What?! Seeds. Did I buy??! - Orchid Board

micro'sorchids · #1 12-18-2019, 02:45 AM

Hi everyone! Super duper new here! I've only really gotten into caring for orchids 2 years ago.
I recently decided that propagating from seed would be a super fun challenge AFTER buying seeds online for super cheap, THEN doing the research... Whew! A mistake and blessing in disguise at the same time! I had no idea it was such an intense process!
I just finished the process and was doing some more online research for a new plant seeds project when I came across an article on seed scammers.... This ropes us back to my title question: what the hell did I buy?!?!
I was excited when I bought and ordered 100 PC's of each of the following:
Advertised as sementes
Advertised as dendrobrium
Advertised as cybidium
Advertised as phaleonopsis
The pictures are all from the same packet but they all look the exact same from packet to packet. They kind of remind me of tiny-er poppyseeds.
I've sterilized and flasked on agar, and am super excited to see what comes(if anything) from it, but have lots of seed left and would be curious of anyone knew what they are so I could improve results... Maybe even non orchidaceae fam?? Help with this is greatly appreciated!

micro'sorchids · #2 12-18-2019, 02:47 AM

Oh yeah, cracked one open for pics and found a few little white flakes came out...

cricketerry · #3 12-18-2019, 03:13 AM

Well they are not orchid seed and I would suggest sowing some normally in a seed compost rather than on agar. I too would be interested to see what eventually grows.

jcec1 · #4 12-18-2019, 06:29 AM

I agree they are not orchid seeds - again I wouldn't bother with the flasking process - a waste of time and resource. Seed compost will do the job well enough.

aliceinwl · #5 12-18-2019, 04:43 PM

I’ll pile on and agree that those aren’t orchid seeds. If you want real seeds to play with, it’s fun and easy to pollinate Phalaenopsis, but you do have to wait a long time while the pod matures. I pollinated a few of mine for fun, but didn’t seriously try to germinate the resulting seed.

micro'sorchids · #6 12-18-2019, 05:16 PM

Wow! Thanks everyone for the input, I'll try the suggestions for sowing these guys. Does anyone have a reliable supplier or site for actual orchid seeds? I still want to try propagating from seed.
I am very excited to be a part of this community, everyone seems very helpful and I am excited to learn from all of you!
Thank you!