Deflasking paphiopedilums

[The Orchid Boy]

This is how I deflasked paph seedlings (for the first time). I remove the seedlings from the flask, and try to keep the whole mass of agar and seedlings intact. Then I start breaking chunks of agar off the roots and get as much off as I can. Then I rinse the roots of most of the agar leaving the roots all intact and together. Then I put the mass of seedlings in a fine bark, charcoal, perlite mix and water with distilled water. I had the mix soaking for 24 hours in a weak fertilizer solution of water. Make sure you put the base of the seedlings a tiny bit below (supplier said 1/4 of an inch) of the top of the mix.

I then put the compot of seedlings into a makeshift terrarium of a critter keeper w/ lid, clear plastic wrap, and a rubberband. I put the compot into the critter keeper, put the lid on, put wrap on and rubberband it on. I poke a few holes in the wrap after a few days, and maybe once a week or so put more and more holes in to harden off the seedlings.

I was going to do the agar on method but heard from a lot of people (including the supplier) that if it's bot the right agar, after a few weeks it can harden and can harm the seedlings and block nutrient and water uptake.

Here's a picture of the Paph. liemianum flask from Fox Valley Orchids:

[billc]

They look nice and healthy. Keep us updated.

Bill

[Rowangreen]

Good luck!

I deflasked a mix of seedlings in October, including some maudiea type paphs. Did you do anything to kill nasties in your mix? I microwaved mine (I used moss), and that seems to have been a very good idea: there was another user on here was loosing all his cats until he started microwaving!

Other things I'd say (not an expert yet of course...). Don't panic if there's a fleck of mould developes somewhere. I've had some on roots (presumably where a bit of agar was left) and on the surface of the moss, but my seedlings are all doing fine so far. (I guess it would be different if a pot were over-run with the stuff! But a little bit, don't panic)

Don't assume you are getting room humidity in your propogator once you've got lots of holes. I've found mine still reads 99% with the vents open. I've been leaving the top off mine for longer and longer periods, starting with just a few minutes. Now they are open all day.

Lots of folks say you HAVE to have a fan going with such high humidity: mine did OK without. I used a heat mat part of the time which probably created some air currents, but am also still being careful to keep the medium moist but not wet: misting only.

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[The Orchid Boy]

See here for more pictures between then and now: Deflasking/compotting P. liemianum seedlings - Page 6 - Slippertalk Orchid Forum- The best slipper orchid forum for paph, phrag and other lady slipper orchid discussion!

Here's my most recent picture:




I ended up with a total of 22 seedlings.