Unflasking Cattleya walkeriana Part I - the break up.

A method for skyrise people with LOS (lack of space).

Bought this flask from Ching Hua Orchids (Taiwan) during the Singapore Orchid Show in conjunction with the Singapore Garden Festival 2006. Gao peh peh helped me reserve this flask which I made pre-orders ^^.

Here is one of the methods I use for unflasking these babies

Lay newspaper around to capture any glass shards or splinters that result. Also to keep any falling potting / mounting media from spilling around.





Wrap flask in newspaper and use a striking tool - some people use hammers, I prefer a pair of convenient and versatile pliers:






Remember to lift the flask when you strike at about 2 cm above the base - if you press the flask down onto the surface of the table top, you may cause the top of the flask to collapse onto the seedlings. There will be cause increased mortality. To decrease the chances of this happening, lift the flask up before striking. Hold the flask wrapped in newspaper firmly around the rim of the flask and give a quick hard strike. The base of the flask should drop down.



The rest is the base coming off and acting as a plate for to hold the seedlings.



Tip out the seedlings into a basin of water - you may wish to add pesticide or fungcide or an antiseptic if required or if you wish to. This is to wash off any of the fine glass splinters. The pesticides is for prophylatic treatment against pests that are interested in the tender shoots. The fungicide and antiseptics can be use for prophlaxis or to treat the seedlings whenever there is contamination in the flask.



After rinising and soaking, sort the seedlings accordance to size - make your own judgement. You may want to grow the smaller ones in a community setting and the bigger ones individually.



3

For me, the bigger seedlings are those with visible pseudobulbs - the young ones usually consist of just a bunch of leaves.