# kovachii hybrid flask advice wanted



## Denver (Sep 23, 2015)

I have four various kovachii hybrid flasks arriving in the next week from Peruflora which will be my first phrag flasks. I know that the general advice is to keep small seedlings warm--but is that true for kovachii hybrids that generally like cooler conditions?

My grow area rarely goes much below 70f/21c but I use porous clay pots for my adult kovachii and besseae hybrids to keep them cooler. So I am unsure if I should use some of those pots to pot up the flasks or if I should put them in plastic so the water doesn't evaporate as quickly and cool them down...


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## Happypaphy7 (Sep 23, 2015)

I don't grow phrags, but I do have experience growing seedlings of paphiopedilum that go through cool/cold winter in nature.
Also, from what others tried, small seedlings that just got out of flasks do not have to have proper winter and they grow faster under such conditions of course.

You want to harden them off a little bit before treating them like adult plants.

Good luck and I hope your flasks arrive in good conditions.

By the way, I do not find clay pot any drier. Funny enough, the only time I had root rot was those planted in clay pot and they never dried out on the inside. 

I believe the potting mix and the overall growing conditions are much more important than clay pot or plastic pot choices.


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## theorchidzone (Sep 23, 2015)

We grow deflasked kovachii hybrids in intermediate temps. Normal high 75. Max High 80-85. Low 55. They do fine. Lots of water.
JC



Denver said:


> I have four various kovachii hybrid flasks arriving in the next week from Peruflora which will be my first phrag flasks. I know that the general advice is to keep small seedlings warm--but is that true for kovachii hybrids that generally like cooler conditions?
> 
> My grow area rarely goes much below 70f/21c but I use porous clay pots for my adult kovachii and besseae hybrids to keep them cooler. So I am unsure if I should use some of those pots to pot up the flasks or if I should put them in plastic so the water doesn't evaporate as quickly and cool them down...


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## NYEric (Sep 23, 2015)

I've killed bunches of those flasks, be careful of rot.


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## Happypaphy7 (Sep 24, 2015)

Eric, rot kicks in easily when a flask gets jumbled around and plants in the flask get bruised. This gets worse when the flask is smaller than normal size (20 and over seedlings) as tighter pack of seedlings tend to stay calm together unless shipping process is really rough. 

I usually ask seller to open the flask and put some soft packing material on top of the seedlings to prevent any jumbling. 
Adding stickers that say Handle With Care, Fragile, ... also helps. 
Never had an issue this way.

Also, some flasks are just of lower quality. For example, contamination. When you can see flasks in person before buying, you can examine the conditions of the seedlings inside. Any doubt, then don't get them. 

Now, once seedlings are out of flask, and given that they were not jumbled around and injured, with proper care, you shouldn't see any rot issues.


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## Silvan (Sep 24, 2015)

All plants from flasks I got from Peruflora came unflasked. Are you getting the mini flasks of 5-7 plants? If so, I've always potted them up in indivudual 2" plastic pots in a mix of rockwool cubes and cichlids mix. I keep them well watered and in my basement that get low winter temps (around 55F). They grow nicely in fall, then slows down for winter. They double in size once they hit the one year out of flasks. Never got rot (yet). But like I've said I grow in the basement so it might be different from your growing conditions (always warm).


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