Don't have any commercial flasking service available here and so we have to depend on people from the BSI (Botanical Survey of India) & the Forest Dept to do the job. It's frustrating to say the least since we're totally at their mercy. If we're lucky we get a handful of seedlings back!

..Thought of trying my hand.... all help/advice/comments welcome.

Some information can be found here

http://baruk1.club.fr/baruk1/home/invitro-ang.htm

Hi Mang,

I don't have any flasking experience but I just wanted to wish you all the best and please keep us posted. It sounds like fun but I just don't have the patience for it. In your case, I think it is an excellent idea and you can sell the extra seedlings and make a profit! :cool:

Thanks Uri!
What's vegetal carbon?

Mang,

Have you checked with the Orchid growers group in Mumbai (Or was it in New Delhi - memory is fuzzy as it has been several years since I visited them). There might be someone in that group who is already setup to flask.

Darin

:cool: So what are you thinking about flasking?

Yes, I also like to know what you are planning to propogate. If it's venustum, are you planning to plant some in the wild or is that not allowed?:confused:

Mang,

Have you checked with the Orchid growers group in Mumbai (Or was it in New Delhi - memory is fuzzy as it has been several years since I visited them). There might be someone in that group who is already setup to flask.

Darin

Hi Darin,
I haven't checked yet, besides they are at the other end of the country! Hope to find someone nearer like Kolkata.

:cool: So what are you thinking about flasking?

Yes, I also like to know what you are planning to propogate. If it's venustum, are you planning to plant some in the wild or is that not allowed?:confused:

Have this pod of Nitens (insignexvillosum) x farrie - cross that I made last year (the one that survived the over-zealous housemaid) - so I was hoping ......

Peter - the Megh Forest Dept + the BSI has a scheme going on that plans to plant seedlings back in the wild, but it's all in paper only!!!

Wow -- the plants on that flasking website are amazing. Are seedlings a way to get a good deal on an exotic plant? I have a feeling none of those awesome plants will be $10 or $13 when they are mature....

How hard is it to grow a seedling? Do many of those plants still have 5 years before they flower?

Wow -- the plants on that flasking website are amazing. Are seedlings a way to get a good deal on an exotic plant? I have a feeling none of those awesome plants will be $10 or $13 when they are mature....

How hard is it to grow a seedling? Do many of those plants still have 5 years before they flower?

Yes it is a good way to get an expensive or rare plant for less. But the catch is the waiting period...often 5-7 years. And also seedlings can be more delicate to grow. I always try to buy BS plants if possible but sometimes it's just out of my budget, or there is no choice with recently legalized plants. For example my gigantifolium is a small 6 inch seedling, but there are no BS available on the market yet so by purchasing one now I will have one of the first mature plants...5 yrs or so from now.

Some seedlings do not take so long to mature, perhaps only 2 years instead of 5. :rolleyes:

Mang,

I have just recently attempted some home flasking via the method described in one of the later AOS Bulletins, whereby the flasking was performed under a towel soaked in a bleach solution. I have only made 10 flasks, but so far (about 2 weeks in) have only seen contamination in one flask. In the past, using a sterile (?) flasking hood (NOT a laminar flow hood) my contaminations rates were closer to 20%. This method was just amazingly easy.....almost unbelievably so.

This site also has lots of information. I haven't flasked any paph seed yet either but hope to give it a shot maybe next summer.

http://members.cox.net/ahicks51/osp/Technical_Data/technical_data.html