| I would be wary about buying orchid flasks on e-bay. There are many reputable growers and labs that sell flasks by mail order, so who you get them from depends on what you want. If this is your first experience with flasks, I would suggest that you talk to the vendor first so that you know what to expect in terms of number of plants per flask, maturity, method of shipment, etc. If possible, buy from someone who guarantees the flasks. Start with plants that are easy to deflask, like vandas, oncidiums, phals, or paphs. Expect some attrition in the beginning. It's a strange process. I've been deflasking for a while, but it took some time before my plants routinely all lived. The strange thing is that I don't think I really do anything much differently than I did in the beginning. It's almost as if the baby orchids can sense that you're a novice and say, "ah -hah! A newbie! we're all going to die". Anyway, good luck with it, and I hope your flask babies behave well. |