Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by! I've included more details and links in the video description for the medium used, prep, green pod maturation times, and some more info. Hope that helps for anyone interested! Happy flasking! 💗🧪🌱
What would you like written? Most of the information for medium prep is linked on external sites that you should be able to run through Google translate more easily?
Link to website of the flasking equipment supplier I used in Europe, which has full instructions for each media preparation: www.patrickpolbosorchids.fr/boutique/fr/ P723- boiled and then placed into containers, pressure cooked on a cooker top pressure cooker on a steam rack at 15PSI for 20-30 minutes. Check your pressure cooker weight to check PSI. Prepped 2 weeks plus in advance, but I don't seem to get any contamination following initial media prep. Contamination comes in at the next stage for me. Link to P723 purchased in bagged quantities here: www.patrickpolbosorchids.fr/boutique/en/in-vitro-culture/366-p723-orchid-seed-sowing-medium-1l.html . Germination could be improved by adding coconut powder or water, but would alter agar % if using water. I would like to try powder next time supplied by the next company below. Next time I will order larger amounts from a lab supply company that sell to individuals: www.generon.co.uk/media-for-plant-tissue-culture-4847/orchid-seed-sowing-medium-873001555.html I use a mix of plastic and glass jars. The large blue top containers are Lidl 'breakfast tubs', which have a decent threading on the screw top lid and seem to have very low contamination- Polypropylene (PP) , so pressure cook-able. I've found this screw cap type of container best. Specimen jars may be ideal - amzn.to/3ntuolm Sealed with- amzn.to/3nxEsdi
🤍🤍We love Dustin Miller alright!!! The kindest guy ever to respond to all the comments on fb 😅😅!! I’ve been pleading for another video 😍!! Annabel.... if there’s one thing I saw in you, you are actually a person who value great manners / standards. Also easily evident in your growing methods and successful outcomes of many projects!! You guys keep us in a beautiful world, despite the personal chaos. And I thank you for that!! 🤍🤍
Aww thankyou Anishka! I hope you are well 💗! Your comment made my day 🤗 Dustin is fantastic, it's great to see someone so into having an understanding of what's happening in the actual plant, it helps us to learn more, and sharing that knowledge freely 🙂
Ahhhh Annabel-you're so wonderful! Thank you for the very kind words (and encouragement). I'm sitting over here all misty eyed hearing that - haha. I'm thrilled you're finding success with this too and it's been my pleasure to talk about your process, collaborate and share experience. I'm rooting for you from afar :)
Thankyou Dustin! Only the truth, you've been really helpful and I'm very grateful! It's really helpful to have someone experienced to bounce questions around with 🙂💗 Thankyou!
I've never have been abble to obtain vanda seeds. The flower always fall of. But I suppose it's because it's some supercross that could be sterils. Also, thank you for sharing, it's nice to see other's experiments.
Wow Annabelle! Really enjoyed watching this, you must be very excited seeing those little green bits appearing! You really have made the average Joe/Jane realise that Orchid sowing is within reach! Thank you so much for sharing 💖💖💖
Love this! You really motivated me to try this myself! It’s so nice to see all of the steps for home flasking. Thank you for documenting your journey 😊
Kudos to you, Annabell! This video gives me an even greater appreciation for people who do this for a living and love of the Orchid genus! What an undertaking! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! 😍
Gosh darn it. I'm continued to be inspired by you. Your enthusiasm is infectious and by sharing your success and failures it makes me want to try new things, expand my collection, get out of my comfort zone. I currently don't have the space to try to grow from seeds but for sure I will do so in the future. Another great informative video. Keep up the amazing work you're doing. Happy growing 💜🌸💜.
Thank you for sharing with us with everything you do with your orchids. It is interesting in how one would sow the seeds from our orchids. However for me that would way to much work. I find it so exciting to seeing the results. Looking forward to the updates of these and just how many orchids you get from this sowing. If I lived in the UK then I would buy the orchids when ready from you so that I can expand my collection but I live across the pond and that would be way too expensive. Enjoyed the video and all that you do. Learned a lot from all your videos. Have a great day.
Thankyou! 🙂 I'm getting a bit addicted to pollinating things now though 😆 I wish brexit weren't a thing, it'll really limit me being able to send baby orchids to other people!
Hard work! What are you gonna do after all the orchids? Sell them? Become millionaire? Hehe. I don’t even know how someone would click dislike for this! Great job!
Wohoo! Great job Annabelle! Can’t wait to see how they go for you and it’s great that you’re developing your own way to flask. I hear there are several different ways to do this and I have barely wrapped my head around which one to do. But alas, flasking will have to be delayed for me as I still need to acquire more equipment and seedpods 😁 Looking forward to your updates
Thankyou! I hope it's useful! Oh haha, it says plumbing tape on the pack so I don't actually know 😂 My mum gave it to me after we moved house as we have a leaking tap that sprays you in the face with water, and I can't quite stretch to replace it yet😂🤦♀️ So I bandaged it up with this tape for now, it's a generic one but it says all purpose plumbing tape on it, I think it may be similar to gorilla tape? But I really don't know 😂 I then proceeded to use it for the flasks and it seems great for that anyway whatever it is! I think any 'water/air proof' tape would probably do 🙂
I was thinking of trying this but it looks so complicated!!! I might buy some seedlings and have a go at deflasking first. But eventually I will get the bits and bobs together.
Great video Annabel! Also wanted to share with you a suggestion for your watering needs, I watched one of your videos and you were using the zero home filtration system and I tried it but unfortunately my TDS is around 750ppm and it lasted for about 8 gallons (Per filter, I tried 4) and it became so acidic it burned some of my roots...Anyway, after extensive research I found the Megahome Water distiller which is a bit pricey at 250.00 US dollars but it has been my solution, it filters 1 gallon of distilled water with a TDS of 0 or 2 on the high end., never needs filters, never affects the PH and the long term savings is definitely worth it. The unit is long lasting and is the only distiller which is UL certified. OMG you would think I was affiliated with the, LOL! Anyway, thanks again for these amazing videos, your content always brightens my day.
Thankyou 🙂 I think maybe you watched an older video before the house move. I'm not sure if you've seen my recent watering videos, but I now have an RO system as well as rainwater collection facilities in the new house.
Hi Annabel, what a an awesome video, I admire your tenacity, doing something so complicated and making it look doable for ordinary people like me with no lab experience 🥼🥽🧪⚗️. But I won’t do it, I would probably mess it up and grow something slimy and dangerous for my health🤢🦠 🧫😂. So in the meantime I will watch your experiments and be happy for you when you’ve achieved growing hundreds little green blobs 👍🏽🍀
I've given it a go inspired by Dustin/HereButNot too, only had one go so far... & possibly, maybe, I might just have some tiny green dots, but not super sure at the moment! My sowing medium is greyish/milky so the contrast is much worse than on these carbon-infused media. It's an Aliceara cross. I think I have contamination in one jar, but out of 5 & on a first go, I think that's pretty good in terms of contam!
Hi Annabel, Thanks for sharing this video. Up to now, I am struggling with the contaminations issues. Hope to see germinations soon. Daniel from France
@@TheOrchidRoom Thanks for your reply. It was not easy to work with the Glovebox. I built a laminar flow box but no improvement. Taking much more precautions but I am still getting too many contaminations. Will continue.
Hey Annabelle, have you ever considered adding a Bunsen burner to your work station? There are some to which you can just attach a butane canister instead of a gas line. With these burners you can sterilise pieces of equipment and produce an updraft that forces airborne contaminants away from your working area. I used these all the time during my PhD for microbiology work. I think they may be more effective than the improvised hood, especially considering that, by the looks of it, there is no air circulation in it. When you open those “doors”, any airborne contaminant may enter the box. Regardless it seems you are having good success! Love your scientific approach! Unrelated- do you have a somewhat recent video recapping your lessons learned and tips regarding semi-hydro? I recently got into the hobby and despite the huge amount of research I’ve done, I managed to miss crucial information about the transition to s/h and ended up transferring plants when they were not ready. Much of the information out there is quite spread out and old videos can be misleading since we naturally learn and adapt as we go. Thanks for what you do!
Thanks for the info. I personally don't see the need since I've eliminated most contamination at this stage, only having contamination introduced in subsequent weeks related to different types of containers used. Seems an unnecessary expense at this stage. I choose to use disposable, sterile plastics instead, so nothing that could benefit from flaming. Interestingly, we don't use bunsen burners in the labs here- PhD Cancer Immunology here, regular and routine laminar flow and tissue culture hood work with primary cells and cell lines. The premise of a glove box is purely as a low contaminant sealed environment, a largely reduced air flow unit. If I was getting contamination, maybe we could say this unit isn't working. But out of 30 flasks recently, 4 have developed contamination around a month later, I believe due to the types of containers used. I'm happy with that success rate for now 🤷♀️ I have rather alot of Semi-Hydro videos, and several playlists, both concise playlists with what I see as key videos, and comprehensive, so if you are interested you can always take a look at those 🙂
ruclips.net/p/PL76ceLYvhJstRwMU7kdVqrjsD2t575EOK Playlist with a selection of semi-hydro conversion videos with lots of tips, many with updates included in the videos 🙃
@@TheOrchidRoom thanks for the quick reply! Yeah that’s what I thought- Bunsen burner would probably be overkill. Here we only use them for bacterial work, cloning, plasmid prep, etc. Any cell work is done in dedicated tissue culture flow hoods as well! Such a coincidence regarding your PhD field of work - I’m also specializing in immuno-oncology (going through a postdoc right now)! Have you graduated yet? When I saw all those lab supplies and your experimental process I knew you had to be at least in the process of getting a PhD😂 keep it up! Gotta go back to binging your videos now haha
Once again another great video. Thank you so much! I always learn something when I watch your videos. I was wondering if you could do a bulbophyllum round-up and update. Maybe a short(or not so short) care guide about what you've learned about their upkeep and needs? I've recently taken an interest in these unique little plants and there isn't a lot of information out there on them. If you could I would be really grateful, if not i understand.🌺🍂
Hi Darcy! I only have one now, they ramble too much for me and got chucked into the greenhouse at the old house, and then had to give them away before the house move as they just get too big for my to grow them. I've kept one division of one that has a shorter rhizome. They need basket culture really unless you want to keep dividing, which means they could do with their own setup/space hanging somewhere, which I just don't have. They also need constant moisture and not to dry out, so it was fine hosing the baskets down in the greenhouse, but less practical for the home for me 🤷♀️ Sorry!
You certainly have the tenacity for this. Contamination is a pain, if I was rich I'd have a small lab with a flow bench ! I also found the re-plating step was more prone to contamination; my solution was to sterilise the mother flask with 70% IPA, where the 30% water part is substituted with 5% H2O2. This mixture burns if you get it on your skin, but it's way more potent than either IPA or peroxide on their own. The down side is that the mixture is unstable and loses potency after a couple weeks, so needs to be made up fresh. It's also good for killing mealy bugs and other pests, and plants don't seem to mind it. I also had a struggle with media for neo seed growing, and ended up making my own. After some trial and error, and a lot of literature research, I found a recipe that works very well for neos and Phals as well. I'm told a lot of commercial growers use "in house recipes" and some of these standard media based on variations of Murishage and Skoog are not as optimised for orchids as we might think. With neos I got hyperhydricity (aka vitrification) of the protocorms on P723; basically they go dark green and glassy. I posted a "way too technical", forum thread which has the recipe I used: www.slippertalk.com/threads/neos-from-seed-a-diy-adventure.44607/ Good luck !
Thanks for the forum link, I will have a read! I'm hoping the P723 will get me further than the 668, medium seems to be a complicated step all on its own! On the full strength P668 I had great germination, and then the seedlings would begin to brown off (assume salt burn since I was using it at the incorrect strength for germination). Hoping I've rescued a few of the vandas, but most of the replate flasks got contaminated. I pulled a few out again, dunked the protocorms in hydrogen peroxide, and replated again using spray bleach. Just as horrible as I remembered it. But so far they protocorms don't seem to have died from the H2O2 dip, and so far no contamination has come through. I'll try the peroxide IPA mix next time! I'm hoping if I can just get the seedlings to a stage with a few leaves and roots, I can grow them on out of the flask. I'm sure I'll run into lots more issues to troubleshoot, and will probably end up altering the medium if you think 723 has issues also. It's such a learning curve, but I'm stubborn 😉😂
@@TheOrchidRoom You would be unlucky to have issues with P723. There are quite a few papers reporting the use of this medium for growing vandas, including the effects of complex additives like coconut water. You might need to add a complex additive like coconut water, banana puree, tomato juice, etc. Orchid seed will germinate on a wide range of media, the issue comes with development and growing on which is where many growers have found additives have a positive stimulatory effect. The issue is finding the correct amount to add. With coconut water it's usually approx +/- 10 % v/v.
Hey Annabel, I have some Dendrobium falconeri seeds waiting in the fridge since a while (always postponing sowing them since I'm awful with dendros...), not even sure they are still viable tbh, but if you want them...
I have two orchids in my house, a white one with purple spots and a hot pink one (not very scientific as I unfortunately don't know the exact species names lol). I was thinking of cross-pollinating them for the first time, but now I realize that a ton of work and commitment is put into this process. Kudos to you!!! :D looks very cool. Unfortunately, I don't have half of these supplies at home. Is it possible to simply take the seed pod and plant its seeds directly into a medium that orchids normally grow in? There would be of course a much higher risk for contamination, but I just want to do a basic experiment and see if I can grow even just a handful of new flowers haha.
Not unless you have the specific type of mycorrhizae fungi that species requires in your potting mix. Some countries with lots of native orchids have the correct types and conditions outside, so if that applies to you you could give it a shot.
@@TheOrchidRoom ah I see. Another video I watched showed that the seeds can be planted around the mother plant as it already has an established relationship with its environment. However, I guess this method is much more of a hit-and-miss? Have you ever attempted it yourself?
It will only work if it has mycorrhizae fungi outside of the flask. I gave an overview of the role of mycorrhizae in the Intro of this video, from 0:28 - 01:30 and the reasons why flasking is the generally used method you will see, and the other methods sometimes used 🙂
Love your videos, do you have an update on your flasklings? I unflasked my own a few weeks after you put your first video up. I would be really interested in seeing how they have come on for you?
Did you see the update I did before the house move maybe? There is also an update on my community tab, I will be updating soon after the poll I put up a few days ago, it was either that or this video, this one had more votes to prioritise though 🙂 They got aphids this week unfortunately from a contaminated african violet, so I've been battling with those yesterday! So annoying 😥 Why did they have to go for the babies!
Hi. I am hoping you would share with me what you do to clean and disinfect hydroton. Mine have salt buildup on them that I can see. It’s not horrible but it’s there. I have repotted. Thanks so much. Be safe. Best, Lisa
Could you tell me if you are using fresh LECA from the bag, or the process of cleaning it you went through? Disinfecting LECA is only necessary if you are reusing it after it has been in a pot with another plant. Cleaning it before use is another process, and salt build up after a while is a third different issue, so it would help me if you could just clarify a bit which issue needs addressing 🙂 Thanks!
@@TheOrchidRoom Thank you so much for answering. This came out of a pot a plant had been in for over a year. I repotted in fresh lecca that I washed and soaked in seaweed extract. This is the lecca that came out of that pot. I am new to orchids. I want to be sure to clean this used lecca properly so it can be used again. Or should I just throw it away?
To clean and disinfect LECA for reuse, I made a video on my method which I will link here. The point of LECA is that it is reusable, so no you shouldn't throw it away! ruclips.net/video/XpN06knGa1I/видео.html Straight from the bag, rinse, rinse, rinse until it runs clear, then do 2 to 3 soaks and change the water out each time. For salt build up, lower your fertiliser if you are getting it regularly, or if you are using tap water change to RO, Rain or lower ppm filtered water. If just occasional, flush from the top.
I dunno, if I was working in a lab, I wouldn't want to go home and dress up like I'm at work in the lab. 😉 Kind of the reason I stopped keeping and breeding fish at home, I was surrounded by them all day at work. Now that I'm not, I try really hard not to get back into the hobby. I pretend that I don't have the money to start up again. Oh that Dustin, I wish he'd put out videos more often, he's so stinking cute. (he's sort of alright at growing orchids 🤣 )
Hi Annabelle I wanna ask if from March u double the N (rain mix) to u orchids. I'm giving them 25 ppm N from November to the end of February.. All mine r indoors.. I forgot to write u that I'm fertilizing twice a week 25ppm *2.. Pls write me u thoughts.
Hi! I have a few fertiliser videos, you can see my summer routine in the last complete one :-) There is a playlist if you're intersted, I did put all the ppm for rain mix up on screen in that one. I only increase for heavy feeders like Phalaenopsis, Vanda, Cattleya and Catasetum etc. the rest get the standard mix year round- if you're growing under lights in a warm climate there will always be active growth. Happy growing!
Thanks for the video! Is it necessary to have a vent for air to reach the seeds? I want to flask a seedpod based on your video but a lot of people have told me that the flask needs a vent for the seeds to "breath". What is your opinion on this?
So initially orchid seeds/protocorms/seedlings obtain all of their sugars via the medium, not by photosynthesis. Photosynthesis requires CO2, and venting may help larger orchid seedlings to transition out of the flask more rapidly. At early stages, it is not necessary. It is not fully necessary at all actually, and increases the chance of contamination, but if you do it correctly it can help the seedlings to grow faster as they get larger and begin to photosynthesise. Flasking lower numbers of seedlings per flask can help to mitigate this, and unscrewing the flask a week or so before removing the seedlings can also help. I plan to flask less seeds per jar and deflask at an early stage, like Dustin's method. Venting is ideal but not necessary, you'll find much conflicting info on this, but I personally have practiced deflasking seedlings and not had any issues buying unvented flasks in, so believe making vents is more hassle. I also performed a vented vs unvented test in my Phrag seedlings and noticed no differences in germination or development so far. It's really the later stages of growth and development that it will help with.
Just as another point, you'll get alot of very experienced flaskers telling you what you need to do, because it is ideal to do that, and as you gain more experience that's definitely the way to move. But you can still get success using more basic and less ideal approaches- we don't all need 1000s of baby orchids growing optimally after all 🙂 I'm learning as I go, so my advice is going to be more based on what I find manageable at the moment and is giving me some success 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom Thank you so SO much for the reply! I really appreciate it! I will definately follow your method since it seems excellent😁 I'm quite new to orchids but have completely fallen in love! I have decided not to "vent" the flasks as I might introduce a contaminant. Currently I have 4 Phalaenopsis seed pods in development and they'll be ready by April next year. I really enjoy your video's! Thanks for being the awesome person that you are😊
@@TheOrchidRoom HAHAHA!!!! Just got home after a good cell culture session. Do you think you could use a flame instead of the glove box? Maybe that would reduce your already impressive contamination rate. Only 20% without a hood - AMAZING!
Since I'm using single use sterile disposable plastics, I'd say no... The contamination present appeared after a month in the flask which indicates it was introduced following flasking really, usually once a spore gets in it's very rapid.
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by! I've included more details and links in the video description for the medium used, prep, green pod maturation times, and some more info. Hope that helps for anyone interested! Happy flasking! 💗🧪🌱
Please write to me because I do not understand your language and I use the program for translation
What would you like written? Most of the information for medium prep is linked on external sites that you should be able to run through Google translate more easily?
I want to learn how to make the ingredients used to plant orchid seeds in bottles. Please help me. Thank you.
Link to website of the flasking equipment supplier I used in Europe, which has full instructions for each media preparation:
www.patrickpolbosorchids.fr/boutique/fr/
P723- boiled and then placed into containers, pressure cooked on a cooker top pressure cooker on a steam rack at 15PSI for 20-30 minutes. Check your pressure cooker weight to check PSI. Prepped 2 weeks plus in advance, but I don't seem to get any contamination following initial media prep. Contamination comes in at the next stage for me.
Link to P723 purchased in bagged quantities here:
www.patrickpolbosorchids.fr/boutique/en/in-vitro-culture/366-p723-orchid-seed-sowing-medium-1l.html . Germination could be improved by adding coconut powder or water, but would alter agar % if using water. I would like to try powder next time supplied by the next company below.
Next time I will order larger amounts from a lab supply company that sell to individuals: www.generon.co.uk/media-for-plant-tissue-culture-4847/orchid-seed-sowing-medium-873001555.html
I use a mix of plastic and glass jars. The large blue top containers are Lidl 'breakfast tubs', which have a decent threading on the screw top lid and seem to have very low contamination- Polypropylene (PP) , so pressure cook-able. I've found this screw cap type of container best. Specimen jars may be ideal - amzn.to/3ntuolm
Sealed with- amzn.to/3nxEsdi
Instablaster...
🤍🤍We love Dustin Miller alright!!! The kindest guy ever to respond to all the comments on fb 😅😅!! I’ve been pleading for another video 😍!! Annabel.... if there’s one thing I saw in you, you are actually a person who value great manners / standards. Also easily evident in your growing methods and successful outcomes of many projects!! You guys keep us in a beautiful world, despite the personal chaos. And I thank you for that!! 🤍🤍
Aww thankyou Anishka! I hope you are well 💗! Your comment made my day 🤗 Dustin is fantastic, it's great to see someone so into having an understanding of what's happening in the actual plant, it helps us to learn more, and sharing that knowledge freely 🙂
Amen ♥️♥️♥️♥️
So interesting can’t wait to see some great hybrids you’ll end up making !
I hope so! :-)
It is so satisfying to see those green dots form haha I wish we did this in biology class back in the days 🌱 👨🔬
Me tooooo! :-)
Ahhhh Annabel-you're so wonderful! Thank you for the very kind words (and encouragement). I'm sitting over here all misty eyed hearing that - haha. I'm thrilled you're finding success with this too and it's been my pleasure to talk about your process, collaborate and share experience. I'm rooting for you from afar :)
Thankyou Dustin! Only the truth, you've been really helpful and I'm very grateful! It's really helpful to have someone experienced to bounce questions around with 🙂💗 Thankyou!
I've never have been abble to obtain vanda seeds. The flower always fall of. But I suppose it's because it's some supercross that could be sterils. Also, thank you for sharing, it's nice to see other's experiments.
I have a Vanda cross I tried to pollinate also around 10 times, both ways, and it won't take. Many of the hybrids are in fact sterile I believe!
Wow Annabelle! Really enjoyed watching this, you must be very excited seeing those little green bits appearing! You really have made the average Joe/Jane realise that Orchid sowing is within reach! Thank you so much for sharing 💖💖💖
Hi Annabel thanks for the video got my fingers crossed for you 😘😘
Glad you’re getting positive help from others!
Lab work must be a busman’s holiday for you 😃
Brilliant, love that you’re adapting and seceding, good stuff
Thank you so much for doing experiments for us! I really enjoy your videos, and my orchids benefit from me learning more and more
Very Interesting thanks Annabelle. I loved this video.
wow, so interesting to see the process, makes me want to try it! :)
Love this! You really motivated me to try this myself! It’s so nice to see all of the steps for home flasking. Thank you for documenting your journey 😊
I'm so glad! I hope more people try it! I messed up the first 2 times but think I'm getting there 🙂🤞
Very nice vid.
I’ve got a few paph pods developing, so these flashing vids come handy while I try to learn the process.
Thankyou! Best of luck, once you get a technique that works for you it's quite easy, I'm glad you're giving it a go! 🙂
Kudos to you, Annabell! This video gives me an even greater appreciation for people who do this for a living and love of the Orchid genus! What an undertaking! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! 😍
Wow, thank you! I'm glad you enkoyed it, it means alot! :-)
A true labor of love. :) fun to watch the journey!
Gosh darn it. I'm continued to be inspired by you. Your enthusiasm is infectious and by sharing your success and failures it makes me want to try new things, expand my collection, get out of my comfort zone. I currently don't have the space to try to grow from seeds but for sure I will do so in the future. Another great informative video. Keep up the amazing work you're doing. Happy growing 💜🌸💜.
Wow, thank you! Always appreciate people taking the time to watch, this isn't always the most interesting type of video I fully appreciate!
Thank you for sharing with us with everything you do with your orchids. It is interesting in how one would sow the seeds from our orchids. However for me that would way to much work. I find it so exciting to seeing the results. Looking forward to the updates of these and just how many orchids you get from this sowing. If I lived in the UK then I would buy the orchids when ready from you so that I can expand my collection but I live across the pond and that would be way too expensive. Enjoyed the video and all that you do. Learned a lot from all your videos. Have a great day.
Thanks for sharing.
Woooo I heard that shout out!! Loved this video super interesting. Can’t wait to see the next update! Willow is yelling her support as I type this too
Awww Willow 💗🤗
Fantastic!!! Hopefully it will be a great success!!! Maybe you will be able to provide a service to other growers....😉👍
Thankyou! 🙂 I'm getting a bit addicted to pollinating things now though 😆 I wish brexit weren't a thing, it'll really limit me being able to send baby orchids to other people!
Wow!! The process is amazing!! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to seeing the results.
Hard work! What are you gonna do after all the orchids? Sell them? Become millionaire? Hehe. I don’t even know how someone would click dislike for this! Great job!
Thank you very very much for this informative video🤗🤗👏👏👏
My pleasure 😊 glad it was helpful!
Good luck!!! Hope the best and thank you for sharing 😊
Wohoo! Great job Annabelle! Can’t wait to see how they go for you and it’s great that you’re developing your own way to flask. I hear there are several different ways to do this and I have barely wrapped my head around which one to do. But alas, flasking will have to be delayed for me as I still need to acquire more equipment and seedpods 😁 Looking forward to your updates
Thank you so much!!
thank you for the amazing video. i’d been looking into flasking lately so this is kismet! and by the way the black tape is electrical tape!!!
Thankyou! I hope it's useful! Oh haha, it says plumbing tape on the pack so I don't actually know 😂 My mum gave it to me after we moved house as we have a leaking tap that sprays you in the face with water, and I can't quite stretch to replace it yet😂🤦♀️ So I bandaged it up with this tape for now, it's a generic one but it says all purpose plumbing tape on it, I think it may be similar to gorilla tape? But I really don't know 😂 I then proceeded to use it for the flasks and it seems great for that anyway whatever it is! I think any 'water/air proof' tape would probably do 🙂
I was thinking of trying this but it looks so complicated!!! I might buy some seedlings and have a go at deflasking first. But eventually I will get the bits and bobs together.
nice info...
Great video Annabel! Also wanted to share with you a suggestion for your watering needs, I watched one of your videos and you were using the zero home filtration system and I tried it but unfortunately my TDS is around 750ppm and it lasted for about 8 gallons (Per filter, I tried 4) and it became so acidic it burned some of my roots...Anyway, after extensive research I found the Megahome Water distiller which is a bit pricey at 250.00 US dollars but it has been my solution, it filters 1 gallon of distilled water with a TDS of 0 or 2 on the high end., never needs filters, never affects the PH and the long term savings is definitely worth it. The unit is long lasting and is the only distiller which is UL certified. OMG you would think I was affiliated with the, LOL! Anyway, thanks again for these amazing videos, your content always brightens my day.
Thankyou 🙂 I think maybe you watched an older video before the house move. I'm not sure if you've seen my recent watering videos, but I now have an RO system as well as rainwater collection facilities in the new house.
Looks great Annabel!!
Hi Annabel, what a an awesome video, I admire your tenacity, doing something so complicated and making it look doable for ordinary people like me with no lab experience 🥼🥽🧪⚗️. But I won’t do it, I would probably mess it up and grow something slimy and dangerous for my health🤢🦠 🧫😂. So in the meantime I will watch your experiments and be happy for you when you’ve achieved growing hundreds little green blobs 👍🏽🍀
Thankyou! I'm glad you're enjoying the journey as much as I am! :-)
I've given it a go inspired by Dustin/HereButNot too, only had one go so far... & possibly, maybe, I might just have some tiny green dots, but not super sure at the moment! My sowing medium is greyish/milky so the contrast is much worse than on these carbon-infused media. It's an Aliceara cross.
I think I have contamination in one jar, but out of 5 & on a first go, I think that's pretty good in terms of contam!
Hi Annabel,
Thanks for sharing this video.
Up to now, I am struggling with the contaminations issues.
Hope to see germinations soon.
Daniel from France
Thanjs Daniel! These have germinated, I hope yours do soon also!
@@TheOrchidRoom
Thanks for your reply.
It was not easy to work with the Glovebox.
I built a laminar flow box but no improvement.
Taking much more precautions but
I am still getting too many contaminations.
Will continue.
Hey Annabelle, have you ever considered adding a Bunsen burner to your work station? There are some to which you can just attach a butane canister instead of a gas line. With these burners you can sterilise pieces of equipment and produce an updraft that forces airborne contaminants away from your working area.
I used these all the time during my PhD for microbiology work. I think they may be more effective than the improvised hood, especially considering that, by the looks of it, there is no air circulation in it. When you open those “doors”, any airborne contaminant may enter the box. Regardless it seems you are having good success! Love your scientific approach!
Unrelated- do you have a somewhat recent video recapping your lessons learned and tips regarding semi-hydro? I recently got into the hobby and despite the huge amount of research I’ve done, I managed to miss crucial information about the transition to s/h and ended up transferring plants when they were not ready. Much of the information out there is quite spread out and old videos can be misleading since we naturally learn and adapt as we go. Thanks for what you do!
Thanks for the info. I personally don't see the need since I've eliminated most contamination at this stage, only having contamination introduced in subsequent weeks related to different types of containers used. Seems an unnecessary expense at this stage. I choose to use disposable, sterile plastics instead, so nothing that could benefit from flaming. Interestingly, we don't use bunsen burners in the labs here- PhD Cancer Immunology here, regular and routine laminar flow and tissue culture hood work with primary cells and cell lines. The premise of a glove box is purely as a low contaminant sealed environment, a largely reduced air flow unit. If I was getting contamination, maybe we could say this unit isn't working. But out of 30 flasks recently, 4 have developed contamination around a month later, I believe due to the types of containers used. I'm happy with that success rate for now 🤷♀️
I have rather alot of Semi-Hydro videos, and several playlists, both concise playlists with what I see as key videos, and comprehensive, so if you are interested you can always take a look at those 🙂
ruclips.net/p/PL76ceLYvhJstRwMU7kdVqrjsD2t575EOK Playlist with a selection of semi-hydro conversion videos with lots of tips, many with updates included in the videos 🙃
@@TheOrchidRoom thanks for the quick reply! Yeah that’s what I thought- Bunsen burner would probably be overkill. Here we only use them for bacterial work, cloning, plasmid prep, etc. Any cell work is done in dedicated tissue culture flow hoods as well! Such a coincidence regarding your PhD field of work - I’m also specializing in immuno-oncology (going through a postdoc right now)! Have you graduated yet? When I saw all those lab supplies and your experimental process I knew you had to be at least in the process of getting a PhD😂 keep it up! Gotta go back to binging your videos now haha
Once again another great video. Thank you so much! I always learn something when I watch your videos. I was wondering if you could do a bulbophyllum round-up and update. Maybe a short(or not so short) care guide about what you've learned about their upkeep and needs? I've recently taken an interest in these unique little plants and there isn't a lot of information out there on them. If you could I would be really grateful, if not i understand.🌺🍂
Hi Darcy! I only have one now, they ramble too much for me and got chucked into the greenhouse at the old house, and then had to give them away before the house move as they just get too big for my to grow them. I've kept one division of one that has a shorter rhizome. They need basket culture really unless you want to keep dividing, which means they could do with their own setup/space hanging somewhere, which I just don't have. They also need constant moisture and not to dry out, so it was fine hosing the baskets down in the greenhouse, but less practical for the home for me 🤷♀️ Sorry!
Babies 🥰🥰 so cool 👍🏼🌸
You have a leafy Nina baby 👶 🌱 hope you're ok! 💗
You certainly have the tenacity for this. Contamination is a pain, if I was rich I'd have a small lab with a flow bench ! I also found the re-plating step was more prone to contamination; my solution was to sterilise the mother flask with 70% IPA, where the 30% water part is substituted with 5% H2O2. This mixture burns if you get it on your skin, but it's way more potent than either IPA or peroxide on their own. The down side is that the mixture is unstable and loses potency after a couple weeks, so needs to be made up fresh. It's also good for killing mealy bugs and other pests, and plants don't seem to mind it.
I also had a struggle with media for neo seed growing, and ended up making my own. After some trial and error, and a lot of literature research, I found a recipe that works very well for neos and Phals as well. I'm told a lot of commercial growers use "in house recipes" and some of these standard media based on variations of Murishage and Skoog are not as optimised for orchids as we might think. With neos I got hyperhydricity (aka vitrification) of the protocorms on P723; basically they go dark green and glassy. I posted a "way too technical", forum thread which has the recipe I used: www.slippertalk.com/threads/neos-from-seed-a-diy-adventure.44607/
Good luck !
Thanks for the forum link, I will have a read! I'm hoping the P723 will get me further than the 668, medium seems to be a complicated step all on its own! On the full strength P668 I had great germination, and then the seedlings would begin to brown off (assume salt burn since I was using it at the incorrect strength for germination). Hoping I've rescued a few of the vandas, but most of the replate flasks got contaminated. I pulled a few out again, dunked the protocorms in hydrogen peroxide, and replated again using spray bleach. Just as horrible as I remembered it. But so far they protocorms don't seem to have died from the H2O2 dip, and so far no contamination has come through. I'll try the peroxide IPA mix next time! I'm hoping if I can just get the seedlings to a stage with a few leaves and roots, I can grow them on out of the flask. I'm sure I'll run into lots more issues to troubleshoot, and will probably end up altering the medium if you think 723 has issues also. It's such a learning curve, but I'm stubborn 😉😂
@@TheOrchidRoom You would be unlucky to have issues with P723. There are quite a few papers reporting the use of this medium for growing vandas, including the effects of complex additives like coconut water. You might need to add a complex additive like coconut water, banana puree, tomato juice, etc. Orchid seed will germinate on a wide range of media, the issue comes with development and growing on which is where many growers have found additives have a positive stimulatory effect. The issue is finding the correct amount to add. With coconut water it's usually approx +/- 10 % v/v.
Quite inspiring
Hey Annabel, I have some Dendrobium falconeri seeds waiting in the fridge since a while (always postponing sowing them since I'm awful with dendros...), not even sure they are still viable tbh, but if you want them...
I have two orchids in my house, a white one with purple spots and a hot pink one (not very scientific as I unfortunately don't know the exact species names lol). I was thinking of cross-pollinating them for the first time, but now I realize that a ton of work and commitment is put into this process. Kudos to you!!! :D looks very cool. Unfortunately, I don't have half of these supplies at home. Is it possible to simply take the seed pod and plant its seeds directly into a medium that orchids normally grow in? There would be of course a much higher risk for contamination, but I just want to do a basic experiment and see if I can grow even just a handful of new flowers haha.
Not unless you have the specific type of mycorrhizae fungi that species requires in your potting mix. Some countries with lots of native orchids have the correct types and conditions outside, so if that applies to you you could give it a shot.
@@TheOrchidRoom ah I see. Another video I watched showed that the seeds can be planted around the mother plant as it already has an established relationship with its environment. However, I guess this method is much more of a hit-and-miss? Have you ever attempted it yourself?
It will only work if it has mycorrhizae fungi outside of the flask. I gave an overview of the role of mycorrhizae in the Intro of this video, from 0:28 - 01:30 and the reasons why flasking is the generally used method you will see, and the other methods sometimes used 🙂
Love your videos, do you have an update on your flasklings? I unflasked my own a few weeks after you put your first video up. I would be really interested in seeing how they have come on for you?
Did you see the update I did before the house move maybe? There is also an update on my community tab, I will be updating soon after the poll I put up a few days ago, it was either that or this video, this one had more votes to prioritise though 🙂 They got aphids this week unfortunately from a contaminated african violet, so I've been battling with those yesterday! So annoying 😥 Why did they have to go for the babies!
Oh no! It’s always the ones you don’t want affected 🙈I will have a look out for the other updates thank you ☺️
Hi. I am hoping you would share with me what you do to clean and disinfect hydroton. Mine have salt buildup on them that I can see. It’s not horrible but it’s there. I have repotted.
Thanks so much. Be safe.
Best, Lisa
Could you tell me if you are using fresh LECA from the bag, or the process of cleaning it you went through? Disinfecting LECA is only necessary if you are reusing it after it has been in a pot with another plant. Cleaning it before use is another process, and salt build up after a while is a third different issue, so it would help me if you could just clarify a bit which issue needs addressing 🙂 Thanks!
@@TheOrchidRoom Thank you so much for answering. This came out of a pot a plant had been in for over a year. I repotted in fresh lecca that I washed and soaked in seaweed extract. This is the lecca that came out of that pot. I am new to orchids. I want to be sure to clean this used lecca properly so it can be used again. Or should I just throw it away?
To clean and disinfect LECA for reuse, I made a video on my method which I will link here. The point of LECA is that it is reusable, so no you shouldn't throw it away! ruclips.net/video/XpN06knGa1I/видео.html
Straight from the bag, rinse, rinse, rinse until it runs clear, then do 2 to 3 soaks and change the water out each time. For salt build up, lower your fertiliser if you are getting it regularly, or if you are using tap water change to RO, Rain or lower ppm filtered water. If just occasional, flush from the top.
@@TheOrchidRoom Thank you so much Annabel. I appreciate it. Enjoyed the video and getting a visual too!
Hello, please teach me how to make the ingredients inside the bottle, to grow different types of orchids
There is a run through of my media preparation in the description 😆😉
What about usine sterile specimine cups?
I dunno, if I was working in a lab, I wouldn't want to go home and dress up like I'm at work in the lab. 😉 Kind of the reason I stopped keeping and breeding fish at home, I was surrounded by them all day at work. Now that I'm not, I try really hard not to get back into the hobby. I pretend that I don't have the money to start up again.
Oh that Dustin, I wish he'd put out videos more often, he's so stinking cute. (he's sort of alright at growing orchids 🤣 )
Hi Annabel, pls put keiki paste on the yellow yaphon deep coffee as it is and send me a keiki PLSSS
If you're in the UK/ EU orchidgarden still had them last time I checked 🙂
great video, good luck with your flasking. My turn next
You can do it!
@@TheOrchidRoom well not until we find a new place to live 🤦🏻♂️
Hi Annabelle I wanna ask if from March u double the N (rain mix) to u orchids. I'm giving them 25 ppm N from November to the end of February.. All mine r indoors.. I forgot to write u that I'm fertilizing twice a week 25ppm *2.. Pls write me u thoughts.
Hi! I have a few fertiliser videos, you can see my summer routine in the last complete one :-) There is a playlist if you're intersted, I did put all the ppm for rain mix up on screen in that one. I only increase for heavy feeders like Phalaenopsis, Vanda, Cattleya and Catasetum etc. the rest get the standard mix year round- if you're growing under lights in a warm climate there will always be active growth. Happy growing!
Thanks for the video! Is it necessary to have a vent for air to reach the seeds? I want to flask a seedpod based on your video but a lot of people have told me that the flask needs a vent for the seeds to "breath". What is your opinion on this?
So initially orchid seeds/protocorms/seedlings obtain all of their sugars via the medium, not by photosynthesis. Photosynthesis requires CO2, and venting may help larger orchid seedlings to transition out of the flask more rapidly. At early stages, it is not necessary. It is not fully necessary at all actually, and increases the chance of contamination, but if you do it correctly it can help the seedlings to grow faster as they get larger and begin to photosynthesise. Flasking lower numbers of seedlings per flask can help to mitigate this, and unscrewing the flask a week or so before removing the seedlings can also help. I plan to flask less seeds per jar and deflask at an early stage, like Dustin's method. Venting is ideal but not necessary, you'll find much conflicting info on this, but I personally have practiced deflasking seedlings and not had any issues buying unvented flasks in, so believe making vents is more hassle. I also performed a vented vs unvented test in my Phrag seedlings and noticed no differences in germination or development so far. It's really the later stages of growth and development that it will help with.
Just as another point, you'll get alot of very experienced flaskers telling you what you need to do, because it is ideal to do that, and as you gain more experience that's definitely the way to move. But you can still get success using more basic and less ideal approaches- we don't all need 1000s of baby orchids growing optimally after all 🙂 I'm learning as I go, so my advice is going to be more based on what I find manageable at the moment and is giving me some success 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom Thank you so SO much for the reply! I really appreciate it! I will definately follow your method since it seems excellent😁 I'm quite new to orchids but have completely fallen in love! I have decided not to "vent" the flasks as I might introduce a contaminant. Currently I have 4 Phalaenopsis seed pods in development and they'll be ready by April next year. I really enjoy your video's! Thanks for being the awesome person that you are😊
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Only half way through the video and feel like my head is going to explode :( How complicated!?! Isn't there an easier way to grow orchids?
Hi!
Love your videos! We should a go fund me campaign to get you a biosafety cabinet haha ;)
😂 Oh lord, don't tell Sean 😂 He would move out I think 🤔😂
@@TheOrchidRoom HAHAHA!!!!
Just got home after a good cell culture session.
Do you think you could use a flame instead of the glove box? Maybe that would reduce your already impressive contamination rate. Only 20% without a hood - AMAZING!
Since I'm using single use sterile disposable plastics, I'd say no... The contamination present appeared after a month in the flask which indicates it was introduced following flasking really, usually once a spore gets in it's very rapid.
No clue what she saying.....but I do know that in its natural habitat orchids don't do this at all.
You should have placed your sleaves under the gloves instead of the gloves under the sleaves.