orchid flasks

[ilanalon]

hi everybody
will someone tell me where can i buy flasks with littl orchids?

[Ak_Orchid]

You can find them all over the internet. The price of the flasks will very depending on the species of the orchid, the size of the flask (the number of plants) and the grower.

[pikevi]

I bought a few flasks at orchid shows.

The highest price I paid was $20cdn for zygopetalums.

As Ak_orchid said there are many offers on Ebay, but I personally have not bought any online.

Good luck

[Ellen]

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.

[Ak_Orchid]

While I agree with Ellen to be wary about buying flasks from e-bay, however I've actually had very good expiriances with many growers that sell on e-bay. You want to be able to see a pic of the flask if they're selling to see how big the plants are and aprox. how many plants there are. Are the plants big enough to survive being shaken around during shipping?

I started buying flasks VERY shortly after starting to grow mature orchids. It is a strange process and takes some time if you're putting them in plug trays, and less time if putting them into community pots. Personally I've had really good results from individual plug trays, and pretty good results from community pots. I've never had much trouble with flasks. I've heard people in this site talk about flasks like it's the last thing you want to try, however I've found it quite fun and rewarding.

[Ellen]

AK, I agree that it should be possible to get decent flasks on e-bay if the seller is willing to provide a good photo that will allow you to assess the number, condition and maturity of the plants. This goes for all regular vendors too, if you haven't dealt with them before. I also agree that flasks are really not much trouble and extremely rewarding if you've got the space and patience to wait for the babies to grow up. I think that when people get turned off of growing from flasks it's probably because they fuss with the plants too much and then give up before the learning process has taken place. If you've got the space, plugs are probably the way to go for many types of orchids. I use compots simply to save space, but I've noticed that when plants are potted out individually or mounted right out of flask, they grow faster than the plants in the compots.

[pikevi]

I cannot speak with authority on this subject but once one passes the process of the initial transfer , either to the compots or trays it is pretty well routine, I guess.

My deflasked plants are still 'green' but no signs of growth yet. I hope a few will take root and grow soon. I was told that it could even take 1-2 years for them to grow!!. But my first attempt was with flasks that were not in good condition. It was more of a learning process than serious attempt to grow them.

Good luck with your flask purchasing

[Pratibha]

Originally Posted by ilanalon

hi everybody
will someone tell me where can i buy flasks with littl orchids?

I have recently ordered some baby orchids from ebay. I wanted to experiment. According to the seller he will deflask them before sending and I'm supposed to repot as soon as they arrive. Anybody has any idea how to pot them? Will 2" pot with fine bark medium is alright? What do I have to special?

[fred]

Pratibha

welcome to the forum

I have found a link that may answer your question

I hope it helps you

http://members.iinet.net.au/~barryg/...ng_orchids.htm

I am sure other members can help you as well

When do they come out of the flask?

http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/gen...d-orchids.html

[pikevi]

Welcome to the forum Pratibha.

[flowerchild]

Pikevi, how are your flasks doing? What type of orchids are they, and are you ready to send some my way yet??????

[pikevi]

flowerchild: I de-flasked only three of them. Zygopetalums were perhaps in good shape. Two other noid's( Brassia and cattleya, I think) were in very poor condition. They seem to be doing alright since many say it may take 2-3 years for them to grow and bloom.

I did post the photos somewhere in here recently but can't find it

Will tell you the thread when I find it.

As for giving away the 'babies' I have not decided yet!! If I have children in the mean time , I will have to decide which baby(ies) will go out first

3 more to be deflasked are : Bulbophyllum rothschildianum, Brassia Edvita Loo and Brassia Spider Gold.

I am hoping to deflask them this weekend, if I finish my vanda baskets( bought the slats of wood). But I have no clue as to where to start

[DDS2007]

God you must all be soooo patient to get those little thing grow for 2-3 years at least before they flower!

but i think it feels good when u finally fulfill that, makes u feel thses orchids are truely "your own"

i might try that someday

[pikevi]

Patience??

What is that?

Had I known that it would be that long for them to grow, I may not have ventured into it. Or, may be, I may have tried it out of curiosity

We will see if they survive in the first place

[DDS2007]

pikevi ,

how about u sending me one of your baby zygos, and i promise to treat her like a queen , so u can teach me some patience ?

plus i can't find any zygos where i live so this could be considered charity to a fellow orchidmanic person ! (did i mention it can be deducted from your tax? )

did i mention i'm half canadian , too ? lived in Toronto for a while

[pikevi]

DDS2007:

Oh!! It is Toronto's loss , I am sure.

I hope some of them survive. It is hard to find Zygpetalums here too. I bought one ,fairly dilapidated, a few weeks (months?) ago. I have re-potted it and waiting to see if it has the will to live!!. It is a Zygopetalum Mackayi 'Robusta' and had two 'yellowed' ps.bulbs and a small new growth starting at the base of one.

No, cannot be claimed on tax return unless I register my hobby as a business

I bought a few more orchids yesterday and I will post the list under fred's thread - new acquisitions.

[tom499]

I think i will try flasks soon. I cannot afford to buy full size orchids anymore!

i just need to get some physan 20, i have a propagator, then i will buy 20 flasks of everything and turn my parents dining room into a breeding centre..

muhahahaha

[tom499]

back to the real world

any recommended sites? I'm in the UK, but flasks can travel the world cant they

[Ak_Orchid]

They can travel great distances. Most of my flasks have come from outside the country. I'd start off with a few flasks though. 20 flasks is a lot of orchids, and you have to make sure you have enough room for them to grow in to. They end up taking up a ton of space when they get bigger. Not sure on flasks in your area that would be resonably priced.

[tom499]

£7.50 for 6 to 10 plants is the UK price line

can i get a better deal than that?

[kmarch]

I think we've overlooked one very important point in answering ilanalon's original question. Check out ilanalon's location, Israel. Almost any flask ilanalon purchases online will be an international order and that means CITES permits and possibly others.

[tom499]

That is true, would that mean the same for me ordering plants from USA? I want some paph flasks but i havent found any so far, i hear there relatively easy to grow, but if theres a paph fanatic here *cough* kmarch *cough* i would be glad if you could fill me in

[DDS2007]

i heard paphs grown from flasks take nine years to flower! ready to dedicate all that time tom ?

[tom499]

i'll be 26 thats a long time. i read that 2-3 years for most orchids, with phals being as short as 15 months to get to a reasonable size.

[kmarch]

For you Tom, in the UK, yes. You would need CITES permits in order to import orchids from the US.

[kmarch]

DDS,

That's an overgeneralization and not completely accurate. Some Brachypetalum species can bloom as little as 3 years out of the flask, the same with some of the new Brachy crosses being remade by Orchids Limited.

I have Maudiae-type seedlings that I expect will bloom in another 2 years, which will make them 4-5 years out of flask.

On the other end we have rothschildianum which on average blooms something like 15 years out of flask.

[tom499]

I have heard you dont need CITES for seeds. Is this correct? and would growing paphs from seeds be a good idea? i have attempted to self pollenate my white paph as one of the flowers was starting to fall

[BillC]

Kevin, I did some research on CITES and came up with the following relating to orchids:

Artificially propagated plants of Appendix
I and II species and hybrids, sealed
in sterile flasks, are exempt from CITES
importation restrictions. In short, sterile
flasks do not require CITES documentation
for entry into the United States.

If this is the case for importing flasks into the US, then I would suspect that it might also be the case worldwide. It would probably need an affirmation from the CITES board but I have no idea how to make the approach. Bill

[Ellen]

Pratibha,

You may have already received your deflasked plants, but how you plant them out depends on what type they are and how large. Many paphs and phals can be potted individually in a bark mix right out of the flask, but some other types do better in compots. For any seedling, it is important to keep it moist. I generally prefer sphag for seedlings (including phals) or a sphag-perlilte mix.