necessary tools:
necessary articles of consumption:
You can find the sources of supply at Equipment.
When should I deflask my seedlings ?
Let your seedlings grow on media as long as they donīt harm themself and they grow well. As bigger they are as easier they survive deflasking. The best season for deflasking is spring.
seedlings big enough for deflasking
Important to know
Orchid seedlings are raised under sterile conditions on media containing all necessary nutrients to reduce the in vitro time to a minimum. When we take the seedlings out of the sterile enviroment (the flask) they get in contact with a lot of stress causing things (fungi, bacteria, ...). The seedlings need some time to acclimatize to this harder conditions and we should try to do that as mild as possible. Before you start deflasking you should find out how your orchids grows in wildlife and how you have to grow them.
Plants without water storage tissues (e.g. Masdevallias), which live in areas with constant humid conditions, require more humidity than succulent orchids (e.g. Cattleyas, Laelias).
Most seedlings die because of to much water !!!
Before you start to take the seedligns out of their flask you should prepare the seedling mix. We prefer the following media:
1 part |
pine tree bark |
1 part |
moss |
1 part |
charchoal |
1 part |
soil from the forest (e.g. soil made of beech leaves) |
seedling mix
When you finish media preparation you can start to moisten a piece of kitchen paper. Next prepare the 0,05% disinfectant solution by dissolving a 0,5 g tablet in 1 L water. Now you can open the flask and take the seedlings out without demaging their roots. If you have a bottle with a thin neck it is best to cut off the bottom of the flask by using a thin chisel.
After taking the seedlings out of the flasks you should remove all the media where the seedlings are growing in. Warm water (about 25 degrees celsius) helps you to remove small media pieces. After cleaning the seedling try to seperate them without demaging them. If it is not possible, donīt worry - leave them together. Next put the seedlings for 15 minutes in your disinfectant solution. While the seedlings are swimming in the disinfectant solution you can prepare your community pots. First of all put about 2 cm styrofoam pieces into the pot (drainage). Next put seedling mix into the pot till the pot is filled for two thirds (about 70%). When the 15 minutes of disinfection elapsed you can start to pot the seedlings with some additional seedling mix. Orchid babies want to be potted close together.
community pot
Further care
An indoor green house with adjustable air supply is very useful for acclimatization because you can increase the humidity step by step. When you use such an indoor green house make shure that no water remains in it and enough fresh air gets into it otherwise the seedlings will die soon. If you are not shure to water them or not itīs better wait one more day.
indoor green house
Some links to other deflasking instructions on the internet: