Some observations on Paclobutrazol's effects on orchid cuttings.

[KultureShock]

(edit: Paclobutrazol has also been shown to induce flowering in orchids grown in vitro. simply add 1mg/l paclobutrazol to your tissue culture medium.) Here are some observations i made while trying to reduce mold problems in flower stem cuttings grown in vivo that i thought some of you might find interesting/useful.
in an attempt to deal with the mold issue i made up three solutions of paclobutrazol(a triazole fungicide and plant growth regulator).The concentration of each was 1mg/L, 2mg/L, and 3mg/L respectively. 4 stem cuttings were completely immersed in each(a total of 12) of the solutions for 15 minutes and 4 stem cuttings were planted in vermiculite without being soaked in a paclobutrazol solution they did however get a small amount of Keiki paste applied to each to break dormancy in the stem cuttings. After the 15 minute soak all the cuttings were planted in vermiculite and also given a small amount of Keiki paste to break dormancy.

Now this is where things get interesting. The group of stems that were soaked in 3mg/L paclobutrazol all had swelling of the nodes on the 3rd day, the group with 2mg/L had swelling of the nodes on the 5th day and the group receiving 1mg/L had swelling on day 7 as did the group that did not receive paclobutrazol. This shows a direct corelation between the amount of paclobutrazol applied and the time in wich it takes to break dormancy in a phalaenopsis orchid. Also all of the node's began to grow on every cutting that was treated with paclobutrazol where as the group that did not receive paclobutrazol only had 2 of the 4 cuttings start to grow wich suggests that paclobutrazol can increase the overall success rates of Keiki paste application.

i plan on doing so more experiments using orchids that dont generally respond to Keiki paste to try and come up with a paste that will work on them but i dont have plants of other species to experiment on so it will be a while but check back now and then for updates. Also i will be adding pictures once i get a camera.


P.s. i would love everyone's input and possibly some suggestion on how i can improve my trials, also if anyone has a species of orchid that doesnt respond to keiki paste they would like to donate to the experiment or knows where you can buy orchids in canada it would be greatly appreciated and extremely helpful.
Best regards,
Kevin Disher
KultureShock