catasetum denticulatum, another variety

one of the newer acquisition, another variety of the denticulatum. this denti has lesser red spots on the labellum, the labelllum is more yellowish while my first denticulatum has more red tone in it.

double lip catasetum cristatum, a totally wicked look

this bud was the first on the spike but was the slowest and the most under developed. initially i thought it would be aborted by the plant but i continue to grow.
the only funny thing i noted about this bud other than the size is the non resupinate position which is awkward for a cristatum. when it blasted open this morning, was surprised to see how it looks like. totally wicked look!!

side view of the flower, can see both the labellum on top and bottom

front view, looks like a creature with jaw that is full with large fangs opening its mouth

for those who are not familar with how a normal cristatum looks like, here it is 

Catasetum Gerhard Leiste, my second variety

this is another variety that i had got for Ctsm. Gerhard Leiste (Jumbo Pearl x pileatum)
there is strong influence of the tenebrosum that can be seen on the double callus of the lip and also the dark petal with yellowish lip flower pattern. but the smell is far much sweeter compare to the minty smell of the tenebrosum.

1/6/2015
the Gerhard Leiste at full bloom

Catasetum expansum amarelo and catasetum rooselvetianum

the catasetum expansum amarelo is a first time bloomer for me but unfortunately both the pollen was ejected by insects before the flower were fully bloom.

pic taken on 24/11/2017
spike with tow flower but again the pollina were ejected before fully open, only one is left intact. the plant is getting bigger and second spike is with three flower buds bud should be only blooming about in three weeks time or so.

this is catasetum rooselvetianum, flower spike is semi erect with a non resupinate flower position, the trigger pollina is isoceras, and diverges away from each other as it courses down the inner labellum.
the flower is 2.5cm in height and 2cm across, slightly scented.

the lip is curled inwards on both side, giving the lip a 'boat' like appearance

lateral appearance of the flower

the last pic here showing the appearance of the trigger pollina on the inner side of the labellum

refined flasking techniques from previous attemps

from the previous attempts using DIY home media, seeds soaking and disinfecting and so on.......

i had finally resorted to
1. using commercial media P668 as posted previously
2. use of a pressure cooker would eliminate most possibility of insufficient media sterilization
3. i no longer use the pre soak seeds method as describe previously (the same post with the media             P668)          
4. DIY chamber is still the same as previous except i changed the front cover with a polystyrene board


so here are the outcomes.....a few of the flask shown below, i made 12 flask with the new pressure cooker i bought, no contamination. so i guess it would address the issue of insufficient media sterilization i had previously
SO, if i had skipped of the seed soaking method, what now??
- well, i basically just pre washed the seeds in pure bleach solution for a minute plus minus, do not over do it or you will kill most of the seeds. then rinse twice with sterile solution (if is important to remove most of the bleach solution from the syringe before rinsing to have a higher dilution effect on the bleach, it is ok to loose some seeds while pushing the bleach solution out). all these is done in the sterile chamber.
NET RESULTS, no difference than the seed soaking method in terms of germination (in fact, better..perhaps it is due to the pressure cooker factor than have no contaminated flask so far)

germination in progress, not the most appropriate pic to depict actual germination due to low uniformity of germination ie. some has already grow to size that are ready for replating while others just started to germinate (i forgotten to take a pic of another flask that had uniform germination and it is too late now because i had replated them)

you will see some "pot holes" on the media surface because i had remove some of the protocorns for replating. if you do this under proper aseptic condition, the mother flask should not be contaminated and other smaller protocorns can still continue to grow and you can replate them later

shoots are growing with two primary leaves, after sometime the roots will start to grow into the replating media. will try to update this post till their the stage of deflasking if everything goes on right. (hope i don't deflask them too early like previous attempt where is lost 99.8% of the seedlings)

 2/4/2015
further multiplication of protocorns, with root tips and new shoots forming

further development of the growth

one of the seedlings that is growing much further ahead than the others but it is still a long way to go before deflasking. it is advisable to deflask once the PB is develop to increase survival rate after deflask

further updates to follow if everything goes on well ........keeping finger crossed



21st June 2015
 more flasks on the way

the two subsequent picture below is from earlier flask, you can see that the pseudobulb are forming, will not be long before they can be deflask.

3/8/2015

some of the deflask seedlings, lack of uniformity, some PB is well developed and giving out new growth while the others are still quite small. got to figure a way out to settle this problem. had to deflasked them because the media is wearing. i put too little media in the flask at the first place

30/11/2015

another attempt of deflasking, attempt to deal more at a time.