treatment of fertilized orchids
 

Newbie orchid grower seeking help :)

Since i have access to tissue culture facilities and all necessary
culturing medium (M&S etc), I thought I would dabble in orchid growing
from seed and decided to fertilize a dendrobium. 3 days after
fertilizing all the flowers, 90% of them wilted and the stigmata
started swelling. It's been 2 weeks or so since I did this and was
wondering whether the plant should be treated in any special way in
order to produce viable seeds. any necessary changes in light cycle,
fertilization? temperature etc etc?

Any help would be smashing thanks!

Nigel

wrote:
Newbie orchid grower seeking help :)

Since i have access to tissue culture facilities and all necessary
culturing medium (M&S etc), I thought I would dabble in orchid growing
from seed and decided to fertilize a dendrobium. 3 days after
fertilizing all the flowers, 90% of them wilted and the stigmata
started swelling. It's been 2 weeks or so since I did this and was
wondering whether the plant should be treated in any special way in
order to produce viable seeds. any necessary changes in light cycle,
fertilization? temperature etc etc?

Any help would be smashing thanks!

Nigel


No, just treat the plant like you were doing before. If you were
growing it well enough to get flowers, it is probably capable of
bringing a capsule to term. I wouldn't fertilize all the flowers
though. Most plants would prefer to hold one capsule, or perhaps two if
you are feeling bold. You might want to remove some. You can kill a
plant this way, if you try. A lot of serious breeders won't even
attempt to put a capsule on a first bloom seedling, for example.

That said, playing with seed germination is a great idea. But, random
'pretty on pretty' hybridization isn't, really. It is good for
practice. But if you want to sell (or give away) the progeny, make sure
you are starting with good parents and have a plan. Keep good records
(what did you cross with what and when). Talk to some breeders, or get
a copy of the orchid registration lists (Wildcatt is a good place to
start), or preferrably both. Think two or three times before you make a
cross. Remember, it takes just as long to grow a plant with excellent
potential to blooming size as it takes some mutt. And just as much
bench space.

Everybody has to start somewhere, though. That is just my general
warning to anybody who starts breeding orchids. Practice makes perfect
(or better, anyway).

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

And once you DO have the seeds, knock that MS back to 1/2
strength, put sugar at 20 grams per liter, and have at it. They'll
germinate quite readily on that.

Orchids are "replated" (versus "subcultured" for normal plants),
and the medium that is employed is similar to 1/2 MS + 2% sucrose, but
with 20-30 grams of "other" stuff- usually an undefined component such as
coconut liquid, pineapple juice, or overripe bananas. You can knock back
MS to as little as 35% label strength with sucrose at 1.4%, and then
coconut or pineapple at 50-100 mL/L, and then agar at 8-10 grams per
liter, depending upon the type used.

Or you can just buy something like O156 from PhytoTech, and use
that at 70-80% label strength, with about 8.5 to 9 grams of their A111
agar per liter.

The email address in the header doesn't work. Send no mail there.

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

Seconding one of Rob's comments, with more emphasis:

You need a _big, husky_ plant to carry multiple pods. I can't say I've
never done it, but I am very cautious about setting a pod on a first-bloom
seedling, and the only plant I have with more than 2 pods on it is a
Cattleytonia in a 10" pot. So if you care whether the mother plant
survives, knock it back to one, or at most two, pods unless it's a monster.
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

WOW! Now just where did I put that Gilbert chemistry set.
Sorry about being snide but I've been reading a lot about growing orchid
from seed (can you smell the burning gray matter) and the first part of
your message confused me.

Most of what I read have rigid procedures, some are way out in chemistry
nerd ville. Most say start your seed in Orchid seed sowing medium, and then
transfer to an Orchid maintenance medium/replate medium.

Beings that I stayed away from chemistry in High school I like to stay away
from all that measuring and weighing. So since you mentioned PhytoTech,
why not go with something like P723 ORCHID SEED SOWING MEDIUM, Mother
Flasking Medium II. for starting the seed and then transfer to P748 ORCHID
MAINTENANCE/ REPLATE MEDIUM. Both come in 1 liter size so the only
measuring is the water. I still think that's complicated and wondered why
can't they make a medium that you plant the seed and forget till it's time
to deflask.

Well I'm going back to looking for a really dirt cheap Flow hood building
plan.

Thank you all so much for all the info, it was more than I expected I
have to say. I have removed all pods but one since this is the second
flowering year fot this particular plant (and therefore not a monster
at all, Kenni). Being curious I bisected the other pods and saw
thousands of seeds in the making... very nice to see but I feel
somewhat murderous.

This particular fertilization was not a cross, but merely self
pollination. I gathered that messing around with crosses would
complicate things and since I am just starting I thought I should stick
to the basics and expand what I have. I noted the date of pollination
and will keep a close eye on the pod to catch it before it's too late
(after 4-5 months I gather for dendrobiums no?).

So I have one pod left and I think that that should give me more seeds
than I can handle anyhow. Thanks Aaron for the tip in the medium, I
will follow those instructions.

Many thanks again for all your inputs!