Deflasking C. eldorado

[Roberta]

I can't speak from experience, but thinking about how those babies are going from 100% humidity in their flasks to "normal" air, they still are going to want a little extra moisture at first. If someone has direct experience with the species, their information would certainly be better than my guess. But if I were doing this, I would lean toward a gentle transition. As they adjust, you can always water a bit less than the others if it seems to make sense. Sphag is not inherently any wetter than anything else, if you want it less wet you can just water it less down the road.

[Johndeaux22]

Originally Posted by Roberta

I can't speak from experience, but thinking about how those babies are going from 100% humidity in their flasks to "normal" air, they still are going to want a little extra moisture at first. If someone has direct experience with the species, their information would certainly be better than my guess. But if I were doing this, I would lean toward a gentle transition. As they adjust, you can always water a bit less than the others if it seems to make sense. Sphag is not inherently any wetter than anything else, if you want it less wet you can just water it less down the road.

That’s what I figured. Thank you for the vote of confidence Roberta! I’ve obviously managed to overthink this situation…I usually aim to step down humidity from 100% to around 80% over the course of a couple weeks, while progressively increasing light exposure. I filled a 72 cell plug tray with the other flasks that came in, so the C. eldorado will go into another one by itself where I can run it a bit drier, and warmer, if necessary. I used to be terrified of planting anything into sphagnum, but have largely figured out how to run with it where appropriate. Honestly, with as big as the plants are in the flask, I’ll be shocked if I’m not potting them up by May or June next year.