Phal gigantea flasks arrived & De-flasked

[Ron]

Hi My Phal gigantea flasks arrived & I have De-flasked them
Flask 1 is P. gigantea ( Jumbo Jolin X Jumbo Explorer)
2nd is P. gigantea (Jambo Pandora X Jambs Orchids)
Both from Jumbo Orchids.

Interesting thing I expected only 1 leaf on each plant, but as you can see more than one leaf.
Will be interesting to see how they grow.
Cheerio and a very happy grower

[orchidaddict789]

very nice healthy orchids! So cute

[Cmk]

Am I right to assume these are baby orchids? They come in a glass flask? Is it better to buy like this rather than mature blooming plants?

[vegan]

Wow... Good to see your baby..
Are water them everyday?
I live in tropical country. I have my phal baby in tree fern.
I water them every morning, the result is i lost all of their roots. The roots were rot. Fiuhh..

How long it takes to be mature and blooming?

[psyc1210]

Awesome Ron! Can't wait to see them grow for you!

[Emma Grey]

They're so cute!

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Cmk

Am I right to assume these are baby orchids? They come in a glass flask? Is it better to buy like this rather than mature blooming plants?

Hi these are very young baby P. gigantea seedlings, 15 in a flask for US$30 or $2 a plant.
These are shared with several of my mates!
Takes a few years to grow and flower but eventuallly I will have about 8 plants for less then the price of 1 small plant.
Plus lots of fun waiting and seeing them grow to maturity.
My fun part of the hobby!
If I could find a mature P. gigantea in flower in Australia I would expect to pay more than us$100 minium for it

[Ron]

Originally Posted by vegan

Wow... Good to see your baby..
Are water them everyday?
I live in tropical country. I have my phal baby in tree fern.
I water them every morning, the result is i lost all of their roots. The roots were rot. Fiuhh..

How long it takes to be mature and blooming?

Hi, these are in 1/2 to 3/4 inch CoCo nuggets in a seedling tray, I will try and water them about every 4 to 5 days or so, mist often untill they settle in.
Then water when the CoCo nuggets get nearly dry.
Trial and error as I have not grow P. gigantea before but will treat them like any other Phal species seedlings.
Flower, been told 3 to 4 years if all goes well, by then the leafs should be 3 feet long!
Ah, the fun of waaaaiiiittttttgggg!

[vegan]

Can't wait to see the progress..
I hope you will post the update.. :-)

[orchids4me]

Hi Ron!! They look great!
These ones are slow growers and take years to bloom from what I've read. And I have seedlings also and boy they are right!!! Lol. These guys don't like water to sit on their leaves and I've seen them grown tipped at an angle when large on bigleaf orchids web site a while back and some info there on them.
Good luck with them Ron!!!
Emmaye

[Brooke]

Originally Posted by Ron

Will be interesting to see how they grow.

They will grow S L O W !

If you are lucky they will bloom in 7-10 years but they will be worth the wait. A blooming size gigantea here in the states sell for $250 and UP. They look great, good luck.

Brooke

[catasetum-ian]

Originally Posted by Ron

Hi these are very young baby P. gigantea seedlings, 15 in a flask for US$30 or $2 a plant.
These are shared with several of my mates!
Takes a few years to grow and flower but eventualllyIi will have about 8 plants for less then the price of 1 small plant.
Plus lots of fun waiting and seeing them grow to maturity.
My fun part of the hobby!
If I could find a mature P. gigantea in flower in Australia I would expect to pay more than us$100 minium for it

100% agree on the fun part seeing and waiting them to mature. when they grow into those beautiful giants and blooms, every single moment of the waiting pays off.
pretty cheap for USD2 per plant. good deal!

[Cmk]

I don't think I have enough patience but I admire you for growing them.

[jpyerry]

Good luck with them, I am sure they will be magnificent when they finally bloom. I can't imagine the feeling of accomplishment you will have when they do! Phal. gigantea was the first species Phal. that I wanted when I decided to try the species, it wasn't the first one that I bought, but it was the first one I killed (to date it is the only completely healthy orchid that I managed to kill). I'm sure you will have better luck with yours. I hope you share the documentation of them growing up throughout the years.

Justin

[Ron]

They will grow S L O W !
If you are lucky they will bloom in 7-10 years but they will be worth the wait. A blooming size gigantea here in the states sell for $250 and UP. They look great, good luck.
Brooke

Hi, have been told that and from all the research I have done, seems a long wait, but the whole appeal is the beautiful big green leaf it will eventually grow into.
flowers than a big bonus!

A blooming size gigantea here in the states sell for $250 and UP

Never seen one for sale in Australia, even small plants

These guys don't like water to sit on their leaves and I've seen them grown tipped at an angle when large on bigleaf orchids web site a while back and some info there on them.
Good luck with them Ron!!!
Emmaye

Hi Emmaye.
I was originally planing to mount them on small mounts, then as they grew tack them onto bigger mounts.
When they were deflasked, the roots were thick and only about 1 inch long on the biggest plant.
So for the time being I will leave them in the chuncky CoCo nuggets until I see bigger roots

A big fun learning process

[englandfx]

strange....leaves look very light in color...like almost lime green/yellow...
hmm maybe the massive amount of light would contribute to leaves looking so pale? O.o

[Ron]

Originally Posted by englandfx

strange....leaves look very light in color...like almost lime green/yellow...
hmm maybe the massive amount of light would contribute to leaves looking so pale? O.o

Had the camera flask on, see if this is more natural, they are a nice deep green colour

[Daethen]

Wow, those are really healthy looking.

[plantloverlisa]

Those look great Ron, I am sure you will have no problem with them as you do a great job growing.

[Anton]

How long do you leave them in the compots Ron ?

[Bolero]

Very nice Ron, I haven't touched my flasks yet. I may have to start today.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Anton

How long do you leave them in the compots Ron ?

Good question Anton.
Usually I have been leaving all the species about 6 to 12 months in pots or community pots before mounting them.
As I have been informed, they are slow growers.
As soon as the roots start to get about 2 inches long and new root and leaf growth become evident.
I will then look at mounting them.
At the moment I am thinking spring 2012, unless they grow quickly!

Very nice Ron, I haven't touched my flasks yet. I may have to start today.

These were handed to me on thursday, 1 flask was tumbled and not much agar.
I love to get them into their new home ASAP.
Best of luck with your flasks!

[catasetum-ian]

Originally Posted by Ron

Had the camera flask on, see if this is more natural, they are a nice deep green colour

Hi Ron,
just need to asked about the coconut chip media that you used for these babies. so far had you face any fungal or mold problem with these. how do you maintain them in CHC? once i planted most of my phals and bulbos in these and had a very bad experience with it.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by catasetum-ian

Hi Ron,
just need to asked about the coconut chip media that you used for these babies. so far had you face any fungal or mold problem with these. how do you maintain them in CHC? once i planted most of my phals and bulbos in these and had a very bad experience with it.

I have been using them for about 3 years plus now, no great problems so far.
The secret for me is to use the chunky 12 to 18mm (large) types.
Thats about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch, I use them for deflasking even though it may seem to be too large, but works fine for me.
I let them nearly dry out between waterings, in winter to bone dry.
They re-wet very easy!
So far no fungil or mould problems.
I have all my Phalls, Paph. Sarcochilus, Dendrobium bigibums, Vandas etc in them and so far nothing but very good growth.

[catasetum-ian]

Originally Posted by Ron

I have been using them for about 3 years plus now, no great problems so far.
The secret for me is to use the chunky 12 to 18mm (large) types.
Thats about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch, I use them for deflasking even though it may seem to be too large, but works fine for me.
I let them nearly dry out between waterings, in winter to bone dry.
They re-wet very easy!
So far no fungil or mould problems.
I have all my Phalls, Paph. Sarcochilus, Dendrobium bigibums, Vandas etc in them and so far nothing but very good growth.

thanks for the tips, perhaps i would retry with CHC again. by the way, any difference between commercial grade CHC and those prepared in DIY method? coz coconut is abundant around my area.
thanks.

[Ron]

thanks for the tips, perhaps i would retry with CHC again. by the way, any difference between commercial grade CHC and those prepared in DIY method? coz coconut is abundant around my area.
thanks.

Hi Ian.
I suppose no difference, although they "Claim" the comercial CoCos are grown inland away from the coastal salt water and watered with fresh water!
Also Claim they contain less salt then the common coastal grown ones.
You could chop up your own and rinse and dry and rinse seveal time to try and lower the salt content in them if possible.
Otherwise go for it.

[catasetum-ian]

Originally Posted by Ron

Hi Ian.
I suppose no difference, although they "Claim" the comercial CoCos are grown inland away from the coastal salt water and watered with fresh water!
Also Claim they contain less salt then the common coastal grown ones.
You could chop up your own and rinse and dry and rinse seveal time to try and lower the salt content in them if possible.
Otherwise go for it.

thanks for the info Ron