# An update



## Trithor (Oct 19, 2014)

Since I last posted a few pictures on my fledgling lab, things are starting to move along nicely.

Some are getting near needing to be deflasked;




and the shelves are starting to fill up,




with some interesting things
(stonei album sib)





(volonteanum x wilhelminae)


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## tomkalina (Oct 19, 2014)

Beautiful flasks! I'm glad someone is propagating P. stonei fma album.


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## Rick (Oct 19, 2014)

:clap::clap:

How much beer or wine does it take to run this lab Gary:wink:


More seriously. Have you had any fungal/bacteria problems with your flasks?


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## SlipperKing (Oct 19, 2014)

So sterile Gary!! Way-to-go!


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## Justin (Oct 19, 2014)

wow! you did this room right! do you have pics of the stonei parents?


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## SlipperFan (Oct 19, 2014)

Fledgling??? Looks all grown up to me!


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## Ruth (Oct 19, 2014)

Looks awesome!


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## John M (Oct 19, 2014)

Oooooooh, that looks wonderful! Congrats!


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## orchid527 (Oct 19, 2014)

Nice setup. Looks like years of fun ahead. Mike


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## abax (Oct 19, 2014)

Goodness gracious, what are you going to do with all those lovely plants?
The whole lab looks clean and organized. Congratulations on a job well done!


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## NYEric (Oct 19, 2014)

Trithor said:


> with some interesting things
> (stonei album sib)



Looking good there, my friend!! :drool:


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## cnycharles (Oct 19, 2014)

With all that alcohol around there are no sterility issues


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## troy (Oct 19, 2014)

AN ORCHID BANK, HOLY SMOKES!!! Thats yours, Filled with flasks? you are an asset to the orchid community!!! Thank you!!!! At first I thought it was pics posted of hangduan biotech


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## Trithor (Oct 20, 2014)

Thanks all. I have to be honest that quite a lot of beer and wine has been consumed in this lab over the last months. 
In the beginning I got quite a bit of contamination. The contamination was from two main sources. Firstly the medium was not always correctly sterilized, or contamination occurred at the time of pouring the flasks. I need a proper autoclave for the medium, but don't have the spare cash to buy one at the moment, so the pressure cooker will have to carry on working for the time being. I solved this first contamination problem by allowing the flasks to stand for two weeks before using them. I am able to reject the contaminated flasks now prior to inoculating them. The second source was from the flasks drawing contaminants into themselves. (Distinct from contamination at time of inoculation by being a much longer time interval) the day/night temp changes cause the flasks to 'breath' and so draw in contaminants during this expansion contraction process. The problem lies in the use of rigid flasks. This has been dramatically reduced by wrapping in cling film, something I did not do in the beginning (also slows the drying of the flasks)
I now have a wide range of species busy germinating, also some interesting hybrids. At long last, about a year down the road, I am confident that I have the process under control. My biggest problem is the availability of good seed. My own greenhouse can only generate a limited supply.
I am sorry, I don't have a picture of the stonei parents, as I purchased the seed from an overseas supplier (the only seed I have purchased to date, but stonei 'album' was hard to turn down! Let's just hope that it is true)


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## JeanLux (Oct 20, 2014)

OM..., looks great!!! you are going professional !!!! Jean


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## Chicago Chad (Oct 20, 2014)

> Originally Posted by Trithor View Post
> with some interesting things
> (stonei album sib)
> Looking good there, my friend!!



Eric and I call first dibs!!


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## cnycharles (Oct 20, 2014)

You can help with the contaminants being pulled by stopper also by using cork with hole and stuffing hole with polypropylene batting or air breathable tape over it 
This lets gas exchange co2 etc through but too small for contaminants
Lets more co2 through better growth usually but may let media dry more


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## eteson (Oct 20, 2014)

Looking great!
Congrats!


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## Trithor (Oct 20, 2014)

Thanks guys! I have tried a variety of stoppers, breathers etc, but within the scope of where I am at, I have not found a current viable alternative without changing the whole process.
I have found that with the current rigid flasks and a cling film wrap, that my contamination remains below 2%. That level of contamination is fine for my current requirements. What I do to improve chances is to do three separate flashings. The first is performed with a standard chlorox sterilization of the seed onto two different media. The second flasking is done on day 5 with a presoak of some seed with sugar and the other seed to a 5 minute longer sterilization on standard processes. I only proceed to the third stage if the previous two flasking shave met with contamination. At this stage I try and isolate the contaminant and include an anti fungal agent to cover the contaminant as part of the culture medium and repeat the second flasking process. 
I am trying hard, and suspect that in time I will toss problematic seed without going through the whole process, but at the moment it is all about learning how to deal with as much as possible, perhaps in the future I will gave the good fortune to handle something rare and worth the extra effort.


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## Clark (Oct 20, 2014)

Looks like a lot of green laying around.
I love it!


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## Bob in Albany N.Y. (Oct 20, 2014)

Very, very nice lab and looks like you have put a lot of work both into creating the lab and learning to do your own flasking. My hat is off to you, sir!


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## slc (Oct 22, 2014)

How satisfying it must be to see your hard work resulting in healthy seedlings. Congratulations. Best wishes for continued success.


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## JamesMatthewSim (Jun 29, 2022)

Hi, would anyone still have Trithor's contact information or know if he is still active on slippertalk? I'd like to ask a few questions. Thank you in advance.


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## GuRu (Jun 29, 2022)

JamesMatthewSim said:


> ...... or know if he is still active on slippertalk? .......Thank you in advance.


If you move you mouse pointer on his avatar you will see ...... last seen July 20 2017 !


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## JamesMatthewSim (Jun 29, 2022)

GuRu said:


> If you move you mouse pointer on his avatar you will see ...... last seen July 20 2017 !


Yes, I do notice that...but I did have some hope he would be able to be contacted...oh well, I gave it a try.


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## NYEric (Jun 29, 2022)

Good luck. If you do, let me know about some Paph stonei album seedlings, someone on STF killed mine.


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## JamesMatthewSim (Jun 30, 2022)

NYEric said:


> Good luck. If you do, let me know about some Paph stonei album seedlings, someone on STF killed mine.


Thanks, maybe I will comment on one of his other posts and see if anybody can help.


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