Flasking progress: Dendrobium and Bulbophyllum

[dansyr]

Hi everyone, thought I'd share some progress pics of some flasks I've had going. First time uploading pics, so please forgive me if it doesn't work first time around!

Tips and suggestions welcome!


Sometime early December 2017, some very young Bulbo affine (germinated in October if I recall).


Early January 2018, Bulbos have grown a fair amount


Early Jan 2018, Dendrobium lindleyi protocorms. Super cute.


Mid March 2018, D. lindleyi is really taking off.


Today (03 May 2018) replate of some B. affine again, not growing super fast but still progressing


Same flask of D. lindleyi as in Jan but dang they grew fast. They got crammed against the edge of my DIY growth chamber so that's why they're kind of slanty


Crowded by happy D. lindleyi (primary replate)


D. lindleyi replated onto BA-containing media - so many shoots!


A D. lindleyi mother flask I never got around to replating... oops


Some cute NOID baby phals from seed for someone over on Reddit

And there's more flasks and species. But I don't want to bombard you nice people with too much. Have a great one!

[camille1585]

What nice and happy seedlings! Some of them grew very fast.

Judging by the pipettes and tip box in the first photo, looks like you did all your flasking in a lab? Hmm, I may have to go ask if I can do the same where I work...

[dansyr]

Thanks! Yeah, grad student here who realized he needed a late-night hobby to keep sane. My advisor is fairly hands-off and doesn't really care what I do as long as I get my science done too, which is a pretty great arrangement I think.

I hope you get to start flasking at work. I mean, who knows how long we'll be around science environments? Might as well make the most of it amiright?

[dansyr]

Update: What should I be looking for to know when to deflask the Dens? For some background, I have done a bunch of phal mericlones and some bulbos and they're pretty easy to tell, but I'm at a loss for these guys.

I'm not dealing with any contamination issues, so no emergency "will it survive" kinda thing. But what should I look for to know these guys are ready?

Some updated pics of two of the Den lindleyi flasks, fingers for scale on a couple of them:

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It is possible to deflask the Dendrobium seedlings now, but if it were me, I'd wait a few months more if that is possible. I'm always looking for seedlings that show strong root growth. Those are the ones that do the best out of flask.

If you'd like to try another species of orchid maybe try Disa uniflora. They have the largest seeds out of all the orchids. You can see the embryos with a jeweler's loupe very easily. The seeds don't have dormancy periods where they sit around for years before they germinate. They grow pretty quickly too. Another bonus is that you may be able to see the trace of endosperm the seeds contain for the embryo to be able to germinate without the help of mycorrhizae.

Disa tripetaloides has smaller seeds than Disa uniflora, but the seeds also contain endosperm that doesn't require it to be sown in-vitro.

Another one to try out would be Bletilla striata. This one should be pretty easy. You might also be able to see under a microscope the embryo's tiny amount of endosperm. It is one of the few orchids that has seeds that still contain a trace amount of endosperm. While it is true that this particular species does not need to have their seeds germinated in-vitro, the odds of seedling survival is still much higher when sown in-vitro.

If you're looking for a challenge, maybe try Habenaria spp., Paph spp., or Cyp spp. In general, most terrestrial orchid seeds tend to be challenging to grow, (of course, I did mention a few of those exceptions).

[dansyr]

Thanks! I'll let them stay in vitro over the winter then. So is it number of roots you're looking for, or total root mass? Is the endpoint basically just to let the whole agar volume be roots?

And thanks for the suggestions. Right now I've got a couple other species germinated and in various stages of growth, beyond the ones mentioned in this thread (Bulbo. coweniorum, Den. signatum and some other Den sp. I forget, Aer. falcata). About 50+ flasks in total, so I'm not really looking for new species just for the sake of it, and I'm not really that into terrestrials. Though I do agree those Disas and some of the Epis are probably great starters for people, especially for those looking to use semi-sterile techniques. But I'm certainly going to cave and try some new species...

Speaking of which, do you have any ideas about timing for Har. retrocalla green pod timing? I've had a selfed pod hanging on for a while now. What little I can find ranges from mid-100 days to 300s. But I haven't seen any confirmed cases, which seems pretty odd considering its popularity.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I personally don't know of the specific times for a species such as Haraella retrocalla. I think the best general rule of thumb for green pod culture is to wait until 2/3 the total development time. I do not have 1st hand experience with this species at all, I cannot specify anything regarding the time it takes for total pod development or time for optimal green pod culture.

As far as what to look for with the root development, it could be 1 of 2 things or both of these:

1) The length of the roots.

2) The amount of roots per seedling.

Roots will not always necessarily amass to the point where the volume of the roots exceed the volume of agar. In some cases, it will be the case, and I've totally seen that happen. In other cases, the roots may still be obscured by the agar, but in reality, each seedling has a good amount of root mass to them. It is a case by case, species by species, hybrid by hybrid basis.

[dansyr]

Excellent information, thank you.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You're welcome.