Fundamentals Of Flasking

The notes below are a guide to how we flask and this works for us. If you have any tips please
feel free to contact us I would appreciate any information.
Flasking is not for the faint hearted,
first you need
seed.
flowering plants to pollinate
once pollinated seed can take from 3-18 months depending on genera
then plants will stay in the flask for normally over 12 months before ready to pot out

CAUTION

ALL INFORMATION IS IN GOOD FAITH IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO READ CHEMICAL AND

EQUIPMENT LABELS ETC..... AND FOLLOW ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS GIVEN ON LABELS.
ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MSDS GIVEN ON CHEMICALS AND EQUIPMENT

IF YOU DO NOT FEEL CONFIDENT OR DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANY INFORMATION ON LABLES

OR MSDS DO NOT PROCEED

Some History

Orchid seed do not have a nutrition pack to survive and grow like other plants, orchids need a
fungus to grow, this fungus is found upon the root of orchids. To propagate you would disperse
seed from a purple cattleya around a white cattleya and visa-versa and when/if the seed grow
and after time flowered it was obvious to what plant was what. Today the mix/medium has
chemicals that replicate the fungus needed by the the seed to grow.

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Fundamentals%20Of%20Flasking.htm
Flasking EVERYTHING MUST BE 100% STERILE. The use of a laminar flow cabinet is preferred.
You will need a dedicated room with sink, vinyl or tiles on floor (to help keep clean and help
wipe spilt chemicals), power, racks to hold flasks, washable chair and air conditioner running
24/7 and grow lights for 14 hours every day. if this is not possible then rethink about doing
flasking
Picture of part of our Lab
holding around 2000-3000
flasks
You will need a few things to
get started
 Autoclave
 Flow Cabinet
 Scales and balance
 PH tester (not paper
strips as can vary with
charcoal in the mix)
 Microscope / stereo
microscope
 Bottles with and
without breathers
 Blender (not to be used for food after)
 Alcohol @ 70% (not metho as long term use may cause eye damage)
 Tools for replating and cutting seeds (scalpels, long tweezers, micro spoons, loops,
cutting plate etc...)
 Lab coat or clean old clothes as bleach and wife (sometimes) is not forgiving
 Spray bottle for alcohol
 Paper towel
 Small bucket for dunking flasks into bleach
 Labels
 Soap
 Sterile wash
 Clock/timer
 2 x ice cream containers
 Gloves

Laminar Flow Cabinets

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You will need medium/mix for your orchids to grow on there is lots and lots of different recipes
and these are also genera orientated. in Australia we are lucky to have a few different suppliers
of pre-packed mixes. Westerns Lab, bio tech, sigma, and others advertise in the orchid review
books every month.

HERE GO'S!!!!!

Make up a batch of mix, I use boiling water as this helps to set the agar you will need around
25mm deep mix in each bottle this can be a bit less for seed sow. Autoclave your flasks and
allow a minimum of 20-25min @121c or just above for approx 12-24 flasks per batch, this is
something you will need to play with, too much will burn the mix and too less will not sterilize
and will contaminate the mix.
When removing flasks use two clean cloths or paper towel one to hold bottom and one to
tighten loose lids as you pull them out of the autoclave, also be gentle and do not shake. You do
not want any of the mix to touch the filter otherwise you will get contamination. Allow to cool
and write date and type of mix etc..... on lids. move the flasks to your lab these now need to be
left under lights ready for use in 1-2 weeks. This is to allow time for any contamination to grow
if something went wrong.

Tip:- mould that is visible within 2 days and is growing on top of mix, it is a good chance that the
breathers are not sealing/working. If mould is taking longer 1-2 weeks to develop and mould
looks like it is leeching out of the mix its a good chance the flasks have not been autoclaved
properly.

Autoclave your clean tools i do this for 25min this time depends on what mass/size volume is to
be autoclaved. You will need to turn on you flow cabinet and spray and wipe out inside and
around front with alcohol when complete turn on UV lights and remember you can get
sunburnt very easy from UV lights. it is best practise to run this for approx 20mm before use
this allows time for purging and UV to tack affect.

Get your seed sterilizing under way

 Wash green seed with a detergent in an ice cream container with a new tooth brush for
min of 2 min
 Now wash seed in a ice cream container with a 50:50 mix with "Aldi" bleach and water
with a new tooth brush for 2 min
 Make up a 50:50 mix of bleach and water in a bottle and fill to the top
 Put washed seed in bottle for min 10 min

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 Orchid seed under Microscope

Make up bleach solution in bucket 1:10 bleach to water this is for dunking your flasks into
before putting into flow cabinet. PUT A TEMPORY LID ON BUCKET
Tip:- Bleach has a shelf life if not used ditch after 6 months and always keep the lid on, All of
your movement around work area should be slow and gentle as to reduce air movement
Turn off UV lights when time expires, once your tools are ready take them out of the autoclave
and place them in the flow cabinet
Scrub your hands and arms with soap and then sterile wash then spray with alcohol, put gloves
on and spray again with alcohol. this makes a sterile barrier for you to work. Remember to not
touch anything other than if it is in the flow cabinet or if sterile as IT WILL BE CONTAMINATED,
If you drop your tools in the cabinet or if they touch something other than the direct work area
discard and use another as they may be contaminated
Dunk the flasks, seed bottle and alcohol sprayer into the bleach bucket one at a time making
sure that all the outside surface are in contact with the solution and place them into the flow
cabinet. Spray the work area/surface of the cabinet, remove the seed lid and a mix lid, cut seed
capsule and place some of the seed onto the mix in the flask remember that tools, inside, rim
and lid of flask and seed must be kept from being contaminated at all times. i make up two
flasks of seed with different tools as to reduce the chance of contamination to one flask

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 this seed is not ready

this seed is no good as you can see with the seed they were picked too early

this seed is ready

Place lids on flasks and tighten when finished remove all flasks and label with date, type of
seed, batch number etc......
Clean all tools, work areas, turn off cabinet and drain water and clean autoclave
Put flasks under grow lights and cross your fingers. If all goes well sometimes whitish seed turns
green in days but can take up to 12 months to do anything. This depends on the type of orchid
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http://www.bromeliadorchid.com.au/GROWERS%20GUIDE/ORCHIDS/Fundamentals%20Of%20Flasking/
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 Pictures above are the different stages of flask development

Sometimes you will find that not all/if any seed are viable and will not germinate and this has a
lot to do with plant parentage and time seed capsule was picked (too early and seed is not
viable)

Once you have growth to replate do the same as above but always remember to change or
keep tool sterile as you go and do not over crowd your work area as this affects air flow from
the HEPA filter

Happy Growing

http://www.bromeliadorchid.com.au/GROWERS%20GUIDE/ORCHIDS/Fundamentals%20Of%20Flasking/
Fundamentals%20Of%20Flasking.htm