Pollinating and hybridising orchids

[BradGC]

Hey all,

I'm fairly new to orchid growing in general and have recently been having a go at pollinating and cross pollinating some of my plants.


I recently saw a vanda "Mimi Palmer x self" and was interested as to why they self cross it?

I guess lots of orchids are all self crossed but I just wondered what was the importance of stating in on the tag?

[Bud]

some Vandas come from cuttings or keikis and some of them are selfed to improve on the genetic strains....they usually produce bigger brighter colored flowers and become resistant to bugs and diseases

[BradGC]

I've also tried to make a hybrid myself, pollinated an encyclia onto a neofinecia, and it kind of looks like the petals have died and the middle part is swelling. Hopefully this pod works out

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

To my knowledge Encyclia and Neofinetia will not produce offspring.

You have something allied to a Cattleya crossed with something allied to a Vanda.

Intergenerics are usually done with close relations. For example, an orchid in the genus Vanda can be crossed with an orchid in the genus Neofinetia. Both genera are within the tribe Vandaea, and both are in the subtribe Aeridinae.

[BradGC]

So if it does somehow grow a seed pod, is it worth still growing the pod just for experimentation? Or will they be infertile?

[dendro king]

what 'king of orchid growing' said,
they have to be under the same allience\genera to make a viable hybrid and have proper offspring.
its fun to play around with them though, so have fun!

[BradGC]

It doesn't quite answer my question.
If it grows a pod and seeds, what won't be viable about it?
It's all just a learning curve for me.

Maybe this flower will end up dieing, but it seems to be swelling while the others die at the stalk

[dendro king]

it will make a pod but no seed or the seed will be no. 2 and it wont grow.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The column will automatically swell up regardless of whether there is actual fertilization of the ovaries or not. It is an automatic reaction of the stigmatic opening receiving pollinia. Closing of the stigmatic opening and swelling of the column is not the best indicator of whether or not the cross was successful.

You would have to wait until you see the ovaries swelling to know if the possibility of fertilization occurred. Even then, it could turn out to be an infertile pod for whatever reasons.

But in your case, what won't be viable is the entire attempt. They are just not closely related enough.

To put it simply...

Cattleya x Oncidium will not take.

Cattleya x Epidendrum will take = Epicattleya.

Vanda x Cymbidium will not take.

Vanda x Ascocentrum will take = Ascocenda

Cycnoches x Masdevallia will not take.

Cycnoches x Mormodes will take = Cycnodes.

[BradGC]

Thanks Philip!
That is the exact information that I was looking for