Germination from seed

[usman]

I bought some Orchis Italica - Naked-Man and some Dracula gigas monkey-face orchids only to find out they can't be germinated like other plant seeds. So I read up the flask germination method and was wondering if it would be possible to do it in a simpler way

I know that seeds need mycorrhizal fungi to germinate, but am not sure if there is one or many species of mycorrhizae. And I also read that mycorrhizae grow near the base of parent plants.

So I got a couple of small Pterostylis Curta plants and some Mycorrhizal fungi in a bag. I want to pour the fungi around the roots of the Pterostylis Curta and then sow the seeds around that and hope some will take hold. Does this sound doable to anyone?

[camille1585]

Just one question since you are new here and I don't know how much you know about orchids... Are you sure that those are orchid seeds? (As in, are they from a reputable source). On ebay and similar platforms you'll frequently find people selling/scamming orchid seed, and who either send you seeds which are way too large to be orchids, or just send dust. Orchid seed is very small and fine, almost dust like.

If you are sure they are seeds; you have 2 very different species. One is a terrestrial orchid native to many parts of Europe, while the other one (Dracula) is an epiphytic tropical orchid native to South America. They can't be sown the same way even in vitro I believe.

For the fungi, those can often be very specific, and the ideal case would be to have some soil from where the plant naturally grows. So the Orchis seeds may or may not grow. As to the Dracula, I'd say forget it. Flaskign is pretty much the only way to get some seedlings.

[usman]

Thanks Camille for the advice. I had a look at the seeds again and I suspect the Dragula ones are fake as they are quite large. But the Orchid Italica ones look legit. I will give them a try, and will look seriously into flasking too. I will need to convince my wife though as the dining table seems the ideal place to setup for flasking

More questions to follow soon

[Cntry]

It is a shame people will go to this length to make a few dollars. But it happens all the time it seems. Best bet is to request seeds from other members on the board if you want to give flasking a try. This way you know what you will be getting. I have received seeds from other members with no problems at all. They have even germinated and I will be getting ready to move the photocorms into new media soon. So if your interested in flasking ask around and I am sure someone can send you a bit of seeds of some type of orchid that they have. Its fun to watch and see what happens. Good Luck.