flask decontamination followup
Jan 28, 2010 Orchid Propagation, orchids
So, that didn’t work to good. The flask that I tried to decontaminate blossomed into a flask of mold. Oh, well, it was worth a try. If I have another one with contamination, maybe I will try something a little different.
Little Plants
Dec 18, 2009 Orchid Propagation
I checked on the flasks today. I could see little plants forming. They sure are tiny. Anyhow, it looks like the encyclia oncidioides, encyclia parviflora, brassavola cucullata and the brassavola nadosa all are starting to germinate. The only bad thing is that one of the brassavola cucullata flasks has some contamination. It looks like it started around the seeds, so the seeds probably weren’t disinfected enough (I will try a little more peroxide next time).
Little Orchid Plants
yucky mold
Tags: brassavola, encyclia, flasking, seed
getting more flasks ready
Dec 5, 2009 Orchid Propagation, orchids
I sterilized some more flasks so that I can plant some more seeds. I prepared 8 mason jars and 4 baby food jars. I decided to try the baby food jars because it looked like it would be easier to see inside them. The small wide-mouth mason jars are a little difficult to look into because they are so short.
flasking – second set
Nov 27, 2009 Orchid Propagation
I made some more flasks today. I managed to make 6 more. They include 2 flasks of the following: encyclia parviflora, brassavola cucullata, brasavola nadosa. I pretty much did it the same way as my first batch. The only major difference was that I used a little less peroxide for the disinfecting (10 drops instead of 20). This made it so that I ended up with less water in the flasks.
Flasking – the process
Nov 15, 2009 Orchid Propagation
My flasking process. This only covers the actual process I used to sow my orchid seeds. Note that there are some preparation steps that you need to take before you are at this point (obtaining seed, obtaining sowing materials, preparing the flasks). Anyhow, I hope this helps you all out.
Prepare the seeds. The night before I sow the orchid seeds, I prepare my seeds. I separate a small quantity of seeds and put them into a small test tube. It is difficult to tell how many seeds, but I estimate a couple hundred or so. I then place a few drops (10-15) or water (distilled or Reverse Osmosis works fine) in the test tube. I let this sit over night.
Seed sowing day.
I set up my glove box with all my supplies and orchid seeds. The first thing I did was I put about 20 drops (more or less) of Hydrogen Peroxide into each test tube of orchid seeds. This is used to disinfect the seeds. The items I put in the glove box were: 8 mason jars (my flasks), my spray bottle of IPA (alcohol), 8 small glass pipettes (with the little rubber bulbs off of them), a test tube holder with the test tubes of seeds and a small bowl for used water/hydrogen peroxide.
I place my hands (no gloves) inside the box and spray down the inside with the IPA. I give each of my hands a spray also. I spray the pipets. Then I put the little rubber bulb on each of them. I let that sit for about 15 minutes while I take each test tube and swirl the seeds around in the peroxide.
Next, I take the rings off of the mason jars and spray the inside of the glove box with the IPA again. Oh, yeah, it is a good idea to do this in a well ventilated area (open the windows or something). I carefully remove the lids from 2 mason jars. I sow 2 flasks of each variety in case of contamination. I use a new pipette for each flask. I dip the pipette into the seeds/hydrogen peroxide and remove some excess (and put it in the bowl). If you keep the amount of water and peroxide low in the first place, you can skip that step. I fill the pipette with the seeds and peroxide. Then I drop about 10 drops into the flask. I have tried just making drops and then some where I swirled the mixture around in the flask a little bit. I will have to wait to see if either works better.
I close up the flask and tighten the rings. Then I move on to the next variety. If your aquarium is small, you can move the flasks out at that time and then just remember to re-spray a little IPA on your hands and your work area – this has worked fine for me.
For my first flasking, I used the following seeds:
encyclia alta (from the Orchid Seedbank Project – #3153)
encylia oncidioides (OSP #3695)
dendrobium secundum (ebay special)
dendrobium unicum (another ebay special)
