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Flasks We are dealing with a flasker in Montreal who is unique. The strength and vigor of the plants in our flasks, especially the roots, will amaze you. We’re so sure you’ll like them that, if you’re unhappy with a flask of our breeding when you receive it, we’ll be happy to take it back. All our flasks contain 23-25 plants. Prices are in U.S. dollars. (N.B. Some flasks may contain less, in which we case we will charge you proportionately.) NEW AND LIMITED Our harlequin flasks are ready! They are second, third and fourth generation hybrids. These have been bred from some of the best - and newest - harlequins available today! Our 4 awarded harlequins and the 2 we sold to D & B Orchids prove that no one beats Bedford Orchids for the best harlequins. AND THEY ARE DIRT CHEAP! Ask about availability! Our spring flask
list is HERE. (Our summer list will be available on June 1st.) Many
of the flasks below are in very short supply. We make many crosses that
we think are good. However, we often have only 1 or 2 flasks of any
hybrid available. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. PICTURES will go up shortly. Many are already on the web site. IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER Phal. Artemis
(amabilis 'Bedford Beauty', AM/AOS x equestris 'Pink Panther' HCC/AOS) -
A remake of a great primary cross. $50 Phal. Bedford Jezebel 'Bedford Beauty' x Phal. Brother Green Jade 'Bedford' - Our Brother Green Jade is so flat. Expect green and yellow-green harlequins. $60 Phal. Bedford Jezebel ' Bedford Beauty' x Phal. Brother Purple 'Brother' - Some of the most interesting harlequin color patterns we have seen had Brother Purple as a parent. $65 Phal. bellina
'Taiwan Beauty' x self - fragrant, summer blooming species. $65 Phal. Brother Sally Taylor 'Zazou' x Dtps. Bedford Rosejewel 'Bedford' - We expect incredible color patterns! $55 Phal. Chih Shang's Stripes 'Bedford', AM/AOS x Phal. Cassandra Rose 'Maria Teresa' - Multifloras - pinks, stripes and spots. $45 Phal. Chih Shang's Stripes 'Bedford', AM/AOS x Phal. Spring Stripes
'Bedford' - Line-bred harlequin candystripes. $65 Phal. Haur Jin Diamond 'Ching Her' x Phal. Sogo Thomas 'Bedford Gold'
- Deep yellow, full harlequins. $65 Phal. Miva Marie 'Bedford' x Dtps. Taisuco Valenty 'Bedford Best' HCC/AOS - Miva Marie is an incredible flower with "desert tones". We expect large, full flat flowers with the possibility of very interesting colors. $50 Phal. Sogo Kitty 'Bedford' x Dtps. Yu Pin Summer 'Bedford', HCC/AOS - One of the most floriferous multiflora hybrids we have ever made. $55 Dtps. Summerfield Rose 'Bedford', HCC/AOS x Dtps. Minho Kingbeauty 'Bedford Brilliance' HCC/AOS - Large and full, pink to fuchsia with possible striping. $55 Phal. Shin Yi Diamond 'Bedford Coffee Ncream' x Dtps. Fureshing Pretty 'Lover' AM/AOS - Everything under the sun is possible here: yellows, creams and fuchsia harlequins. $65 Phal. Sogo Thomas 'Bedford Cutie' x Dtps. Dynamite Stripe 'Yvonne'
HCC/AOS - Definitely yellow with spots, blotches and stripes. Very
floriferous. $55 Phal. Shin Yi
Diamond 'Bedford Biggie' x Dtps. Bedford Glad Mountain 'Bedford' -
Large, full yellow to cream harlequins with a deep red lip! $65 Phal. Summer Wine 'Stones River', HCC/AOS x Phal. Brother Precious Stones 'Crownfox Plum Tart', AM/AOS - RED! RED!! RED!!! $65 Dtps. Summerfield
Rose 'Bedford' HCC/AOS x Phal. Brother Purple 'Brother' - Will this
be the largest Brother Purple hybrid, considering the size of
Summerfield Rose? $60 Dtps. Yu Pin Valentine 'Nandy' HCC/AOS x Phal. (Cygnus x Taisuco
Kaaladian) 'Bedford' - Both parents are HUGE!!! Soft, pastel
pink flowers. These are sure to impress judges! $55 This is our compot listing. All compots contain a minimum of 11 established seedlings. Please enquire about availability prior to sending money. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. We also offer mini-compots with 5 seedlings.
* * * * * There is no "magic" formula for deflasking seedlings but, because of the frequent requests for information, we have prepared the following information sheet. This is NOT the right way to do it BUT it is the way that we do it for a home or low humidity environment AND IT WORKS FOR US. The first thing to do is to ensure that the plants are ready to come out. If the flask is contaminated, check it carefully every 12 hours and see if it is spreading. If the contamination is spreading, the plants MUST come out – NOW. If there is no contamination, leave the plants in the flask until they are ready to come out. They are ready to come out when: 1) Ideally, most of the plants should have plump, healthy roots and at least 2 leaves, each of which is about an inch or two or so. (If they are not that large, consider finding another source.) If they are not that large, leave them in the flask somewhere where they receive some light. They will continue to grow. If you leave them in the sun, they will burn. 2) If the medium begins to dry out (which happens when there is not enough medium initially), you might as well take out the plants because they will not grow in the flask. (Another reason to find another source for your flasks.) Flasks come in 2 types: glass and plastic. The plants can be taken out gently (or you can at least attempt to) or the glass can be broken and the plastic cut. To take them out GENTLY: Add lukewarm water to the flask 2/3 of the way. Hold your hand over the open end and shake the flask to loosen the agar. Pour out the water and agar (into a container – in case a plant falls out. If not, pour out the water.). Repeat until there are only plants and no more agar. Take out the plants carefully. You can take them out several different ways. 1) You can get a "long" piece of metal and curve the end and "help" the plants to come out. Careful! You can break off roots. 2) Put in 2 fingers and grasp a leaf. Careful! You can pull out the centre leaf of a plant. In both cases, after a few plants have been removed, it will be easier to take out the rest. To break glass: The easiest way is to tape masking tape over the whole bottle (including on the bottom) leaving an untaped ring around the bottom circumference of the bottle. Wrap the bottle in paper towels. Hit the flask with a hammer where there is no tape. Your seedlings and the agar can be taken out. BE CAREFUL. THERE ARE SHARDS OF GLASS. Plastic flasks: You will have to cut these with something really sharp but BE CAREFUL because you can cut the seedlings as well. In either case, you now have the seedlings and the agar. You have to wash the agar off the seedlings, preferably in some water with a small amount of fungicide. We now have all the seedlings from the flask (one way or the other). I believe that sphagnum moss is the best medium for seedlings from flask. I get a 4½" pot, put some styrofoam in the bottom for drainage. Then, like farmers planting their crops in rows, I put a row of moss on one side of the pot. Then I take the seedlings one by one and place as many seedlings as I can fit in one row. I place the lowest leaf just above the moss. I hold them in place while I put in a second row of moss. Another row of seedlings and another row of moss. A third (final) row of seedlings and a last row of moss. You will end up with 4 rows of moss and three rows of seedlings. I leave the compot out in the room air for an hour or so – until the leaves START to go limp at the tips. (Depending on the roots, the ambient humidity, etc., this could take more or less than 1 hour.) Then I place the compot in a ziploc bag. I do not ziploc it, just fold it over. The next day, I leave the bag open for an hour or until the tips start to wilt. The day after that, the bag is left open for 2 hours and so on for about a week. (N.B. The bag is NEVER sealed, only folded over.) At the end of a week or so, the plants are hardened off. I leave them in the bag but I fold the top of the bag outward so that there is good air circulation. The plants are re-potted after 4 (yes, that’s right 4!) months and re-potted again 4 months after that. After the first year, they should be near blooming size (6-10" leafspread) and many will bloom within the first year. I have had "hands-on" deflasking sessions at different orchid societies and, a few months later, people come up to me and tell me how wonderfully their plants are doing. GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GROWING! * * * * * What are they? When the pollen of one plant ("the father") is placed on the stigmatic surface of another plant ("the mother") and seed results, a new hybrid is created. The seedlings produced are often referred to as the F1 (or first) generation. Generally, if every one of the plants was bloomed, the results could be plotted and would result in a bell curve. With the average plant being on the highest point of the curve (dead centre) and the really bad and the really good plants being at the two extremes. Often a breeder will take an excellent plant and self it (breed it to itself – yes, Virginia, plants can do that) or take two plants from this first generation and breed them to each other. Such breeding is referred to as a selfing (in the first case) or a sib (or sibling) cross (in the second case). In either case, the resulting seedlings are called the F2 (or second) generation. This process can be ongoing for as many generations as anyone wants. A very good example of this is Phal. Golden Buddha. The original cross was Phal. Cher Ann x Phal. Spica. For their day, the F1 flowers were different, highly coloured and reasonably well shaped for that time. In an effort to improve the shape and keep the intense coloring, sib crosses were done by many people including Stewart’s Orchids, Coqui Nurseries, Gemstone Orchids and us. We are now at an F7 or F8. By selective breeding, an attempt is made to concentrate the gene pool, keeping only those genes that are on the "better" side of the bell curve. Although this is awfully simplified, we can say that genes come in two main types: good and bad genes. The good genes give us flat flowers, the bad ones cup or reflex the flowers. The good genes produce inflorescences that are the right length with flowers that are well shingled, the bad ones give short or long inflorescences with poorly presented flowers. Good genes produce vibrant, distinct colours, the bad ones produce dull or muddy colours. Obviously, sib crosses and selfings can also produce flowers that "only a mother could love" but due to the increased chances of getting a superb result, many growers keep trying sib crosses. Once you've grown one, you'll be back for more. |
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