In message , Bob Hobden
writes

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

Without using petri dishes and agar.

Sterile media like agar are what you need to avoid, as the orchid spores
germinate in symbiosis with soil fungi. They're produced in huge
numbers but they're so small they can't germinate without help.

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

If you can get some soil from a place where the orchids grow already,
try a seed tray full or a scattering on the surface. It's only needed
for germination, but if you want to naturalise them you'll need the same
fungi in your garden, so if they do germinate, add some soil from the
seed tray to each pot when you pot on.

D maculata is so widespread that its needs may not be very exotic, your
normal garden soil might have the fungi it needs. Less usual orchids
are more likely to need unusual fungi.


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.

Do lilies do this? It's years since I grew any from seed but aren't the
seeds large enough to handle individually?

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,

Could you surgically remove them during the winter while they're
dormant?

and my large
pot of Hostas but none in the normal garden soil.

My experience leads me to suspect the soil or compost needs to be
continuously damp while the seeds germinate and grow large enough to
form an underground storage organ, or they just die.

My mother moved a few D maculata from a garden where they grew wild to
one where they didn't, and their seedlings occasionally turned up in
flower beds but more often in pots. The pots were filled with garden
compost and kept watered, while the flower beds got a lower standard of
care.

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

That's not a bad suggestion, as you're looking after the pots anyway and
you'd be likely to see the orchid seedlings there (look for a single
glossy leaf the length and width of a matchstick).

--
Sue ]