Those tiny plants in flasks

[Undergrounder]

Hi

You know how sometimes you get a flask that has a lot of tiny little plants and protocorms? Like most of the plants are big and ready to be deflasked, but there are a few tiny guys in there...

I wonder, are those tiny plants constantly generating themselves from some kind of meristemming process? or are they just tiny plants that never developed?

And if they are self-generating, has anyone ever tried to either take out the large plants without damaging the flask (asceptically of course) and leaving the small ones there to make more plants? or alternatively, replating the small ones into a new flask altogether? thanks

[gixrj18]

I just keep them together! When they reach their compots I start to seperate a little. As they reach a certain size, I pull them from the compot to be individually potted. I just leave the smaller ones in the compot until they reach desired size. If they are proliferating (growing multiple plants from one protocorm), they will still continue to do so while in the compot. If they have ample roots, you would probably be better off taking them out of the flask, they are hungry for real food (fertilizer). It's kind of like a baby being fed baby food long after it's ready to eat real food. That's the best analogy I could come up with. Point being, they will probably grow faster with some real food.

[Gin]

I take mine out , as long as there are roots should do fine . I had some that grew into blobs with no roots they usually will not develop any in the compot . I guess you could re plate them not sure about that . Gin (aka redneck flasker )

[Royal]

I try to replate them if possible, and especially if they are particularly valuable or sentimental. What I pictured from your description are those tiny little guys that do not have roots, while others in the same flask did. The ones with roots should do great. But in my experience, if I take the runts out when the bigger ones are ready for some real food, most runts don't make it.

Sticking with the baby food analogy (which I like), there may be rooted seedlings that are ready to go, but unlike babies, the whole bunch may not mature at the same rate. Some may have germinated a little later so they were the just last to the trough. Don't give the toddlers baby food, but don't induce labor at 3 months either.

I've had flasks that had been on a shelf for over two years with 'one' seedling. I deflasked it and picked a few little green lumps for replating. The lumps took off, and have outgrown the lone deflasked seedling in 60 days. Fresh media can turn those 'runts' into studs.

Experiment for yourself. It's worth a try, right?