Flasks (Project 15 - Spring 2013)
 

Here's where you can talk about your flasks once you've got them! Before starting please 'report' to the sign up thread. You'll find souces for flasks there too. It's suggested people get Phals if possible, but it's not essential: any flask will do.

If anyone's got good links about deflasking, please post them in this thread. Thanks!

Deflasking resources:
Orchid Flasks, Plus Deflasking (I like his low tech propagators!)
Deflasking and Compotting (NB I have been told some flask mediums turn hard out of flask so leaving them in is not an option... unfortunately I don't know which!)

What We've Got:

Shadytrake
Phal. Bellina (coerulea x sib) (purple) x coerulea x sib
Phal Luedde-Violacea (violacea ‘Magnificent’ x lueddemanniana ‘Woodlawn’)
Phal schilleriana
(And several others)

Call_Me_Bob
Phal. Bellina (coerulea x sib) (purple) x coerulea x sib

JaneEyre
Phal Luedde-Violacea (violacea ‘Magnificent’ x lueddemanniana ‘Woodlawn’)

Bballr4567
Phal. shilleriana
Phal Buena Jewel x Dragon Tree Eagle

RebeccaBC
Blc. Liu's Joyance 'Golden Pin' x Lc. Mari's Love 'Blossoming' Seedling from Orchid Society deflasking demo

Rowangreen
Phal ambioensis
Den cyanocentrum

Sweetjblue
Phal LD's Bear Queen 'Limeade' x OrchidKonnection Passion 'OK'

Orchidsarefun
Bulbo Dentiferum

Zxyqu
Phal LD’s Bear Queen (DTE x bellina)
Phal Buena Jewel x Dragon Tree Eagle

Island Girl
#1 Phal speciosa 'Blue' x maculata 'Orange'
#2 Phal (Ho's Green Double- micholitz 'Peter Lin' HCC/AOS x maculata f. flava 'Orange')


Escualida
Phal Nobby's Little Candy X Formosa Cranberry 'Brian'

Billc
Waiting to hear from Woodstream (good luck!)


I'll try and add more flasks to this list as people post... so don't be shy! And try and keep to 2 max for the project LOL

Hi All,

Here is the link to compotting from Meyers.

https://lab.troymeyers.com/flasking/...Flaskling-Care

Well I was planning on ordering some flasks for spring anyway so here is what I have coming:

Phal. schilleriana 'Fragrant Butterfly-sport' X self - will be scented. I got the last one. Yay!

Phal. bellina (coerulea X sib) (purple) X coerulea X sib (project flask - split with Call_Me_Bob).

Phal violacea var bowringiana coerulea Bredren's Blue Boy x self. 1 plant in flask. 5” leaf span.

Paraphalaenopsis denevi. 10 plants in each flask, 1" to 1.5" tall.

Paraphalaenopsis laycockyi. 5 plants in flask, 1" to 1.5" tall.

Paraphalaenopsis serpentilingua. 10 plants in each flask, 1.5" tall.

C. velutina. 10 plants in flask, 1.5" tall.

Phalaenopsis gibbosa 'Olympic' × self - ordered 3/2011 should be ready soon. Yay!

I feel so lucky as I was able to get everything I wanted this year. Good thing I have my pots ready to go. I'm going to be a busy parent very soon.

:babygirl:babyboy:babygirl:babyboy:babygirl
:babygirl:babygirl:babyboy:babygirl:babyboy

:rofl:

Deflasking method used at Orchid Society
 

The flask was wrapped with masking tape to make sure most of the glass was easy to clean up, then it was wrapped in newspaper and/or a towel and the glass was broken. The baby plants were put into a large bowl of fresh water and rinsed off, then laid on paper towel for a bit to dry.

We were each given a small plant, which was potted up loosely in moss and we placed them in ziploc bags, which we had blown air into. Brought it home and left the bag open for a bit, increasing the time by an hour each day. We were told after a week we could take them out, but I left mine in for about two weeks, in my eastern facing window. We were also told to not fertilize for the first month, but I haven't done any fertilizing yet.

If I missed something, anyone from the meeting can fill in the blanks :biggrin:

Wow that's a great list Shady! And thanks for your story Rebecca. Would be great if you add some pictures when you can.

My flask from the show is desparate to be unflasked... just have to find the time! Later hopefully...

Hi All,

I am posting this method of potting in sterilized moss. This is how I will be potting mine.

I just purchased a 16 qt pressure cooker and 4 bags of Better Gro sphagnum moss.

Growing Phals in moss is perfectly fine if you follow a few simple guidelines.

Tom at Stones River Orchids / Nashville, TN was at our last OS meeting just back from Taiwan and he had lots of good information regarding Phals and media.

He's been growing and breeding Phals for about 30 years. One of the biggest "hello" moments he had in discussing media issues with the TWN breeders is that if you have a plant that has been happily growing in one kind of media and you switch, it can set the orchid back for several years and sometimes permanently if the orchid does not "like" the media you choose.

With that said, a lot of his presentation was based around him changing over from a bark mix to straight moss. I know...you probably think he is crazy but he gave specifics. You know how a lot of people say "do this" without giving you the full picture? Well here goes...directly from my mental notes from his presentation.

First of all, he said a lot of folks fail with moss because they over water, over pot, and do not prepare the moss correctly for use.

Moss must be soaked in a sterile like solution (some people pressure cook it to fully sterilize it) but he soaks for 24 hours in Consan Triple Action 20 then rinses the moss and soaks again (i didn't catch if the 2nd soak was in the sterile soln again or in water).

2nd (and this came straight from a TWN breeder)...Phals need the security of being tightly packed in a pot...(I KNOW...it sounds crazy). He carefully chooses a pot slightly bigger than the root system - you can trim off dead roots. He takes the orchid and carefully curls the roots (if necessary) and takes a handfull moss which has been carefully squeezed out and fluffed up and then squeezed again and puts a section around one side of the roots and another section around the other side.

He takes a little moss and puts it in the bottom of the pot (he uses plastic) and carefully shoves...yes he shoved it in the pot.

Now the trick...He packs the moss tightly around the Phal carefully keeping it about 3/4" to 1" below the top of the pot. The moss never comes above 3/4" from the top. This is VERY important.

Once completed, he does NOT water...no water for about a week. He said it is very important for the plant to be secure in the pot to recover from the potting process and watering it is not necessary. There is enough moisture in the moss.

Now he said the next part is critical to the success. When you water, you only fill the pot from the top of the moss to the top of the pot. You DON'T saturate the pot through. Then you LEAVE it ALONE until the next watering...which for him in Middle TN can be 2 or 3 weeks. Also, with the moss he fertilizes much less too (maybe once ever other month only during active growth).

I didn't have a chance to ask him how he monitors the moisture content of the moss, but I imagine that he used to test them (probably with a bamboo stick) and then once he got a system down, he stuck to it.

Anyway, the point of all my rambling is that when you change from one media to another it is important that you consider how far back you will set the orchid.

For example, he said that he is in the process of switching from the bark to the moss and has been for over a year and he definitely noticed that some will need longer to adapt to the new media.

Also as FYI, this does not work if you have an automatic misting system. You absolutely cannot mist the phals in the moss because it messes up the watering schedule. The moss must be allowed to slowly dry out (of course not bone dry) before the next watering.

PART TWO - specifically for de-flasked seedlings. It is imperative that the seedlings slowly acclimate so they can harden off. To do that, our local Phal expert (over 10 AOS awards for Phals) recommends placing the potted seedlings inside transluscent Tupperware and place the lid tightly on for at least a week. Put the tub under the T5 or T8 bulb.

No- you won't get fungus, because the moss is sterile.

After one week pull the lid off and check the moisture if they need water, water. If not lay the lid on top (do not seal it). Leave for one week. Then slowly slide the lid open a quarter at a time.

This method hardens the roots and keeps the humidity up.

Excellent advice from Tom and is basically the same advice I've heard (and followed) from several other growers and hobbyists who use moss and are successful.

Judi

a lot to think about, thanks.

I have noticed 2 ways the Taiwanese pot in moss. One - the way you describe , but in the second way the moss is loosely packed in the pot. Both have that roughly 3/4 space to the top of the pot. However they primarily use those plastic, pliable pots ( maybe that makes a difference ? )....and I ordered some from Taiwan to specifically use. I am trying out the 2nd way in these pots. I have examples of both methods so will soon see which is better for root growth and general health.

As for switching media, I have noticed ( after trying it out too ) that phals have only a slight setback when switching from moss to bark. I have also read to add to Tom's experience that there is a significant setback to switching from bark to moss. I haven't tried that though.

I am getting my bulbo flask on Wed, so I am going to have to decide on what to do with them. My issue is that I have so many seedlings but so few heating mats to accommodate them all.....

SuWEEET! Just got my last order completed for some single orchids and the vendor had 1 flask left (they were discontinuing flasks).

So I just HAD to buy it! It is Phal. Luedde-Violacea (violacea 'Magnificent x lueddemanniana 'Woodlawn')

I'm not sure of the plant count, but if someone wants to split or go in on it...fine with me...or you will force me to keep them all.

I'll be potting mine up into sterilized moss.

Edit to add expected bloom from this cross. This is a picture of the exact same cross from a different flask.

Edit to add - Photo taken by Adrienne Giovino at the Norton Greenhouse in 2012.

This is really interesting, I always wondered how these places were able to keep phals in such tightly packed moss without rotting the roots, now I know it's all about that space at the top. Thanks for the info I'm going to try this with some of my phals now.