Orchid Flasks - the risk....

[Bolero]

This arrived for me on Friday, as you can imagine I was disappointed as all the plants are immature and I had to throw half away. Flasks don't normally arrive in this condition but I don't think the postman took very good care of this one, as most plant have no roots I doubt many will be saved.....my only advice is to make sure the flask is ready for deflasking when you order it, otherwise if the plants aren't ready then they just won't survive. If the flask is ready for potting up then it won't be a huge problem....

[syndywindy]

What a shame. Were you able to salvage any of the plants? And what orchid was in the flask?

[rcb]

Yes, that is too bad. It does look like a couple are big enough though - so there is hope. Did you contact the vendor?

[Bolero]

Yes about 5 should survive, I should try and save more but it's difficult when they have no roots at all.

The hybrid is:

Slc Fire Fantasy ‘H&R’ x Slc Dal’s Good One ‘Flaxton Stripe’

Which really has potential. The vendor is offering to send me plants from a compot he has so I will wait for those hopefully.

[fred]

that really is a shame Darren

I hear what you are saying about the postman
I think some of them are retired footballers

lets hope this gets sorted out for you

[Forever-mango]

Thats really a bummer

When i recieved my flask, it had Vermiculite in the flask.

[syndywindy]

Having never gotten a flask but considering it, I'm curious as to the process of removing the seedlings, how it's done, if you have to take any special precautions when handling them, readying them for compots etc. Could you please explain what you do when you get the flask. Thanks

[Bolero]

I just rinse the media off the plants and then pot them up in 50mm pots.

Some people let them sit and dry for a short period before they put them in pots. But I am not sure it makes much difference. I will have to try that, I have 8 flasks on order so that will allow me to spend more time experimenting.

As for special handling you just need to be careful not to break the roots and the leaves.

[kmarch]

Hey Bolero, Was this part of your most recent flask order? I'm wondering if this is the condition we can expect our paphs to arrive in....

[Bolero]

No this came from somewhere else, I have been assured that our order will not arrive in this condition.

That's part of the reason I panicked though.....lol.

[digitalgate]

my goodness , this is a mess. Normally , the plant has little root when it arrive at my plant. it is expected that the plant acclimatised to my condition before i deflask the plant. It could be anything from 3 weeks to 3 month. I would put the rootless plant resting on top of moss and see it grow any root at all and keep my finger cross.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Bolero

No this came from somewhere else...

If we had a "big sigh of relief" smiley, I'd put about 12 of them here.....

[exasperatus2002]

I hope that doesnt happen to my flasks when they come! Great now I wont be able to sleep till sometime in spring.