TIPS?

[Samyo]

A new blog entry has been added:

[drupal=320]TIPS[/drupal]

Next week, I'm ordering my seeds though I have already researched about it. I'm still not totally confident if I will be successful. Is anyone can give me a tips or advice what I need to do when the seeds arrived? Thanks

[trdyl]

Welcome to OB!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

What kind of orchid seeds are you referring to?

Different orchid seeds need different requirements to germinate.

Is the species in question an epiphyte, lithophyte, or terrestrial (or whatever combination of the three)?

Is it a Cattleya?

Although it's highly unlikely that you'd get Phalaenopsis seeds because they're short lived...are they Phals?

Vanda seeds are short lived as well. Vandas maybe?

Out of all the seeds from the genus Disa, Disa uniflora is the shortest lived, only being viable for about 1 month. Provided the seeds were viable to begin with of course. So...could it be a Disa species?

Calypso bulbosa? This one's a toughie from what I understand, by the way.

Where did you purchase the seeds from? The Orchid Seedbank Project (OSP)? Other?

Do you know how old the seed is?

As you're starting to see, it's not quite so simple.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Okay...

I have a hunch the seed is not from any of the ones I mentioned so far...

Perhaps it's Gavilea, Bipinnula, or Chloraea?

Habenaria?

Thelymitra? If it's Thelymitra, not very many people can help you. They're dependent on mycorrhizal fungus for in-vitro germination.

Perhaps one of the Australian Greenhoods (Pterostylis)?

Diuris?

Caladenia? Difficult.

Satyrium?

Acrolophia?

Brownleea

Corycium?

Eulophia?

Perhaps Bletilla striata? Very, very easy.

Robiquetia?

Corallorhiza? Leave this one be, even if it germinates, you're hard pressed to grow this one to maturity.

Cypripedium? Not easy. Too tricky.

Paphiopedilum? It's been done, but it's no cake walk.

Epipactis? Same as Cyp., very tricky.

Bonatea?

[Andrew]

Hi Samyo,
It strikes me as unusual that you've made one post to OB and you're posting this in the Beginners sub-forum and instead of the Propagation sub-forum. You are planning on flasking your seed, aren't you? Just clarifying, as a lot of new orchid growers aren't aware of the work, time and (usually) expense involved with growing orchids from seed.

If you're going to flask, as KoOG said, choice of media will be dependant up the type of orchid but there are a lot of media that are quite flexible in terms of the types of orchids that can be germinated and grown on them. Aaron Hick's website has a ton of good info on media and flasking advice and it's worth spending a bit of time reading through it if you haven't already. Aaron seems to give the thumbs-up to Kevin Western's media so if you want to know what grows well on what Western media, have a look at Western Orchid Lab's site. Other than choosing the right media, all I can suggest is experiment. If you can't find any firm info on whether germination enhancers like coconut water etc are needed for the orchid in question, sow flasks with and without enhancers, to see what gives you better results and keep records so you know what to use in the future. Don't flask all the seed at once or you'll have nothing left to resow if your flasks become contaminated.
Good luck.

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Thelymitra? If it's Thelymitra, not very many people can help you. They're dependent on mycorrhizal fungus for in-vitro germination.

Which species are you having trouble with?