Question
Hi
I have a mate who is an invalid pensioner and grows a few Orchids, his father help him set a decent home lab so he could hopefully get in doing flasking for a business.

I sent 2 lots of Phallies pods down to him and after about 10 weeks none have germinated.
Some flasks got fungus other are ok.
I have read a lot about the flasking process but nothing of the temperature in the flasking room for the seeds to germinate in.
he currently runs his at 22C that about 72 F, as Phallies are tropical growers I suspect this is far to low a temp.
Perhaps into the low to mid 80's F.
What do you run yours at.
Cheerio
Ron Boyd in Australia

Answer
Ron, thank you for  your question.  I have done my flasking at room temperatures (ie 72-75 degrees F.).  I have double-checked my experience with that advice provided by the late Rebecca Tyson Northen in her book titled "Home Orchid Growing". In her chapter titled "Growing and Sowing Your Own Seed" she states as follows: "Cattleya seed germinates and grows best at temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees F..  The temperature may rise a little in warm weather.  Ideally, the temperature should be 70 to 75 degrees F. at night also, but if you cannot maintain this, let the night temperature drop to 65 degrees.  A fluctuation of more than 10 degrees either way is not good for these developing seedlings and will retard their growth".

She also recommends keeping the flasks 12 inches from two 40 watt Gro-Lux tubes (about 200 foot-candles of light.)  You may want to recommend that your friend purchase a copy of Rebecca's book.

If the former conditions are met, a few other factors might be: (1) the viability of the seed (I always checked my seed under the microscope before flasking to know the percent of viability), (2) type of growth medium being used,and (3) method used to sterilize the seed.