experimenting with flasking media

[catasetum-ian]

Interesting thread!!! I have tried flasking myself and I did get germination and have gone on to my first replate with cymbidium seeds from green pod. I used P6668. I use the same medium for my sowing and replates but use different formulas. For sowing it is 13.5 g P6668+5g sugar+7.5g agar. For my replates I use 20g P6668+5g sugar+25g mashed banana+7.5g agar. I pollinated in early February of 2012 and sowed them on August 2012. I replated once since then about two months back and the largest seedling is about 1.5 cm tall. I am so excited!!

P.S: I didn't have to adjust the pH as it was within the acceptable range. I used narrow range pH strips to determine the pH. Also remember to test the pH while the solution is cool. Do not add the agar while boiling.

thanks for the info, i assume your formula is for one liter preparation?
my p668 just arrived two weeks ago, there is not sugar in the preparation that i got. so should i add the 5 gram sugar? however the preparation contains 8gm gelling agent but the p668 is 24gm for one liter preparation

[PreSam]

Yes, it is for a litre of water. My product did not contain any gelling agent. It is always better to buy the gelling agent separately. I believe sugar is usually added. Did you check the product online to see if it contains sugar? I got this formula off another forum and it worked for me. I specifically do not know how much sugar to add otherwise. Hope somebody can help you. My product was P6668. You can PM me and I can tell you the name of the company.

[catasetum-ian]

Yes, it is for a litre of water. My product did not contain any gelling agent. It is always better to buy the gelling agent separately. I believe sugar is usually added. Did you check the product online to see if it contains sugar? I got this formula off another forum and it worked for me. I specifically do not know how much sugar to add otherwise. Hope somebody can help you. My product was P6668. You can PM me and I can tell you the name of the company.

thx. the label did not mentioned there is any sugar in it. i think i will follow your steps. and from the gross calculation, your sowing medium is actually half strength. will try to add the 5 grams sugar....i got exactly the 5gm brown sugar sachet. many thanks

here is the label of the p668 i got

[PreSam]

There is one problem though...if you halve the strength, the gelling agent is going to be halved too so you will have to replace the lost gelling agent which is about 4g of agar. I would suggest you go ahead with the strength they suggest. Next time you buy, get something without agar and get your agar separately. It doesn't spoil, so you can use it for a long time as long as it is tightly sealed.

[catasetum-ian]

There is one problem though...if you halve the strength, the gelling agent is going to be halved too so you will have to replace the lost gelling agent which is about 4g of agar. I would suggest you go ahead with the strength they suggest. Next time you buy, get something without agar and get your agar separately. It doesn't spoil, so you can use it for a long time as long as it is tightly sealed.

thanks for the suggestion. initially i decided to buy the one with gelling agent because i do not have a mini scale with me, nor a pH meter. basically i am just doing a 'laymen flasking' because i just like to experiment with things and also to learn new stuff. thanks ver much for all the valuable info, very much appreciated.

[catasetum-ian]

hi,

finally i got a chance to had my first try using commercial media p668.
i had four mother flask, two with only prrg and 5gm sugar per liter, another one is 6 drops lemon juice per liter and another one is 3 drops lemon juice per liter. but i think i spoiled the biggie motehr flask (the one with gold cap) when i open it the second time to add in additional media because the next day a lot of happy white plague bloom in it. the rest of the flask i did not reopen to add in anything so still remains "ok" (keeping my finger cross)

[catasetum-ian]

my first batch of the catasetum seedling with medium P668.

initially saw some "activity" like swelling of the seed clumps, then they grew slightly bigger and today i can see greenish area. i think it has germinated! the pics are a little bit blurry with my digital camera, sorry for that. i dun think my slr can do a better job because it is the standard lens that came with it.

[catasetum-ian]

forgot to ask, when is the best time to do re platting. coz i squirt in too much seeds in this one and it is a small bottle. many thanks in advance

[coeruleo]

what an amazing thread. i've wanted to try this myself, but it seems so daunting. i emailed a person selling flasking medium, and he was sort of rude about just how terribly difficult it is and asked if i had an autoclave (does anyone???) as you cannot do this without one supposedly. he wouldn't event try to suggest which of the 30 or so flasking mediums he offered i should try. he also asked where i was planning on getting the mycorrhizal fungus that was required... these things germinate in jungles in decidedly non-sterile nature, i just don't see how flasking has to be so damn technical.

[Scorpio55]

I experimented with home-made mediums and believe me, you can do it yourself. I also obtained some commercial mediums. I have sown about 50 species now, and some germinate better on my home-made ones, some on the commercial ones, and some did not germinate at all so far. I keep a log, so if you are interested, just let me know, I'll give you the URL to my site. I have started this because I read on a thai site that people at home could do this ( just to be able to get a source of living), so it had to be quite simple. I have to be honest: I had contaminations in my jars, but never that much that I wanted to quit. I have had much fun observing what little changes in my mediums made in the growing plants. Life is too short to find that "perfect" medium. So if you would like to start: just do it but be aware of the fact that it works as an addiction: I have over 600 jars after 1,5 year.......