hardy
Well-Known Member
Hi, I have not posted for a looong time.
About three years ago I bought my first paph flask. I had no experience at all
with seedlings just out of flask. Time really flies, few days ago the very first
flower opened. I've been quite lucky with my first flasks, thought I'll share
my experience with an albino maudiae type hybrid.
I bought the flask in a show in Dec 2007. The parentage is Alma Gevaert
'Green Dome' SM/TPS X Hsinying Citron 'Ching Hua Giant' GM/TPS (now
registered as Hilo Citron). There were a number of Hsinying Citron siblings on
show and they were stunning. The flask was expensive at US$100 but I just
had to buy it on impulse.
I searched the internet for deflasking techniques and was tempted to try the
agar-on method described on ladyslipper.com. But since I was going to grow
them under lamps, I decided to clean and separate the seedlings to give
them more space and light. The plants spent the first year under lamps, and
the first bloom opens 2 yrs and 9 months out of flask. Here's some pics and
growing details:
*****First 4 months*****
- Compot, with a mix of perlite and sphagnum loosely placed around the
roots, with a topping of perlite to prevent algae
- Grown in a toppled fish tank (40-cm size) with cling wrap cover to give
extra humidity
- Light: 26 W (2 X 13W compact fluorescent tubes, Philips, 8500K)
- Temp: 18-25 centigrade (air conditioned room-cold weather outside)
- Watering once in about 2 weeks with fertilizer solution at 1/10
recommended strength; I kept the medium between quite wet (roughly
halway to saturation) and almost dry
- Occasional leaching
The fish-tank environment for the compots:
The compots at the end of the 4 months:
*****next 9 month*****
- Still in compots
- Lighting: 27W Philips compact fluorescent lamps (8500K), roughly double
light intensity than in fish tank
- Temp: 25-28 centigrade (air-conditioned room, warm weather outside)
- Humidity not measured, but I guess around 60%
- Watering with fertilizer at 1/6 strength when the medium is almost dry until quite wet
- Leaching after 3 fertigations
This is how the plants looked a year out of flask (upper left corner; three
seedlings were big enough to fill 4-inch pots):
*****13th months onwards*****
- Grown in a rain shelter, under corrugated clear plastic and 2 layers of 30% shadecloth
- In clay orchid pots, with bird nest fern root medium (Asplenium nidus;
boiled, washed, and separated into small chunks), loosely wrapped around
the roots
- Temperature:
6 months of rainy season: around 28/22 centigrade day/night temp
6 months of dry season: around 28/13-18 centigrade day/night temp
- Daily watering with very dilute fertilizer (1/10 strength), the medium
alternates from wet to just moist, but never soggy for long period due to
the very open nature of the material, and there's some leaching at every
watering too.
This is how the plants look about 2 years out of flask:
At 2 years, the plants were growing vigorously, but no flowering yet.
One of the parents is a giant albino and I guess it may be a polyploid plant.
At 2 years and 9 months: (at the front right corner of bench)
And finally the first bloom a few days ago: Paph. Hilo Citron 'Hardy #1'
Very pretty shape and color, but at 11-cm natural spread, it is smaller than
expected considering its parents. Hope it'll get bigger and better at the next
flowering.
There are a couple more plants showing bud, the rest should follow soon.
It was an impulse buying, and the deflasking involved lots of worrying at the
beginning, but luckily I made the decision to buy. In total there were 27
seedlings and I may just be lucky that I lost only one to rot. Growing
conditions differ, but hopefully the experience I just shared would be useful
esp. for those new to delasking paph seedlings.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks.
About three years ago I bought my first paph flask. I had no experience at all
with seedlings just out of flask. Time really flies, few days ago the very first
flower opened. I've been quite lucky with my first flasks, thought I'll share
my experience with an albino maudiae type hybrid.
I bought the flask in a show in Dec 2007. The parentage is Alma Gevaert
'Green Dome' SM/TPS X Hsinying Citron 'Ching Hua Giant' GM/TPS (now
registered as Hilo Citron). There were a number of Hsinying Citron siblings on
show and they were stunning. The flask was expensive at US$100 but I just
had to buy it on impulse.
I searched the internet for deflasking techniques and was tempted to try the
agar-on method described on ladyslipper.com. But since I was going to grow
them under lamps, I decided to clean and separate the seedlings to give
them more space and light. The plants spent the first year under lamps, and
the first bloom opens 2 yrs and 9 months out of flask. Here's some pics and
growing details:
*****First 4 months*****
- Compot, with a mix of perlite and sphagnum loosely placed around the
roots, with a topping of perlite to prevent algae
- Grown in a toppled fish tank (40-cm size) with cling wrap cover to give
extra humidity
- Light: 26 W (2 X 13W compact fluorescent tubes, Philips, 8500K)
- Temp: 18-25 centigrade (air conditioned room-cold weather outside)
- Watering once in about 2 weeks with fertilizer solution at 1/10
recommended strength; I kept the medium between quite wet (roughly
halway to saturation) and almost dry
- Occasional leaching
The fish-tank environment for the compots:
The compots at the end of the 4 months:
*****next 9 month*****
- Still in compots
- Lighting: 27W Philips compact fluorescent lamps (8500K), roughly double
light intensity than in fish tank
- Temp: 25-28 centigrade (air-conditioned room, warm weather outside)
- Humidity not measured, but I guess around 60%
- Watering with fertilizer at 1/6 strength when the medium is almost dry until quite wet
- Leaching after 3 fertigations
This is how the plants looked a year out of flask (upper left corner; three
seedlings were big enough to fill 4-inch pots):
*****13th months onwards*****
- Grown in a rain shelter, under corrugated clear plastic and 2 layers of 30% shadecloth
- In clay orchid pots, with bird nest fern root medium (Asplenium nidus;
boiled, washed, and separated into small chunks), loosely wrapped around
the roots
- Temperature:
6 months of rainy season: around 28/22 centigrade day/night temp
6 months of dry season: around 28/13-18 centigrade day/night temp
- Daily watering with very dilute fertilizer (1/10 strength), the medium
alternates from wet to just moist, but never soggy for long period due to
the very open nature of the material, and there's some leaching at every
watering too.
This is how the plants look about 2 years out of flask:
At 2 years, the plants were growing vigorously, but no flowering yet.
One of the parents is a giant albino and I guess it may be a polyploid plant.
At 2 years and 9 months: (at the front right corner of bench)
And finally the first bloom a few days ago: Paph. Hilo Citron 'Hardy #1'
Very pretty shape and color, but at 11-cm natural spread, it is smaller than
expected considering its parents. Hope it'll get bigger and better at the next
flowering.
There are a couple more plants showing bud, the rest should follow soon.
It was an impulse buying, and the deflasking involved lots of worrying at the
beginning, but luckily I made the decision to buy. In total there were 27
seedlings and I may just be lucky that I lost only one to rot. Growing
conditions differ, but hopefully the experience I just shared would be useful
esp. for those new to delasking paph seedlings.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks.