# deflasking and fungicide



## kiwi (Aug 9, 2014)

Hi,
I recently got a number of flasks from Hung Sheng in Taiwan shipped to me deflasked however when they arrived a great many were rotting through the growing tips/crown and had brown burnt leaves. I saw photos of them prior to leaving Taiwan and they looked fine so it has happened during transit (4 days). It has been suggested they may have got too hot. Anyhow, I am looking to try again as they have offered compensation. They have suggested that they treat the seedlings with fungicide after being deflasked (they suggest the systemic fungicide Benlate) prior to shipping. Could someone please advise whether fungicides straight after deflasking is a good idea or not. The other option is to ship in the flasks however I am not sure if this is better as I have heard that the flasks get quite jumbled during transit.
Thanks for any help


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## abax (Aug 10, 2014)

Wasn't Benlate the fungicide that caused such a disaster in commercial
greenhouses some years ago? I'd suggest Cleary's 3336, but I don't
quite know about using it on recently deflasked plants. I have used it on
seedlings and it worked very well.


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## Bjorn (Aug 10, 2014)

Sorry to hear....if you look up my old threads you can see how I deal with deflasking. Tere has been several flasks, though not from HS that had its content jumbeled so much that the plantlets snapped at the root-junction. That slows down things but if you sterilse the compost and use these small windowsill greenhouses, there is a chance in my opinion. A slow process, but its possible to save some without use of fungicides.
Good luck


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## Ozpaph (Aug 10, 2014)

I 'soak' all de-flasklings in mancozeb pre-potting.
I dont think this is a fungus problem - too fast.
Heat and low humidity, likely.
Id have them sent in flask.


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## cnycharles (Aug 10, 2014)

One option people could start trying is spraying with pageant fungicide. It helps harden plants to stress and helps initiate root growth for many plants. A consultant of ours who gets paid to test things has found that (his recommendation) spraying heavily with 4oz/100 gal or 5 lightly helps initiate root production. He states that all of the strobilurin class of fungicides do this to some extent but pageant does it the most. It is also an excellent protectant fungicide and not quite as good for established heavy disease pressure. 

This could be used for deflaskings, making compots, repotting in general or preparing plants for shipping or even getting ready for orchid shows which are stressful to plants. It could be of major benefit also during winter for people who grow a bit too cool and when you are deflasking, since some species are very difficult to deflask; even maybe for those hard terrestrial species related to cyps that just don't get the proper growing conditions they need. Of course you must test chemicals on a few plants before using on everything to make sure they aren't touchy, but it seems to be generally safe for lots of plants

I believe the problem with benlate before was a production contaminant that killed plants, but I'd verify that before using it 

Also there are fungal rots that are very fast, but if they got heat cooked then the burnt tissue is already dead, you just have to prevent movement of rot to the living tissue


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## Trithor (Aug 11, 2014)

I would ship in flask. I have bought a number of flasks over the years from HS. I have found their agar to be quite firm and have seldom had too much jumbling of the flasks. I have always found shipping in flask to be the better option.


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## kiwi (Aug 18, 2014)

Thanks for all of your advice. Looking forward to a new shipment of flasks in the next couple of days. aductum var. anitum ,micranthum eburneum x micranthum eburneum, wardii, venustum and venustum fma. Album. Hope they arrive in better condition this time.


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## Trithor (Aug 18, 2014)

I am sure they will, but good luck in any case, let us know how they look.


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## gonewild (Aug 18, 2014)

cnycharles said:


> I believe the problem with benlate before was a production contaminant that killed plants, but I'd verify that before using it



That is correct, a one time contaminant problem. I used Benlate without any problems. The foreign shipper likely uses it and that is why they recommended it. It won't hurt the seedlings but it also may not prevent the problem that happened.
The plantlets were probably too wet and got too warm if in a sealed container. Also coming in as plantlets out of vitro they are subjected to less careful inspections and may have been mis-handled by Ag/Customs.


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## PaphMadMan (Aug 18, 2014)

Benomyl (the active ingredient in Benlate formulations) was often used in plant tissue culture media when I worked in that kind of lab nearly 25 years ago. This was a commercial lab and a multi-million dollar contract job. They wouldn't have been taking any chances. So as long as the Benlate contamination problem of the past is no longer an issue, I would trust the judgement of the vendor on using it. But I agree the problem was most likely heat, and a fungicide may be of little help.


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## eteson (Aug 19, 2014)

I use to sell and ship flasks here in colombia and now I higly recommend to the buyer to ask for the seedlings outside the flask. When I ship inside the flask most part of the seedlings arrive in pretty bad shape.
What I use to do is to deflask the seedlings the night before the shipping, to clean most part of the agar and soak them in a solution of water, sugar and "*sangre de drago*", then I let them to dry overnigth. The seedlings can handle 3 or more days without problem... unless you put them in a plastic bag.


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