New Member; Need info how to deflask cattleya

[jlafranc]

Hello all,
I am in Northern CA, in the foothills of the Sierras, Columbia, CA. I have a flask of cattleya seedlings. What is the best pot for 15-18 seedlings (have an orchid pot 4 inches across) and can I use spaghum moss or ??? to compote them? I will be out of town for two weeks and I need to give enough info to my orchid babysitter.

[Roberta]

If you are going to be out of town for two weeks, perhaps it would be good to wait, leave the flask intact until you get back to do the deflasking so that you can keep an eye on the babies. Unless you're seeing plant death or other problems inside the flask, two weeks one way or another for deflasking won't make any difference.

I'll leave it to others with more experience to give you advice on the deflasking itself.

[jlafranc]

I received the flask 4 weeks ago; The babies look OK, I do not see any damage/death. The temperature in my kitchen area is 60-63 at night, 70-72 at night. I leave in 10 days. Will they be OK until my return Nov 7th? I have NO idea how long the seedlings usually stay in a flask; my flask is tall, so they are not cramped.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by jlafranc

I received the flask 4 weeks ago; The babies look OK, I do not see any damage/death. The temperature in my kitchen area is 60-63 at night, 70-72 at night. I leave in 10 days. Will they be OK until my return Nov 7th? I have NO idea how long the seedlings usually stay in a flask; my flask is tall, so they are not cramped.

They stay in flask for many months. So if they aren't cramped, they should be fine sitting there a bit longer. Usually people don't sell flasks until the babies are ready to come out, but they don't need to come out immediately. They do take some attention when they first come out, so it would be much better for you to do it when you return.

[jlafranc]

Thank you, so much, Roberta. I feel better about it now. But, I will send the flask over to my friend; just so she can keep an eye on it and watch the room temperature. We just had that PGE planned shutdown for a few days and there are more power outages to come.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by jlafranc

Thank you, so much, Roberta. I feel better about it now. But, I will send the flask over to my friend; just so she can keep an eye on it and watch the room temperature. We just had that PGE planned shutdown for a few days and there are more power outages to come.

Good plan! You do want to keep the temperature in the range that you have it, nice and even, especially since the humidity inside the flask is about 100%, so you don't want it to get a chill and start condensing cold water on the plants.

[Bayard]

Check out Troy Meyers website for deflasking seedlings and making compots:
troymeyers.com

[jlafranc]

Thanks, I will check out your website.

[Fairorchids]

I have a short guide on how to deflask, and more importantly, the care young seedlings need, on my web site. Go to:

Fair Orchids

Then select:

FO Growing orchid seedlings from flask.

[farley101]

Great information Kim! I just got a flask this week that I'm going to deflask soon. Looks like just what I was looking for as a guide.