Deflaskin Onc. Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragranc' AM/AOS

[brewmyster]

OK guys as promised here is my step-by-step deflsking project. This is my 1st attempt at this.

The flask was purchased from "peaandshel", Carmela Orchids, on eBay for $17.

Pix 1. Flask as I received it.
Pix 2. Everything layed out before breaking the flask open. The flask was filled with water and let soak for about an hour to soften things up. Flask was broken open with hammer, plants were washed with water to get agar and pieces of flask cleaned off. The plants were seperated and laid out.
pix 3. Plants seperated and laid out. Smaller plants left in clumps.
pix 4. Potting media used. Mix of small bark, charcoal and sponge rock. This mix was soaked in Physan 20 for about an hour then rinsed off and soaked in water w/fertilizer over night.
pix 5. Plants after potting. Larger plants in 5" pot, smaller plants in 4" (3 of them) pots and smallest plants (left in clumps) in 4" pot with Pro-Mix added to potting mix.

These pots will be kept at about 78 degrees and window with filtered light untill significant growth has occured.

Hope this all sounds good and some of the plants survive. Give me your opinion on my process, good and bad. I plan on doing another flask soon.

Thanks
Mark

[orchidmtius]

Hello,
For me it looks like you get it at 90% right
Here, I would like to share some personal experience on deflasking:
After removing the plants from the flask and watching out all the agar, I like to let the plants stay in a mild solution of fungicide (let's say 1/2 recommended dose) for some 5 minutes.
I use small community pots of dimension:
12cm diameter and 7cm height.
And for potting medium I put some small pieces of expanded polystyrene chips at the bottom of the pot and plant the seedling in a mixture of 1/2 perlite and 1/2 sphagnum moss. I think the acidity of the moss help the plants to take fertilizer.
Cheers

[orchidsamore]

Deflasking is very forgiving but follow up care can be a struggle.

Seedlings and Oncidium especially can succumb to bacterial infections. In tropical plants it is called damping off. The plant just seems to go transparent in the leaves and seems to melt.

Bacteria is one of the few things I think Physan 20 can help but you can get the same results with Hydrogen peroxide spray.

The biggest problem is that even letting the plants dry for a day or two can kill them all. Commercially we use sphagnum as a means of keeping them wet. There are commercial rock will products that also work well for quantity growers.

Think like one day totally dry is like 1 week in an adult plant. There is very little room for error. If you are going to grow in bark you must keep a good eye on them

[Royal]

Hey Mark,

Looks good. Now for the tricky part. Just keep them on the humid side and be careful when watering - you'll be fine. Keep us posted.

[brewmyster]

So now they need lots of water? Need to water more than once a week?

[Royal]

That's the tricky part. I try to keep them humid enough that they don't need water for the first week. I don't have a greenhouse so it's tough for me sometimes, but I really try to keep them on the dry side for the crucial first few weeks. Humid, but dry. I know it sounds funny, but it's really just erring on the side of safety. As long as there is moist air present, these things won't dry to a crisp in a day. But leave water on the leaves for a day and the whole thing "melts" in hours, just as Jerry described.

[brewmyster]

Now that these have been potted for about a week, Should I try to keep them fairly wet.

I have since gotten a couple more flask, c. maxima and L. purpurata. I did these a little different. I did them in different media's to see which does the best for me. I did a compot with the bark mix, one pot with some ProMix added (these were smaller plants) and a pot with spag and perilite.

Thanks
Mark

[Royal]

It can take a while before they start growing new roots. Until then I would remain cautious.

So how are they looking?

[rogerman]

I have just picked up 25 flasks of Cymbidium plants. I'm well used to deflasking Vandas and Rhyncostilis, but this is new to me..... For the vandas etc i deflask into a basket and leave them for a couple months without watering and that works well here. With the cynbisiums should i pot straight away? I have around 1000 plants in 25 bottle and i don't want to make a big mistake

[Royal]

Hi Peter,

I don't have any experience with deflasking Cymbidiums either, but there are some members here that do. Start a new thread with "deflasking Cymbidiums" in the title and you'll get lots of advice.