Flask-seedlings, my first project

[Helene]

Well, I decided to try flask seedlings, and started reading.


Here they are.
Well, lets say some of them were a bit like scrambled eggs.

Shaken, but not stirred😜





Some worse than others, but I kinda figured that might happen.


Okey, then we have the mix. I decided to test something- so I made small containers myself. I will be growing half of them in pure perlite, and half in seedling mix I made myself.
For the seedling mix I made these, with about 100 holes in each😂 Its gonna be airy enough…😎 They are pretty tiny cups (will measure later)


For the perlite I made some that are a bit taller, with bigger holes in the bottom and side, and only small holes on the sides. Taller because they are gonna stand in water, and I want the part where the plant is to be moist, but not really wet.

Difference in size (still not moss in the mix)


I decided to use two small greenhouse, one with water in, and one with leca in. Everything has been sterilized- the mix and the pots and the greenhouses.


The mix: 1 part small bark, 1 part perlite and 1 part moss.


I usually work with dry media, but decided to wet it. Seedlings doesnt need much fertilizer, and I was going forth and back deciding to use or not to use. I ended up with 1/40 of recommended dose. I took 1 dl with 1/4 of recommended dose, then put it in 1 liter of rainwater. I used bio nutrition for water, without the bad nitrogen in it- urea (?). That means the mix got a tiny tiny bit of nutrition that is plant based- and will not harm it.

Temperature 25C/77F and humidity 90-100% for the first days. Will lower the humidity in a week or two, the poor plants need to acclimatize first.

Well, then I got everything ready and started to deflask. I will post that in next post, this is gonna be a long one😎😂 And I need a cup of coffee before I continue.

Yeah, its gonna be a lot of picture. But when I was reading I was so happy for pictures and when people explained what they did. Could never be enough pictures and reading, so I will not apologize for all the pics😜 If you think I'm talking too much- move on to the next thread😎

[Helene]

I never used fungicied, only washed the agar of.

Number 1, Angraecum Didieri
This is a small one, and it was really shaken up.

Not sure if was only 3-4 seedling before shipping, guess not, now it was like this:

The biggest, and the rest was pretty small


Half in mix, and half in perlite, decided to put some moss on top of the mix, since this was so tiny.





Number 2, Paphiopedlium Senne Calle
Big seedlings, and roots growing on the stem. Nice and hairy roots



Pretty big


Same for this, half in each




Number 3, Acineta Superba
One of the packs looked kinda yellowish compared to the other. That pack went into 3.3.
The other pack:

Some big and some smaller

Five containers in total (two packs of this, got one extra)






Number 4, Lycaste Macrophylla
These were really big and so adorable, but the leaves have some bad coloring, either because of the agar all over the place or maybe its been cold. (Guessing agar, cause it gets worse in number 5 and number 6, I should have taken them all out, it did take some time for me to do one pack, and it seem to get worse for each pack. Even though I took the badly shaken first.)


I cut the broken leaves with most damaged, left the others, will pay attention if I need to cut more.

Two in mix- those with clean roots, and one in perlite- the one that was a clump, hard to clean out all the agar, so decided that could go in perlite. (Somehow number 4.3 never happened, I wrote 4.4 but here is only three containers)


Hopefully they will survive, not sure because of leaf damage, but the roots looks really healthy.



Number 5, Bulbophyllum Carunculatum
Nice and pretty big. Again I noticed this leaf damage. And some leaves broke while drying and had to be cut. Looks like cold damage, but not sure if its because of the agar. They looked okay but got worse when sitting in the box.

Nice roots


Look at that cute little bulb☺️ But the leaves are not very happy


Well, now it gotta show its a survivor and make some new leaves fast, before dying. You can do it😎 (lol, I'm telling them to please grow nicely, and I will make up for the bad treatment in the mail😜&#128514



Number 6, Phalaenopsis Hymen
Oh man, this was so big and have beautiful big roots. But the leaves are damaged. Badly. Well, again- I'm telling it to use its good roots and grow some new leaves for me. Not sure how long it will survive, but I'm not gonna give it up before it wilts.



As you can see, I'm being optimistic. The leaves just laying there😜 I'm like: thats okay, you can just rest there, just make some new leaves- pretty pretty please. Oh, you only have one leaf left- poor thing, but you know- just make some new ones.


Group-shot of them





They survived their first night. I assume some will die in short time since they have some damage, but for now they are alive.



The small ones who I took out first actually looks best.




Well, I mist them in the morning, and maybe in the evening. Other than that I'm just gonna let them be left there, no need for watering when humidity is so high.

Gonna update in a week. Gonna be interesting to see how many survives, and to see if the perlite or the mix will have best survival rate.

Now I'm gonna have some more coffe😎

[estación seca]

What a lot of careful work!

The first thing I thought of with the Phals is that their roots also photosynthesize. You buried the roots; perhaps there are not enough living leaves left to produce food. What if you just set them on the surface of moist moss in the terrarium so they stay moist, the roots get light so they can still make food, and they may then grow new leaves?

[Helene]

Thanks- that I didnt think of

That might help- its easy to dig out the roots- maybe just let most of them be on top, they sure could use some help surviving.
If they survive I will be very surprised, the leaves doesnt look very well. They are not very entusiastic- they are kinda really laid-back… 😜
They are coming to my country at an orchid show again in the fall- planning on buying some plants and seedlings then😎

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that not all of them die. (The phals I dont have very high hopes for, but the other plants)

[estación seca]

If the central meristem is fine, the roots will photosynthesize and provide food until the plant grows more leaves.

[PaphLover]

Great thread. Love all the pictures. The fuzzy paph roots are adorable! And, oh my goodness! I'd have a hard time not giving that tiny bulbo a hug and kiss. It's precious. (Is it weird that I just wrote that? ) The phal roots are quite luscious too!

Looking forward to the updates.

[Helene]

Not weird at all- I want to hug those myself, telling them to hold on, forget about the aweful journey here and just embrace my love for them😂

[Helene]

Okay, somehow the greenhouses didnt feel okay- and I started to worry what if one gets sick and they all share the same air and water. And well, being 90-100% made the boxes wet in the mix, I want the humidity on the leaf and airy mix.

Sooo, I left the phalaenopsis with roots on top of mix in the greenhouses and made small greenhouse for the others. Humidity between 76-85 ish- maybe more in some.
The perlite ones got their own small water tanks.

So now its like this:
These are doing fine


These have damage, some just a little and others have more.


The poor phalaenopsis, they are all like this.


Small containers for each- hoping this will give them air and humidity.



I have not done anything with them, only took the pots out and put a pot on top of each. Leaving them alone, try not to fuss with them. The mix seems moist but not wet, and the humidity are high so havent misted them either. Will mist the mix when its needed. Lol- if my bench get wet then its too moist😉😎

Yeah, update in a week… Well, I guess that after the first weeks there will be updates only monthly.
And yeah, I dont touch them or anything, but have to admit I have spent a bit of time just looking at them😜😂

[Helene]

So, how are my seedlings doing- 8 days after deflasking? Well, two days after deflasking I could see the damage from agar/cold (not sure what it is). I looked at the picture from deflasking, and you can see the transparent/discoloring on the leaves. It just got more clear/showed more two days after deflasking.

And well, an unhealthy orchid can be cared for and bounce back, but can unhealthy seedlings bounce back? I think some will, and the past five/six days some actually are doing okay.

Here is picture from today-on the right side. And pictures from after deflasking on the left. (Sorry if the picture are big, not sure how this tapatalk works now, it changed)


Number 1. Angraecum didieri.
I think I can say that this one didnt like perlite.
On the left- pictures from two days after deflasking 18.02, on the right side pictures from today 24.02. This is hanging on, but I'm not sure it will make it. The ones in perlite is already half-dead.






Number 2, Paphiopedilum Senne Calle. These are all doing great, and you can see they had a healthy color from the start. I decided to pot them further down, after reading that could be done when they had elongated stems.
Pictures on the left from friday 19.02, and on the right from today 24.02. Only five days apart, and I can see the leaves are getting a nicer color and they have grown a bit.

They are really really cute😍




Nice color on leaves



Number 3, Acineta Superba.
Actually the ones looking worst in the start, smaller, more yellow- are doing really nice- number 3.3. The others showed the discoloration the day after deflasking. Can see it on the picture from deflasking- wet leaves.
But: it seems to be hardy, cause it has not spread, and they are actually growing some new leaves.

On the left 18.02, on the right 24.02








Number 4, Lycaste Macrophylla
Well, those thin leaf got damage. Not sure if it will recover. Doesnt seem to do much. Have to wait and see

Left 18.02, right 24.02







Number 5, Bulbophyllum Carunculatum
What to say? They had not a healthy color, and the discoloration really got worse. Some died, have some left. Not much hope for these. I'm guessing they will die in pretty short time.
Left 18.02, right 24.02





Number 6, phalaenopsis hymen. These are dead. The meristem was fine on two of them, a tiny leaf could be seen, but the bad leaves kinda killed the good ones.



Well, it seems that the seedlings not damaged during transport are doing fine. Damaged seedlings are not easy to grow, lol, its hard enough with healthy seedlings😜😎

But: I learn from this, and I think I will get some to survive so I am very happy with that. And I will buy more seedlings from Roellke when they are visiting my country in september ☺️

Thats it for this week- checking in next week👍🏻

[No-Pro-mwa]

Well your much braver than I. But it always sounds like it would be fun to try. I'm just not there yet. Good luck, they are so cute.