hi all:

A few months back i crossed two of my favorite phals. The result was a
nice fat green pod which was developing quiet nicely. A couple of days
back, i noticed the pod turning yellow and today it had fallen down.
On enquiry i heard that it was a case of pod abortion.

What i am curious is , if anyone would tell me, the reasons for
abortion after 60 odd days of growth and development under the same
climatic conditions. i would have thought a pod could abort if the
plant was stressed or if there was sudden fluctuations in growing
condions, none of which happened in my case.

Also is this condition common in orchids?

Thanks all.

Rajiv

Rajiv,

I don't think anyone can state for sure why your pod aborted. The reasons
vary quite a bit. The pod (and seed) could have been sterile from the
outset and the plant deliberately killed it off in order to channel plant
resources into plant development instead. You could have been working with
4th or 5th generation hybrid Phals that have simply "petered out" on their
ability to produce offspring. Cold temperatures could have caused the
problem, or simply a bug bite injected some life killing
fungus/bacteria/virus into the pod.

In the future try pollinating two flowers instead of one... there is safety
in numbers.

In my orchid breeding attempts at producing pods I think a 50% success ratio
is fair target to shoot for.

Mick

------------------------------

Mick hit it on the nose.

If you open the capsule and find it full of white, cottony material, it was
sterile from the start.

--

Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids
http://www.firstrays.com
Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info!


"rajiv" wrote in message
om...
hi all:

A few months back i crossed two of my favorite phals. The result was a
nice fat green pod which was developing quiet nicely. A couple of days
back, i noticed the pod turning yellow and today it had fallen down.
On enquiry i heard that it was a case of pod abortion.

What i am curious is , if anyone would tell me, the reasons for
abortion after 60 odd days of growth and development under the same
climatic conditions. i would have thought a pod could abort if the
plant was stressed or if there was sudden fluctuations in growing
condions, none of which happened in my case.

Also is this condition common in orchids?

Thanks all.

Rajiv

Ray makes an interesting observation (i.e., the white cottony
material). I have found this to be true in many cases, but *occasionally*
sowing large amounts of material from a green capsule may yield a few
protocorms. In other words, flaying open the capsule and scraping the
inside, and sowing directly to media, sometimes yields a few plants.

Mind you, this is of little utility for commercial propagation, as
the yield is usually quite low (tens of seedlings, usually).

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

The e-mail address in the header doesn't work. Sorry.

after the pod aborted, i took out what looked like developing seeds
(can say for sure!!) along with the cottony material and have put it
into culture media. lets see what happens!!!

rajiv




"Ray @ First Rays Orchids" wrote in message ...
Mick hit it on the nose.

If you open the capsule and find it full of white, cottony material, it was
sterile from the start.

--

Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids
http://www.firstrays.com
Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info!


"rajiv" wrote in message
om...
hi all:

A few months back i crossed two of my favorite phals. The result was a
nice fat green pod which was developing quiet nicely. A couple of days
back, i noticed the pod turning yellow and today it had fallen down.
On enquiry i heard that it was a case of pod abortion.

What i am curious is , if anyone would tell me, the reasons for
abortion after 60 odd days of growth and development under the same
climatic conditions. i would have thought a pod could abort if the
plant was stressed or if there was sudden fluctuations in growing
condions, none of which happened in my case.

Also is this condition common in orchids?

Thanks all.

Rajiv