
Dendrobium seedlings just removed from a flask
Preparation of materials
Sieve some fine pine bark ( 3-5 mm ) to remove any dust
and fill a plastic pot with it.
Pour boiling water over the bark to sterilise it and
remove any remaining dust. Allow it to cool.
Fill another pot with medium pine bark ( 8-10 mm ) and
sieve and sterilise in the same way with boiling water.
If the seedlings are to be planted into used
containers,
these will have to be disinfected beforehand and for this job I
recommend
that you soak them in 10% White King ( 0.4% Sodium hypochlorite ) for
at
least half an hour.
Lastly, as far as preparations go, fill the pots or
punnets
to ¼ of their depth with the coarse pine bark for drainage
and then cover with a layer of fine pine bark.
Deflasking procedure
Choose plants that have a good root system, but are not
too crowded. Fewer large plants are better than many small ones.
Gently fill the container with tepid boiled water and
carefully tip the seedlings into a container and wash all the agar from
the roots.
Spread the plants onto paper towelling and allow them
to partially dry and harden for about 20mins.
Place the seedlings into the prepared pots and fill
with
mix. It is usually better to plant 10-15 seedlings in a punnet or
100-150
mm pot than to individually plant into 25 mm tubes.
Growing On
Place the plants into a humid box; a Yates seedling
tray
and 'Grow Top' are ideal but a foam fruit box covered with a sheet of
glass
is also suitable. For the first week leave the air vents closed provide
heavy shading and place in a warm position . Near a south facing window
inside the house is good. Check the plants daily for excess humidity
and
if they are too wet open the vents for a while.
After the first week open the air vents of the humid
box but leave under heavy shading. A week later remove the Grow Top and
reduce shading . The plants may appear a little stressed with some leaf
tip burn, but this is better than allowing them to become too soft and
weak under high humidity.
After about one month move the plants to your normal
seedling growing area which should preferably be a protected part of
your
greenhouse with overhead covering and 70% shading in summer.
Remember
Fungicides are not needed unless seedlings are
obviously
infected with fungi.
Spring and Autumn are the best times for deflasking
unless
you are able to provide bottom heat during Winter or keep the plants
inside
your house .
Make the changes in humidity, temperature and light
intensity
from flask to greenhouse for your seedlings as gradual as possible.
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