An August Update!

[Gage]

Lookin good man!

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Thank you all so much for the compliments!!! This closet really is my pride and joy, and it makes me even more happy that I have inspired others!!!

Originally Posted by Susie11

All I can say is, what do you use to clean the leaves on your phals? they look mirror shiny! Great set up by the way.

I don't use anything!!!! The newest leaves are naturally that shiny, and since I don't mist to often (especially during the summer heat), the leaves stay cleaner for longer.

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

more space = more orchids !!!
I like your set-up. Plants grown under lights always seem to have perfect foliage.
K S Happy Eagle is one of my favourites and hopefully one of these days is going to be a proud daddy ( pollen parent x2 ) in my collection.

awesome! what did you use it on? do you breed alot?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

K S Happy Eagle is one of my favourites and hopefully one of these days is going to be a proud daddy ( pollen parent x2 ) in my collection.

Ooo, you can't make a comment like that and not tell us the details!!! Do you have any pictures of your K S Happy Eagle? Who were the pod parents? I am quite happy to find another person interested in breeding phals!!!

[orchidsarefun]

well its been an interesting 6 months on the pollination front.
I attempted about 30+ phal crosses - this was during, before and after I was educating myself on ploidy issues and the consequences of an "infertile" ploidy. I have had capsules fail after 4 months ! I even had a capsule that naturally dehisced after 5 months and didn't contain a single seed !
I have 3 capsules currently growing at the lab and another 7 developing. I don't want to say which just yet as its bad luck and I may just have to kill somebody to keep the secret safe.
And I have learnt that orchids act uniquely when pollinated. Some lose all other flowers within a few days, some just carry on blooming, some fall within 24 hours ( BAAAD ploidy ), some take a week to fall, some when inviable cause the whole spike to turn yellow....and so on. I started keeping notes so that I don't make the same mistakes next year.
Don't ask me where I am going to keep all these flasks and seedlings when I get them from the lab

[zxyqu]

Given your comments, I'd like to add a few comments. When a flower readily falls after pollination it isn't always a ploidy issue. I've has this happen on even fertile ploidy plants, so I guess the plant wasn't ready. Also when the spike dies back, you can probably assume the plant wasn't ready for a pod either. Takes a lot of energy to develop a pod, so of the plant wasn't the healthiest (whoops...) it'll lose the pod branch and spike all at once. Blah. Another note. Heat will drop any pod pretty rapidly. So try and keep the pod at neutral heat. Dont give up on a 4 month pod either. It can have some seed too. Pollinating is fun isn't it!

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by zxyqu

Given your comments, I'd like to add a few comments. When a flower readily falls after pollination it isn't always a ploidy issue. I've has this happen on even fertile ploidy plants, so I guess the plant wasn't ready. Also when the spike dies back, you can probably assume the plant wasn't ready for a pod either. Takes a lot of energy to develop a pod, so of the plant wasn't the healthiest (whoops...) it'll lose the pod branch and spike all at once. Blah. Another note. Heat will drop any pod pretty rapidly. So try and keep the pod at neutral heat. Dont give up on a 4 month pod either. It can have some seed too. Pollinating is fun isn't it!

I couldn't agree more!!!! I have tried pollinating my equestris literally a dozen or more times, and it's refused every pod, even though it is very healthy, and now starting to work on three kiekis. I know for a fact that certain Phals need to be pollinated at certain times after they've opened, so its all about learning the peak time for each one.

[orchidsarefun]

yep - lots of different reasons for failure. On the pod parent side its pretty easy to tell if the flower is ready for pollen ( IMO ) as the pollen "sticks" or transfers easily. As for the other parent I take pollen from a flower thats been open at least a day. Older pollen definitely discolours.

My biggest disappointment to date has been a miltoniopsis capsule that perished after 5 months ( definitely a heat problem - I couldn't keep the room cool enough ). The most excitement - my zygo cross thats about to be replated. Most anticipated - a Liu's Triprince pod thats just been sent to the lab ( though I think there's a ploidy issue and it won't be viable ) , as well as a Corningiana cross thats developing - now almost 4 months. I have also just used a cymbidium for an intergeneric cross that will be exciting if it takes....

[orchidsarefun]

Dtps helo - an oldie. I think there are ploidy issues...
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Yeah, I would say that is definitely a 4n. . . and the name Hello or Helo doesn't turn up any results in the IOR. . .