"boyoboyo" wrote ...
Any body have any experiences of successfully growing Dactylorhiza
(Common spotted Orchid) from fresh seed pods.

Without using petri dishes and agar.

I am told you need some of the local soil ??? but how much ??

Any advice please.

Yes, I've done it but more by luck than judgement though.
There was an old pot of turks cap lilies that was next to the Dactylorhiza
fuchsii and D. maculata at the edge of my pond. I always sprinkle the tiny
dust like seed about each year and one spring noticed some small orchid
plants coming up in the lily pot. That autumn I repotted the lilies, the
first time in years, and took out all the baby orchids I could find and
potted them up in the old lily pot soil, they are thriving and are flowering
better each year.
I wonder if the lilies use the same fungi as the orchids.
Anyway, they look like hybrids to me, all with spotted leaves, but some much
taller than the original species.
Others have since turned up in my Bonsai pots, which is a pain, and my large
pot of Hostas but none in the normal garden soil.

So if you have some pots of plants that you haven't repotted for some years
sprinkle the seed on that and wait & see.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK