Does pollinating makeep flowers wilt?

[daisyd681]

When my nephews were over the other day I decided to have a bit of a teachable moment and show them how to "pick the noses" of a couple of phals and cross pollinate them. Being boys they loved it and giggled the whole time, so it was totally worth it. Now two of the flowers are wilting. Was this because I pollinated them? If that's the case, I'll restrict the nose picking to the plants that send up more than a few blooms...

[cbuchman]

Yes. Generally, once the flowers lose their pollin sacks they will fade. Also, once a flower is pollinated, it will fade as it has now Served its purpose.

[daisyd681]

Thank you. Pollinating will be saved for the phals that put out gobs of flowers.

[Subrosa]

If you aren't going to grow the seeds, don't pollinate any flowers. Let the plants put the energy used for seed production into more blooms or roots.

[daisyd681]

I was planning on making a whole project out of it. I homeschool one of my kids, and the nephews always love projects. If I do end up with any seeds I want to try to grow them. My SIL has grown orchids before, so they could take them home and keep them. Hands on learning opportunities about biology and genetics don't always readily present themselves in my kitchen the way this mother's day and birthday did. Lol

[Subrosa]

Not sure if your're aware of the process involved, but growing most orchids from seed is nothing like growing "regular" plants. You need to be more of a lab technician than a gardener.

[daisyd681]

That's a good point. I did know about the flask and sterilization part. I was not aware of the time frame. Even a year would be fine but upwards of ten before a flower is a bit much.

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by cbuchman

Yes. Generally, once the flowers lose their pollin sacks they will fade. Also, once a flower is pollinated, it will fade as it has now Served its purpose.

A-HA! This was a question of mine as I noted this Spring that two of my phals wilted and dropped flowers along the bloom spike "out of order". And on the ones that dropped flowers I had found what I call a "stink bug", wrapped up in a love embrace with each of the two flowers. I had removed them at night, and by the next day those two flowers had wilted! Is it safe to assume the stink bug beetle messing with the pollen sacs had "tripped" the pollination process into a go? These aren't plant suckers, just fairly large hard shell beetles who are lonely I guess