Deflasking Habenaria Medusa cross

[orchidsarefun]

I have 3 flasks of my own cross and decided to deflask 1. Advice I have received is only to deflask when leaf growth is about 2-3 inches but I thought I would experiment.
Mix is organic potting soil ( 8 parts ), seedling bark mix ( 4 parts ), perlite and charcoal ( 2 parts each ).
I obtained roughly 20 corms from the flask - some pea sized, some baby-toe sized and some in-between. New growth was evident on about 5.
There are about 5 or 6 corms in the pot in the photo.
I will take photos when I deflask the other 2 flasks but in the meantime will update as growth appears in these pots. I have watered from the bottom - pots are standing in about 1/2 in of water.
They are under lights. I am nervous about fungus as these are prone and I have never used potting soil in a mix before. I have also potted up the parent/s in a similar mix.


the multi-growth evident in bottom right of photo is interesting as it had a long root, no corm. I don't expect it to survive outside of the flask, but we'll see.

[WhiteRabbit]

Cute babies!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Good luck.

[orchidsarefun]

some growth on the first deflask - see photo below. About 6 growths in total, so far.





deflasked the second flask into individual pots, same mix. Interestingly growth on these appears more vigorous than the pbulbs/corms of the first deflask - so an additional 3 odd weeks in the flask helped. ( 9 growths out of 22 pots )



One more flask to go - and I've got to find space !

[orchidsarefun]

completed final deflask. Corms were generally larger, as were the plantlets. I can't make a definite conclusion as to the reasons but I now have 3 "test" groups that I can measure progress on.
1st - all in compots, early deflasking.
2nd - all in individual pots, later deflasking.
3rd - mix of compots and individual pots. Latest deflasking.
Same potting mix, lighting ( and duration ) and temperatures. I haven't used any fungicide or sterilized the mix. I've been told that growing from flask is a challenge, I'll update the results regularly.


the bigger corms were about 1/2in in length.

[naoki]

They are looking very nice, they are outcrossed pure species, not hybrids, right? If you don't mind, can you share the flasking info? Media type, temp, light, time-line etc?

[orchidsarefun]

This is a hybrid cross between 2 habenaria species. I hope to get blooms this year so that I can register ( and publicise ) the cross. You need photos to register a primary hybrid.
Pods were harvested and flasked in Jan 2015 - very nice growth in flask, hence my optimism in getting at least 1 blooming.
A lab does all my flasking.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

[naoki]

Oh, I see. I hope you'll get to see the flower!

[orchidsarefun]

update. Seedlings are growing on well.
The fungus gnat population that came along in the potting soil mix is well under control with a couple of drosera. Literally hundreds developed in less than a month.

Of note is the different seedling phenotype/s evident, even at this early stage. Bear in mind that all these are grown in the same conditions.
A few with foliage more yellow/light green. I don't know where that comes from as neither parent has that colour foliage.
A few that take after the 1 parent
A few that take after the other parent
A few that take after ? ( a mix of parents ? )

[sweetjblue]

Good growth there! Did the pots with just the corms do anything yet?

Few questions if I may. What type of lights are you using?
How far from the bulbs are the pots? What duration are the lights on for and are/ have you used any bottom heat?

Have seen some flasks being offered and was thinking of giving some a shot.



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