Another try at deflasking native plants!
Photos at https://www.flickr.com/gp/richmonda/Z329Cr
5/15/15 ordered 2 flasks on ebay
5/20/15 Flasks arrived. Let them acclimate and settle down for a few days outside.
5/24/15 Potted up in spag and put in shoe boxes (high humidity for a week)
5/31/15 Let out on bench for a while, not looking so good, repotted half of them into various bark mixes instead of all being in spag
6/7/15 Aired on bench for an hour, misted with a light physan/subdue mix
6/13/15 open air 2 hours
Deflasking
sterilize containers with bleach bath; wipe down bench with bleach
1. made solution of 1 tsp algecide in container of water
2. took plants out of flask and picked off biggest pieces of agar
3. divided up plants into chunks and put into water to soak for 20 minutes
4. put on paper towel for 10-15 minutes to dry a little bit before potting
5. separated by size during this 10-15 minutes
6. soaked spag in weak fertilizer water
7. potted up biggest plants alone and put the rest into compots
8. compots 1 & 2 I did the troy meyers way, with pot on its side and layering plants and moss, 5 plants to a pot
9. compots 3 & 4 I put a layer of moss in the pot, then put plants with roots on top of moss, then filled in around plants, 5 plants to a pot
10. runts went into smaller pots 10 to a pot
11. put into plastic shoe box (sterilized with bleach) and under bench for a week
12. opened up box every day for a few minutes to let fresh air in and check on plants
13. after a week in spag in closed shoeboxes... open up shoe box Saturday and and move to bench under shade cloth. give a very light fertilizer treatment (1/2 tsp per max)
14. Sunday ( next day) put some into tiny bark and some out in open the way the vendor suggests. Try some of each.
So then I read this:
http://www.orquideas.com/growing/unflask/flask1.html
The amateur grower with just a flask or a few flasks can adapt this technique as well for almost any type of orchid to be grown from flask. The key to plant survival from flask is to keep the plants moist with humid conditions and never let them dry out until the root system is established, and to prevent fungal or bacterial diseases. The plants from a single flask will fit well in a small plastic shoebox with a transparent lid and a perforated bottom for drainage. With the plants first out of flask, keep the mix moist, and keep the lid on the box for the first two or three weeks. After that time, gradually expose the plants to the environment outside the box by setting the lid on the box slightly cocked. Every few days, open it a little more until, about two months from deflasking, the box lid is removed completely. Most seedlings respond well to a light intensity of 500 to 800 foot candles, or light similar to a phalaenopsis or paph growing area. Small cymbidium or
6/28 the usual, plants browning out, etc. arch.