Last summer I started a pod on my Dendrobium antennatum. After waiting and
watching and waiting and watching a golf ball size fruit developed. Without
notice (at least it could have called my cell phone after all I did for this
plant) the pod exploded and one day I noticed want looked like small wood
shavings all over the plants around the dendrob. I was _________ (fill in
the blank and happy is not one of the choices).

So I gathered what I could from the pod so I could take it to someone to try
to sew in flask. On a neighboring Cattleya plant there was a large deposit
of seed. I took a bulb pan and put some old potting mix from some paphs I
was repoting. I knocked a bunch of seeds into the pan with the old used
mix. I figured it might have the fungus necessary for growth and it would
be fun to watch to see what happens.

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a granny
smith green and looking like real plant material.

Even if I don't get anything to grow up and bloom this is a great chance to
see how orchids grow in the wild (without leaving my greenhouse).

Now I know Al and Ray and the rest of you who flask seed everyday are saying
this guy is wacked. I can show you a whole basement full of orchid seed
sprouting but I am excited to see that nature really works sometimes.

Good Growing,
Gene

That's about what the seeds look like at this point in flask too. I didn't
have any contamination and there is clear germination.

I had a Peristeria elata seed capsule blow in my greenhouse and had baby
orchids coming up everywhere, including from between the gravel on the
floor.

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:A9%Dh.979$QI4.505@trnddc01...

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a
granny smith green and looking like real plant material.

In article _U0Eh.994$QI4.190@trnddc01, "al" wrote:

That's about what the seeds look like at this point in flask too. I didn't
have any contamination and there is clear germination.

I had a Peristeria elata seed capsule blow in my greenhouse and had baby
orchids coming up everywhere, including from between the gravel on the
floor.

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:A9%Dh.979$QI4.505@trnddc01...

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a
granny smith green and looking like real plant material.


i must be treating the thing right, cuz my luidisa discolor has a seed
pod. (i'm gonna be a grandma!) based on y'all's various experiences on
here, i'm going to try and loosely bag the whole plant and stick some
damp sphag in the corners when the pod starts to turn brown, and maybe
i'll get something other than a mess.

--j_a

Y'all are going to ruin the flasking business!! ;-))
Joe T

On Feb 24, 7:02�pm, unknown wrote:
In article _U0Eh.994$QI4.190@trnddc01, "al" wrote:
That's about what the seeds look like at this point in flask too. *I didn't
have any contamination and there is clear germination.

I had a Peristeria elata seed capsule blow in my greenhouse and had baby
orchids coming up everywhere, including from between the gravel on the
floor.

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:A9%Dh.979$QI4.505@trnddc01...

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a
granny smith green and looking like real plant material.

i must be treating the thing right, cuz my luidisa discolor has a seed
pod. *(i'm gonna be a grandma!) *based on y'all's various experiences on
here, i'm going to try and loosely bag the whole plant and stick some
damp sphag in the corners when the pod starts to turn brown, and maybe
i'll get something other than a mess. *

--j_a

Good for you Gene, now I would like to see a sequence of macro pics in a
time date report please!
Cheers Wendy
"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:A9%Dh.979$QI4.505@trnddc01...
Last summer I started a pod on my Dendrobium antennatum. After waiting
and watching and waiting and watching a golf ball size fruit developed.
Without notice (at least it could have called my cell phone after all I
did for this plant) the pod exploded and one day I noticed want looked
like small wood shavings all over the plants around the dendrob. I was
_________ (fill in the blank and happy is not one of the choices).

So I gathered what I could from the pod so I could take it to someone to
try to sew in flask. On a neighboring Cattleya plant there was a large
deposit of seed. I took a bulb pan and put some old potting mix from some
paphs I was repoting. I knocked a bunch of seeds into the pan with the
old used mix. I figured it might have the fungus necessary for growth and
it would be fun to watch to see what happens.

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a
granny smith green and looking like real plant material.

Even if I don't get anything to grow up and bloom this is a great chance
to see how orchids grow in the wild (without leaving my greenhouse).

Now I know Al and Ray and the rest of you who flask seed everyday are
saying this guy is wacked. I can show you a whole basement full of orchid
seed sprouting but I am excited to see that nature really works sometimes.

Good Growing,
Gene

--well dang, that was quick; it started to pop this morning. grabbed
some sphag out of the least recently potted phals, snipped off the top
of the spike with the pod, dropped it all in a baggie and did the
shake-n-bake thing with it. some of the seeds floated away--we'll see
if they sprout anywhere odd.

--j_a

Before the advent of asymbiotic flasking (circa 1890-1900), the _only_ way
to grow orchid seed was to spread it around the mother plant, or another
plant which might have the appropriate mycchoryzal (sp?) fungus in its pot
or mount. C. Hybrida (very imaginative name for the first Catt hybrid G)
was probably made that way.

Yield, however, was not good, especially compared to the numbers obtainable
through flasking. Which may help to explain why an orchid which now sells
for $25 ran about $2500 back then (when $2500 was worth probably $25,000 of
today's dollars). Kenni


"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:A9%Dh.979$QI4.505@trnddc01...
Last summer I started a pod on my Dendrobium antennatum. After waiting
and watching and waiting and watching a golf ball size fruit developed.
Without notice (at least it could have called my cell phone after all I
did for this plant) the pod exploded and one day I noticed want looked
like small wood shavings all over the plants around the dendrob. I was
_________ (fill in the blank and happy is not one of the choices).

So I gathered what I could from the pod so I could take it to someone to
try to sew in flask. On a neighboring Cattleya plant there was a large
deposit of seed. I took a bulb pan and put some old potting mix from some
paphs I was repoting. I knocked a bunch of seeds into the pan with the
old used mix. I figured it might have the fungus necessary for growth and
it would be fun to watch to see what happens.

Today under the 10x magnifier I can see bunches of the seed turning a
granny smith green and looking like real plant material.

Even if I don't get anything to grow up and bloom this is a great chance
to see how orchids grow in the wild (without leaving my greenhouse).

Now I know Al and Ray and the rest of you who flask seed everyday are
saying this guy is wacked. I can show you a whole basement full of orchid
seed sprouting but I am excited to see that nature really works sometimes.

Good Growing,
Gene

hey there,
your post is just another in a long line of events telling me that i
must grow orchids. congrats on your seeds, i dont know if they will
happen for you or not. matter of fact i dont know a damn thing about
orchids really.
i do know somethings though. i know how to grow a mushroom, most of
them anyway. im a real brown-thumb if you will.
ive also taken up indoor hydro gardening. it is pretty simple.
horticulture doesnt seem to be anymore than a symbiant sister to
mycology.
the beauty of an orchid and the beauty of a fungal fruit are very
similar. that sentence can be read many ways. id like to apply my mind
to orchids, any tips? newbie .txts? hints from the pros?

On Mar 15, 4:52 pm, "x24" wrote:

id like to apply my mind
to orchids, any tips? newbie .txts? hints from the pros?

noooo run away run away--!

seriously, go to ray's site, he has lots of good stuff:

http://firstrays.com/beginner.htm

where are you located? are there any greenhouses nearby where you
could go and look around and chat a bit?

see also:

http://www.aos.org/aos/events/docume...lendar_002.pdf

it really helps to go and chat with growers.

--j_a

On 15 Mar 2007 13:52:17 -0700, x24 wrote:
any tips? newbie .txts?

Orchids are like potato chips, you can't grow just one.

Bob

Heh, heh, heh! Another one caught in rgo's trap!

Diana

"Robert Lorenzini" wrote in message
...
On 15 Mar 2007 13:52:17 -0700, x24 wrote:
any tips? newbie .txts?

Orchids are like potato chips, you can't grow just one.

Bob