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PROCEDURE
Step
1:
Pop open
the flask to aerate it for a day. Reason for doing so is to allow
the seedlings to adjust to the external environment before subjecting
them to other shock.
Step 2:
Fill the
flask to about an inch of water and use the rod to break up the
agar.
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Some people
prefer to wrap the glass flask in sheets of newspaper and
give the flask a swift strike with a hammer to shatter it.
Bear in mind that there would be glass fragments around and
depending on the quality of the glass, some of these fragments
are very fine so do exercise caution when handling them.
If the
flasks are made of plastic, use a good pair of clean kitchen
scissors to cut the narrow part off so the whole chunk of
agar tips out easily
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Step 3:
Once
you can swirl the agar and the seedlings with ease within
the flask, tip the contents into a bowl of water.
Pick
through the seedlings and rinse off the extra agar.
At this
point, some growers prefer to treat the seedlings with some
protectants such as fungicides (lime), disinfectants (e.g.
1% bleach solution, Physan™ and DettolT™)
and pesticides.
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Personally,
I do not think that disinfectants and fungicides are important
at this stage unless one is rescuing the flask from contamination,
then one needs to take the extra step. If there is no contamination,
fungicides are not necessary, as fungal infection usually indicates
poor air circulation or a poor watering regime.
One that may
be essential is an application of a systemic pesticide (warning:
this can also read as nerve poison) for 15 min to allow the seedlings
to absorb it. Seedlings are highly vulnerable to pests especially
if one does not spray pesticides regularly (some times it may
not be possible to spray pesticides due to the home environment).
Step 4:
After
rinsing and treatment, drain the seedlings.
Just
drain them enough so that there is no more water dripping.
From this point, you will have to work fast to prevent the
seedlings from dehydrating.
If
one decides to let the seedlings stay wet for a longer period
of time without applying a fungicide, these seedlings will
be prone to rot.
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Step 5:
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Sort the
seedlings according to sizes.
Discard
those that are rootless and too small to be worth saving.
Those
that are too small and do not have properly developed roots
may continue growing but they will take a much longer time
to grow.
These
not only take up time to grow but growing space as well!
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Step 6:
Now
to tie the seedlings together. I was told that this method
resembles sushi-making! Lay flat a piece of preferred mounting
substrate and position a seedling on top.
Align
the seedling towards the centre of the substrate as one
cannot tell where the lead will come out from. Unless there
is a lead already forming, align it in such a way that there
is space for the lead to grow.
The
top of the seedling should protrude out of the substrate
and the root-growing area should be about 1/3 from the top
of the substrate.
This
way, the seedling will eventually grow to the top or near
the top of the substrate, making it easier to mount or pot
up the seedling.
If the
seedlings are big, you can tie them individually but if
they are small, then you can consider mounting them in pairs.
Pad
the top of the seedling with just enough sphagnum moss.
How
much is just enough? - Just enough to cover the roots and
the bottom part of the rooting area. Any more than sufficient,
the seedling may have basal rot and anything less would
cause desiccation. The former rarely happens as sphagnum
moss has fungicidal properties.
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Step 7:
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Wrap
the seedling with your preferred tying material three rounds
and tie a dead knot.Then snip
off the excess tying material with a sharp pair of scissors
to give the
finished product.
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Step 8:
One can gather
up all the tied seedlings and place them in a more permanent growing
environment, such as a plastic basket.
The newly
tied seedlings are placed at the front of this basket and I usually
just place them in whatever space I have, but bear in mind
their light requirements - for the majority of Dendrobium subgenus
Spathulata (which includes D. carronii), they require
high light. Here I have placed the seedlings together with seedlings
of Cattleya violacea var tipo 'Rosa de Luis'.
Step 9:
Just leave
the seedlings in the tray placed in a permanent growing area and
carry on with your regular watering and fertilizing regime. From
experience, I do not find anything unusual by giving these seedlings
regular adult plant treatment in terms of watering and fertilizing
(foliar feeding) but the humidity level has to be high as these
seedlings have not well-developed roots.
If there happened
to be any die-offs, be it rot or desiccation, remove and discard
that seedling with its mount. This is common with the smaller
seedlings which are more venerable to rot and desiccation due
to slower root development
After
1 - 2 growth cycles (depending on maturity of the seedlings
when unflasked), each lasting between 3-6 months, the seedlings
would be big enough to be mounted or potted up individually.
Notice
the roots of the seedlings are growing so well that they
grew through the fernroot.
Mounting
is normally preferred as it enables better air circulation
though out the plant and its roots and it dries out easier.
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MATURE
PLANTS ON MOUNTS
Below are two
examples of adult D. carronii that are grown on mounts.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Orchideenjaeger
is one of our dedicated moderators of the Green Culture Singapore
(GCS) Forum. He is currently doing his undergraduate studies majoring
in Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore. Orchideenjaeger
is a member of numerous world-reowned discussion forums for orchids,
including the Orchid Source Forum and Orchideen-forum.de. His keen
interest in plants started since young and now he focuses on the
growing of Cattleya orchids. He can be contacted by sending
him an email via this link,
or private messages through the GCS forum.
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