Flasking – the setup
Nov 15, 2009 Orchid Propagation, orchids
My first try at flasking. What an adventure.
I read many articles on growing orchids from seeds. I felt a little overwhelmed. There are so many different techniques. I sort of took all the information in and came up with my own way of doing it – a combination of all I read.
My biggest concern was contamination. I read so much about how difficult it is to make sure everything is “as clean as possible”. Unless you have the resources to have a dedicated lab, it can be a little tricky. Of course, I wanted the lab with the laminar flow hood and all the bells and whistles. What I ended up with is much different. Since this is just for fun, it is hard to justify spending much money on growing orchids from seeds. Here is my “lab” or at least part of it.
my orchid glove box
As you can see my “lab” is nothing special. In fact, everything I used was just sitting around the house. I am using an aquarium which is way too small. I have a spray bottle of IPA for sterilizing the glove box and everything inside of it. Then I have my test tubes of orchid seeds. I have 8 flasks (mason jars), a little bowl for “used” water/hydrogen peroxide, and some pipets. The opening is closed using a couple of dish towels – I told you it wasn’t anything special. And, yes, it is set up on the kitchen counter.
I will post my process in the next post.
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