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pre-flasking thoughts

So, this is my first post about the flasking process. There is a lot of information about flasking on the web. What I plan to do is post a few links to some information that I have found helpful and then go through my process as I learn.

There are many methods that I have seen to flask the seeds. I am sure there will be some trial and error, but I think it will be both fun and rewarding. What I plan to use for the sterilization process as of now, is to use a combination of either chlorox or alcohol (for the equipment) and Peroxide (for the seeds). I will see how that works out.

I have some seeds, some jars (ball 1/2 pint wide mouth) and a pressure cooker. I plan on breaking up the flasking in to groups of either 2 or 3 varieties at a time. For the first group, I will start out with 2 jars each to test my process. I am still waiting on my sowing medium, so I really can’t get started yet. I think the 1/2 pint jars will be too short for the replates, so I will probably get some 1 pint jars for that (but that will be a few months away anyhow).

After writing that, I realize that I probably need a glossary of terms or something since there were some new words in there if you have never done any flasking or never heard anything about growing orchid from seeds. I will work on that later.

Orchid Links

From time to time, I will try to post about some of the good orchid websites I have found.

Links for today:

Orchid Board – This is a great place to find out information about orchids. The forum is really good and full of knowledgeable people.

Troy Meyers Flasking – From what I have heard, Troy makes some really good flasks available at a decent price. I have signed up for a couple, but since you get put on a waiting list of sorts, it can take a while to get your flasks. Check it out.

The Orchid Seedbank Project – This is a great place to get orchid seeds. This is where I ordered my seeds from. They arrived within a few days. Aaron sends the seeds in small wax paper bags. The seeds are very small and it looks like he gives you a good number of them. It looks like there will be enough for maybe two sets of 3 mother flasks each.

That’s it for today. Enjoy.

growing orchids

My main idea with this blog is to give some information on growing orchids. I thought it would be fun to share my experience of orchid growing – particularly with growing orchids from seed. I have wanted to grow orchids from seed for a long time, but I never really pursued it, until now.

I have grown orchids off and on for many years. But my latest adventures started back in July when I built a little shade room to grow some orchids in.

shade room

shade room

Now, I am working on setting up a small corner in the house to grow some orchids from seed. It should be fun.

OSP seeds arrive

I ordered some seeds from the Orchid Seedbank Project last week. They arrived yesterday. I ordered the following: brassavola nadosa, brassavola cucullata, encyclia parviflora, encyclia oncidioides, encyclia alata and encyclia cochleata. I am waiting on my other supplies, so I won’t be able to flask these up for a couple weeks.

orchid seeds

orchid seeds

I also ordered some seeds last week from Thailand (through ebay). I am not sure if that will work out or not, but I figured it was worth a try. I ordered the following: dendrobium unicum, dendrobium draconis, dendrobium secundum and dendrobium aggregatum (lindleyi). I will let you know how that turns out.

Orchid Notebook

Hello and welcome to my orchid notebook. This is a place that I post information about my experience in growing orchids.