deflasking success rate?
 

Hi Everyone. I have several years of experience in growing orchids at home (I have about 60 in my collection), but I've never before deflasked any. I am considering buying a flask of Paraphalaenopsis hybrid. What chances of success am I looking at? I'll try it if I know the plants at least have a fighting chance, but I certainly won't try it if deflasking by a non-professional is a death sentence for the plants. What's your experience?

I recently deflasked 2 flasks of vanda's and Asco's.
They still do fine. I don't know about the type you like to try though. Mine do great. Good luck.

I've only done it once and if you give them the exact, as far as possible anyway, conditions you shouldn't really lose any but there sometimes are casualties.

Thanks Vandagirl and Kelo! This is encouraging. What bactericide & fungicide do you use when deflasking vandas and ascos ?

Cinnamon would work as a fungicide and I used Hibiscrub as a bactericide but there are several others you could use.

To be ownest. I did not use any at all.
I just cleaned them very well. So that all agar is gone.
That is all I did. The photo is from my Vanda's. As you can see they do great. They have a lot of new roots.
It's already a month ago since deflasked.

They look brilliant. Well done!

Deflasking is not the problem...

It's the survival rate after 3 months out of flask that should be of concern.

Many seedlings will do fine within the 1st month. But depending on how strong the seedlings are, whether the environment you put them in suits the seedlings, how well the seedlings adjust to life outside a bottle, whether the flask somehow got contaminated before you were able to deflask them, how many seedlings you get per flask, or how on top of things you are with husbandry; your success rate with seedlings will vary all over the map for at least the first 3 months from being deflasked. It also depends on the type of seedlings you're talking about.

As far as a Paraphalaenopsis hybrid is concerned...

I think you might be fairly successful in deflasking and the period up to the first 3 months after deflasking. I've found that the seedlings of Vandaeceous orchids tend to be fairly strong compared to some other types of orchids.

Not to be a downer, but realistically speaking, don't be surprised that there could be a possibility of a 100% rate of loss for the flask of seedlings you get though. Just sayin'. It's definitely happened to me before.

Good luck. :)