Does the seed parent matter more than the pollen parent?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by SakuraDrops

Interesting..How do you germinate the seeds outdoors without contamination? Err..are they past the easy contamination phase after they germinate?

Remember, B nodosa is native to where SG_CR lives. So for that, and other species (and likely hybrids of them) that come from that locality, there are likely to be naturally-occurring mycorrhizae that the orchid seeds need to germinate. Nature, of course, doesn't grow orchids in- vitro.

[SakuraDrops]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Remember, B nodosa is native to where SG_CR lives. So for that, and other species (and likely hybrids of them) that come from that locality, there are likely to be naturally-occurring mycorrhizae that the orchid seeds need to germinate. Nature, of course, doesn't grow orchids in- vitro.

Whaaaaattt oh my goodness that's so cool!!!!

[SG in CR]

Yeah, l do it the way orchids do it in the environment they evolved in.
My area was originally cow pasture and didn't have any orchids or their fungi to begin with. So the first couple years no orchids would germinate for me. I inoculated the trees and bushes around my house with fungii from the roots of naturally germinated orchids by blending them in a solution of water very dilute fert and molasses and spraying the trees with that solution. After that orchid seeds started germinating.
Now I just make my pollinations that I want, let the seed pod mature and spread the seed everywhere I think it might germinate. First I stuck to species but now I've focused more on primary hybrids which seem to have a lot harder time germinating ex-vitro but a few crosses have already bloomed for me.

[SakuraDrops]

Originally Posted by SG in CR

Yeah, l do it the way orchids do it in the environment they evolved in.
My area was originally cow pasture and didn't have any orchids or their fungi to begin with. So the first couple years no orchids would germinate for me. I inoculated the trees and bushes around my house with fungii from the roots of naturally germinated orchids by blending them in a solution of water very dilute fert and molasses and spraying the trees with that solution. After that orchid seeds started germinating.
Now I just make my pollinations that I want, let the seed pod mature and spread the seed everywhere I think it might germinate. First I stuck to species but now I've focused more on primary hybrids which seem to have a lot harder time germinating ex-vitro but a few crosses have already bloomed for me.

Seriously amazing.

[Fairorchids]

From a population of Paph. Nitens (mix of insigne x villosum, and vice-versa), I observed that:

All plants showed flower shapes, that was clearly patterned after one or the other. I had no way of telling whether they were from an insigne or a villosum pod.

100% of the plants were colored like Paph. insigne.