Pleurothallid-l mailing list

[Ron Maunder <pondeeza@enternet.co.nz>]

Hi Thomas,

I have enjoyed your flasking WP in the past and I have it bookmarked. 
Must check it out again soon.

Not sure about these two cute little species as I have only recently 
acquired small pieces of them.  Maybe they are more difficult to 
flask than what I'm used to.  Hopefully you will get some other 
feedback here.  I have raised hybrids with them as parents and 
grandparents.

M. strobelii is a xanthic or yellow albino and when put with certain 
other albas or oranges has made some striking hybrids like Angel 
Frost (x veitchiana) and Kabouter (x macrura) which produce a 
percentage of pure oranges or yellows with white hairs and no 
anthocyanins.

M. glandulosa seems to be a "flowering fool" and when crossed with M. 
strobelii makes that wonderful hybrid Confettii which covers itself 
with flowers! Try remaking it!  I must get a piece sometime.

I have tried the two packs of nutrient agar you mention and they seem 
OK but I usually fall back to 1/4 MS with charcoal which is pretty 
similar.  Needs to be pretty soft. Leave some rinsing water on top 
when you add the seed.  Masdevallias seem to like being replated 
often.  Before they give off brown phenol stains on the agar.  If 
that happens you can almost throw them out! I add a little sterile 
water on top when replating too to keep the agar from drying out.

Interesting that you like using coconut milk. I don't use it because 
it often caused lots of proliferation for me with various genera way 
back in the past .  I'll do some comparisons.  I'm always trying to 
improve my media. I presume you leave the charcoal out when using 
coconut milk?  There are some good medias around but they are 
expensive by the 1 litre pack compared with making up your own. 
Another month or two on the shelf on a slower media in flask doesn't 
worry me too much!

I can't explain why your strobelii are growing in fits and starts. 
Probably associated with pH dropping. Try putting some on fresh 
media.  You should see them take off!

Cheers,

Ron