Easiest orchids to de-flask?

[PaphMadMan]

I have had reasonably good success with Paphs and Catts growing out seedlings direct from flask, though it has been quite a few years since I tried. I'm looking for opinions on what genera are easiest and most successful making the transition from flask to compots, assuming basic orchid growing competence and knowledge of the conditions needed for the seedlings in question.

So, which types are easy reliable growers coming out of flask? Experienced de-flaskers please chime in.

[orchidsarefun]

so far I have experience with phals, bulbos, zygos and miltoniopsis. The easiest so far have been the phals.
The most important criterion imho is the size of the seedlings in the flask - too small and you create an unnecessary headache for your self down the line. You should always find this out before buying a flask - before doing my own crosses I didn't do this and noticed the difference between pre and post my own straight away. Additionally in some cases it would probably be better to leave the seedlings in the flask if they are too small to deflask.

[Brooke]

I've done lots of Phals, Catts and Lycaste plus a couple of Bulbo, Rodrumnia, Morm x Cyc cross, Brassavola and an Epi. I've never had a problem with any of them except for a couple of smaller growing Catts.

The smaller Catts for me get ugly foliage for no reason. Not every leaf on the small clump of pbulbs but fungal type marks on them. I do not have this problem with the bigger Catts.

The easiest was the Rodrumnia because I took 2" clay pots, stuck a p'nut in the bottom to raise the seedling above the rim and set the plant on the p'nut.

Phals were also very easy.

Brooke

[gnathaniel]

Genera I've tried raising from flask were primarily Dendrobium, Bulbophyllum, and Paphiopedilum, plus assorted miscellany. Though my overall lack of success is a sharp reminder of how much I still have to learn, Aerangis mystacidii stands out as the hardest to kill. After soaking and some general agitation to break up the agar, I kept the entire flask of 30+ individuals bareroot in a 6" dia drainage saucer (the flimsy plastic type) which I flooded and drained about every 2-4 days. I mounted each seedling individually whenever it had >2 leaves and showed active root growth, ranging from 3 months to 1 year out of flask. Though I lost a couple well after moving them to mounts, I had 0% attrition during the period they were 'compotted'. For reference, my best success with anything else to date has been about 40% surviving their first year...

[Orchidsoutdoors]

In addition to the genera mentioned, the rupicolous Laelias are also terribly easy out of flask, especially if you use an inorganic medium such as lava rock. The only ones out of the Cattleya family I've found tricky are the pumila group which need much higher humidity, the only flask I've ever lost was L. fidelensis. Nobilior & elongata are harder as they seem to take a while to throw out new roots.

Easiest ones from the catts so far for me: maxima, aclandiae, schilleriana, walkeriana, purpurata, mossiae & forbesii because they throw out roots within a week of being deflasked. I have another 15 species of Cattleya waiting to be deflasked.

The related Encyclia group is also easy to deflask in my experience, again because they put out roots so quickly.

Phals are probably the easiest because of their thick leaves and roots.