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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