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Orchid flasking does not necesarily require you to be a scientist with your own lab. Whilst it can be an expensive exercise, you can actually create a sterile environment yourself in which to flask your orchids. What's more, you can do this cheaply too!
If you require it, orchid flasking medium can be bought through almost any orchid magazine, and is not particlularly expensive - for about $10 you can make roughly 1 liter of flasking medium. This flasking contains agar (the jelly base), sugar and the trace elements and minerals necessary for the flasking. Note, manana must also be added.
A suitable flasking medium can be created using one of the foliac fertilisers that you have laying about in your garden shed. Apparently Aqua Feed provides good results. Add this fertiliser recommended level - eg if the fertiliser says to use 1 spoon per litre, then add 1 spoon to a litre of your orchid medium.
How to make 1 litre of orchid flasking mediium
- 1 level tablespoon of sugar (20 grams)
- 40 gms (or about half) of a nearly ripe blended Cavendish banana
- 1 litre demineralised water
- 1 level tablespoon (9 grams) of Agar (you can get this from your local Health Food Shop)
- A walnut sized potato (also blended with banana improves root formation - but this is optional).
Bring all to boil and then decant into prepared jars for sterilising. Sterilise the complete jars including lids for 15 minutes in pressure cooker.
 You can sow the orchid seeds as a "green pod". Green pod means before the pod is fully matured and before it splits open. As a green pod, the seed is sterile and can then be sown directly into the flask. A dry pod (pod which has ripened and split) by definition is immediately contaminated by ever present fungal spores in the air and must be sterilised in a suitable solution for at least 10 to 15 minutes before sowing. Here, a 10% solution in water of "Snow White" (or Sodium Hypochloride) is a very effective sterilising agent.
Everything that is introduced into the sterilised flask must also be sterilised and a 20% to 25% Snow White solution again will accomplish this. Where possible, try to use a different set of intruments for each flask. That way if an instrument has not be sterilised properly you will only contaminate the one flask.
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