Orchid Boy]

Thanks so much for your help. I think I know what to order now and how to do everything. I've emptied my brain of all my flasking questions, except for one. How much agar should I get per P668? If you kno what I mean. How much agar should I get so that I run out of the media and agar at the same time? If you give me a few numbers about how much agar you use with how much media I can do the math myself. Two questions actually. When it says 50L of media, does that mean that there is 50 liters of dry powdered media or that it makes 50 liters of ready to use media when mixed with agar and water?

[Kyle]

Don't order 50 l. Way to much for a hobbiest. Buy 10 l. This refers to the finished quantity of media. Depending on your recipe, you likely use 30g of media per lithe, plus 6-8 g of agar. So, you'll ave to do the math.

Don't buy ananda powder, just use real bananas. Same for coconut water.

Kyle

[zxyqu]

Kyle is spot on with how much to buy, and the general concentrations. I do a fair bit of flasking and only bought the 10L. It'll last a long time.
I buy the banana powder and coconut water from them to have one less variable when dealing with picky seeds/crosses. It is probably overkill, but I'd prefer to have something a bit standardized, especially given I haven't been doing it as long as some others. Good luck