First Flasking Attempt!

I recently had two pods ripen, and decided it was time for me to try sowing the seeds on my own. I got the idea from the Big Leaft Orchid forum, when a member posted about their recent adventure into flasking using a vapor sterilization- the post garnerred a lot of attention, and several other members have tried, and it seems to work if done properly.

First I cooked up the media, which contains the nutrients necessary for the plants to germinate and start growing. Once it cools, it congeals so that the seeds can rest on the top of the media to begin growing roots. Here, I have poured the media in, and loosely closed the lid to prepare for pressure cooking, or autoclaving.

I put the jars into the pressure cooker to autoclave them. This ensures that any bacteria or fungi has been eradicated from the jars, as these will overtake the young developing orchids, and they would surely die. You turn it on high until steam comes rolling out of the top, at which point you leave it like that for 10 minutes, and then you place the weight on top. Once the weight begins to jiggle you turn the heat down until it only jiggles a few times a minute, for 15 minutes.

 After the jars cool, you pull them out of the pressure cooker, and screw the lids on tight. I let the jars sit for 1-2 weeks before sowing the seeds, this allowed me to see if I had effectively sterilize the insides of jars.

Here is a photo of the seeds from one of the pods. Each tiny yellow speck is an individual seed, there could be a million seeds in this photo- they are SO tiny!

In this photo, the vapor sterilization is occuring. I removed the lids on the jars, very carefully placed the seed into the jars, avoiding putting my head directly over the jars- I've heard this is a sure way to contaminate your flasks- and sealed them with one layer of plastic cling wrap with a small hole (that had been resting on an alcohol soaked paper towel), and placed a cotton ball soaked  in bleach over the hole, and then sealed with another layer of plastic cling wrap (also resting on a soaked paper towel) and then left the jars for 3.5 hours to fumigate. This is the process that ensures that any bacteria or fungi that may have entered the jar while sowing the seeds was killed. Since the seeds are in a dormant state, the fumes would not kill them- hopefully!

Here is a photo where you can see the seeds that have been sown into the flask. They are floating on a very thin layer of water, with the agar directly beneath. I'm hoping that there is not too much water, never done this before, so it's all been a learning experience. Hopefully in 30-60 days I will start to see green protocorms begin to sprout up!

Here are the two pods that ripened.

This one was empty- the flower on the left has an extremely complex lineage, and for these reasons I'm sure that this cross failed. It's very likely that the parents had a different number of chormosomes, which would be like breeding the offspring of (Horse x Donkey) to a Horse.

This cross had tons of seed, as the parents are more genetically similar, each of these has a common parent- Indigo Phalaenopsis vioalcea. I'm SUPER excited about this cross, hoping for greenish flowers with purple/magent blush, great vigor and STRONG fragrance, as both parents are extremely fragrant!