Quote Originally Posted by coeruleo View Post
i think that's cool. everyone's gotta start somewhere. i've seen a few flasks for sale listed as 'contaminated' and wonder how much of a problem that really is. aslo wondering how many offered to be sent removed from their flask were also 'contaminated' and not listed as such? i need to read up on this now. i've gotten a few seedling size orchids lately, and i figure, they are fresh out of a flask, so if i see a flask of something really cool i might try it, since i could always sell the extras....
Ummm....I personally wouldn't go anywhere near a flask labeled "contaminated." Think of how frustrating it is to try and "fix" an adult orchid that's being attacked by fungus...now imagine it with teensy little green specks. Not going anywhere NEAR that. If they're being sent "already deflasked," then they should theoretically be in compots, and contamination would no longer be an issue, because they'd now be growing out in the open, and it would be obvious to the buyer if they were sick.

You mentioned that you have purchased seedling sized orchids recently. Good for you! I love seedlings. They're fun to nurture and pamper, and I get a great amount of satisfaction from raising them. But actually, the seedlings you buy are not "fresh out of the flask." There are a few stages to deflasking. Once you get all the tiny plantlets out of the flask and clean all the goo off them, you have to put the viable-looking ones in compots (community pots). They're put in compots because the plants are so tiny and so accustomed to growing in close proximity to each other, compots give them the best chance of survival. If they were to be separated immediately into individual pots, most would die.

So, the growers pack anywhere from 5 to 10 plantlets in sphagnum moss, in a 2" to 4" pot (give or take a few plantlets), and you can buy them that way as a "compot." This would be the closest thing to "fresh out of the flask." Once the plantlets have been growing together for a few months, they will begin to get big and strong enough to be transferred into their own pots. I think that's when they are officially labelled "seedlings."

So anything you buy that's a "seedling," has already been deflasked, cleaned up, grown with its siblings in a community pot for several weeks, then transplanted into its own pot and observed to make sure it's strong enough to survive solo. Then it can be sold as a seedling. OH, and of course, any type of bacterial contamination anywhere in the process can turn an entire flask to goo or kill a compot of babies, so everything needs to be done in a very sterile environment. Easy-peasy, right?

So, do you still think I'm not nuts? LOL

HOWEVER, there WAS one factor that made me decide that I absolutely wanted to try doing this. I was reading a particular blog I follow about a guy who is just way too crazy about his plants (PM me if you'd like to know about the blog), and he mentioned that there is a company that offers flasking services for people who can't do it themselves. Basically, you collect the seeds from the pods, you send them away, the company sends you a letter of receipt with some information about the viability of your seeds, and then they go ahead and flask them and incubate them for you. When your flask is ready, you will receive your flask of plantlets in the mail, and it is then your job to deflask and compot them. This is nice because deflasking seems to be the part with the least amount of room for error in my opinion...I'm pretty confident I could manage that if I had to.

So, armed with this information, I know that even if I can't manage flasking at home, at least I have another option. I'll send you a PM with the name of the guy's blog. He's got some GREAT stuff on there about the "sex lives" of orchids...I've learned quite a lot! Fascinating stuff!