Deflasking Habenaria Medusa cross
 

I have 3 flasks of my own cross and decided to deflask 1. Advice I have received is only to deflask when leaf growth is about 2-3 inches but I thought I would experiment.
Mix is organic potting soil ( 8 parts ), seedling bark mix ( 4 parts ), perlite and charcoal ( 2 parts each ).
I obtained roughly 20 corms from the flask - some pea sized, some baby-toe sized and some in-between. New growth was evident on about 5.
There are about 5 or 6 corms in the pot in the photo.
I will take photos when I deflask the other 2 flasks but in the meantime will update as growth appears in these pots. I have watered from the bottom - pots are standing in about 1/2 in of water.
They are under lights. I am nervous about fungus as these are prone and I have never used potting soil in a mix before. I have also potted up the parent/s in a similar mix.
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the multi-growth evident in bottom right of photo is interesting as it had a long root, no corm. I don't expect it to survive outside of the flask, but we'll see.

Cute babies!

Good luck.

Update
 

some growth on the first deflask - see photo below. About 6 growths in total, so far.

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deflasked the second flask into individual pots, same mix. Interestingly growth on these appears more vigorous than the pbulbs/corms of the first deflask - so an additional 3 odd weeks in the flask helped. ( 9 growths out of 22 pots )
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One more flask to go - and I've got to find space !

completed final deflask. Corms were generally larger, as were the plantlets. I can't make a definite conclusion as to the reasons but I now have 3 "test" groups that I can measure progress on.
1st - all in compots, early deflasking.
2nd - all in individual pots, later deflasking.
3rd - mix of compots and individual pots. Latest deflasking.
Same potting mix, lighting ( and duration ) and temperatures. I haven't used any fungicide or sterilized the mix. I've been told that growing from flask is a challenge, I'll update the results regularly.
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the bigger corms were about 1/2in in length.

They are looking very nice, they are outcrossed pure species, not hybrids, right? If you don't mind, can you share the flasking info? Media type, temp, light, time-line etc?

This is a hybrid cross between 2 habenaria species. I hope to get blooms this year so that I can register ( and publicise ) the cross. You need photos to register a primary hybrid.
Pods were harvested and flasked in Jan 2015 - very nice growth in flask, hence my optimism in getting at least 1 blooming.
A lab does all my flasking.

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Oh, I see. I hope you'll get to see the flower!

update. Seedlings are growing on well.
The fungus gnat population that came along in the potting soil mix is well under control with a couple of drosera. Literally hundreds developed in less than a month.

Of note is the different seedling phenotype/s evident, even at this early stage. Bear in mind that all these are grown in the same conditions.
A few with foliage more yellow/light green. I don't know where that comes from as neither parent has that colour foliage.
A few that take after the 1 parent
A few that take after the other parent
A few that take after ? ( a mix of parents ? )
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Good growth there! Did the pots with just the corms do anything yet?

Few questions if I may. What type of lights are you using?
How far from the bulbs are the pots? What duration are the lights on for and are/ have you used any bottom heat?

Have seen some flasks being offered and was thinking of giving some a shot.



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I use T5 lights - its the smaller 3 shelf Gardeners Supply stand. The pots are at least 12-14 inches from lights.
My home is air-conditioned with the temp set at a max 75f. That means mostly warmer under lights. If nights are cooler than 75f, I open windows to let in some fresh air.
No bottom heat.
There are around 40 plantlets currently - the largest have a 3in leafspan already. Out of curiosity I dug up a small bulb ( under 1/4 inch ) that wasn't sprouting - it was still firm - so I am leaving all no-growth pots alone for the next 2 months. Growth vs no-growth is around 2-1. I'd be happy with a 50% survival rate.
I may just put a couple outdoors as an experiment. The one parent is outdoors and is growing on strongly.

Update.
Growth showing in the compot with some of the tiniest tubers. Hopefully I can grow them on....

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Fungus gnat nemesis. I had to remove 2 butterworts ( not drosera ! ) to enable the population to recover
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Happily growing on. Does anyone know if these bloom off last year's growth ( like daffodils ) or this year's ? If current year I would be a little disappointed as I would like to see what influence the foliage colour has, if any, on blooms.
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Some are starting to get some size to them.

2 weeks later. These grow very quickly once past the first 2 leaves. The one in the front looks like it may have a spike ! I love the variation in foliage that this cross has produced.
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---------- Post added at 08:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------

its difficult to keep the foliage unblemished - a tiny drop of water has a negative impact.
Close-up of the ( hopefully ) spiking plant.
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Awesome! Great growing, I like the leaves too. Thanks for the update. Should be interesting to see your spike.

spike is abut 2in tall. No other spikes evident in the other seedlings. Interesting to note that the seedling spiking had the biggest tuberoid so it may well be that tuberoids have to reach a minimum size before blooming. I can also see roots through the clear pot on this one.
In the group shot you can see the spike - top left. Behind it is a seedling that has a white picotee to its foliage - its very attractive. Yep - the spiking seedling also has picotee foliage, but not as pronounced.
It's almost impossible to keep the foliage blemish free and I am beginning to think that the only way is to grow them outdoors ( constant breeze ) or have a fan nearby.
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Awesome thread and congrats on the success so far!

It turns out that the cross wasn't successful and these were all Habenaria lindleyana - the pod parent. I had read that lindleyana self-pollinate freely and that could be the reason....

The photos show a plant I dug up to store for Winter - the bulb that is. The bulb is about 1 1/2 inches long.
The plant that flowered first had 3 big bulbs of about 1 inch a-piece !
Lesson learned - the bulbs are much larger, and more numerous , in the plants grown in the small square pots - as opposed to the longer see-through pots. The potting mix was perfect.

I should see how many bulbs I get in the next month as the rest of the plants die off. There were a couple that had virtually no bulb growth, I will try and store these too. Current count is 11 bulbs from 9 pots. ( 6 of 1 inch plus )

I'm going to store some in perlite and some in sphag.
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"Self-fertile". Not sure what I mean. I think it's Phrag wallisii that self pollinates before bloom actually opens. With this cross I definitely removed the existing pollinia before pollinating with medusa pollen. And yet.......
I don't know what happened. I've repeated the cross this year, VERY carefully so we'll see.

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There are numerous articles on the internet on phrag lindenii and the unique mechanism it has for self-pollination. I'd link but most are fairly lengthy or pdf.

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Some Datura species pollinate themselves before the buds open. The anthers grow towards the pistil inside the developing flower. By the time the bud opens the anthers have grown far past the pistil and they have dried to the point no pollen is available.

Apomixis in orchids is not unknown - Aganisia cyanea is a good example and apparently developed this because its natural habitat in the Amazon is subject to seasonal flooding.
In phrag wallisii the orchid self pollinates with pollen prior to the bloom opening. The stamen grows towards the stigma and pollinates. This happens because wallisii doesn't have a pouch. It's unique amongst phrags.
As I said previously, I don't claim to know what happened with my habenaria but I have repeated the cross.