Several years caring for orchids, one week into my own collection

[FL_Orchid_Collector]

Hello everyone, my name is John and I just started raising my own orchids about a week ago after buying orchids for my mom and caring for them for several years. Here is her collection which I've been tending: (hmm I'm too new to embed an image link but it's attached)
The orchids on the round table in the back are the start of my own collection. I don't know why but giving them to my mom and caring for hers made me fall in love with orchid growing. Anyway I'm a beginner orchid cultivator but I might have some of the more finicky orchids in my collection - regular box store varieties don't quite fit the bill for my personal collection. Anyway, see you guys on the boards!

[Roberta]

Welcome! speaking as a hopeless species addict, the weirder the better! So feel free to ask, you will find a lot of information here.

[rbarata]

Welcome, FL!

[FL_Orchid_Collector]

I'm all about species. I hope one day I have so many blooms I have no choice but to get a toothpick and start grabbing pollinia. If it works the same way as animals interspecific hybrids are rarely viable (meaning they can continue reproduction from seed, not necessarily that they can live and produce a sterile bloom - the opposite of sterile - fecund maybe?) so you need unhybridized species to start a breeding program right?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by FL_Orchid_Collector

I'm all about species. I hope one day I have so many blooms I have no choice but to get a toothpick and start grabbing pollinia. If it works the same way as animals interspecific hybrids are rarely viable (meaning they can continue reproduction from seed, not necessarily that they can live and produce a sterile bloom - the opposite of sterile - fecund maybe?) so you need unhybridized species to start a breeding program right?

Well, you can hybridize any related species... to see what has been done, take a look at OrchidRoots
Note that it's one thing to get a viable pod (not trivial, even very experienced hybridizers get lots of failures, quite another to get plants capable of living on their own. (Flasking requires sterile conditions in most cases, and even the pros often send their pods to a flasking service to do that part, and then it's still a long process) Good luck...

[FL_Orchid_Collector]

Yep, the seedlings have no endosperm or cotyledons so they need some fungus to give them sugar and not eat them. I have a certain idea about the microbiome which I'm sure many growers have had and led them on the sunny path to failure but i feel that if i rub enough seeds into orchid roots of several species or individuals there will be a few who both find their symbiont fungus and are genetically suited to the environment I'm providing. Like i said about others who surely thought this i may be on the primrose path but oh well at least the journey may be interesting.

** I just thought of this clarification to your point - - so you mean if I attach a brassocattleya pollinium to self I can get an embryo?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by FL_Orchid_Collector

Yep, the seedlings have no endosperm or cotyledons so they need some fungus to give them sugar and not eat them. I have a certain idea about the microbiome which I'm sure many growers have had and led them on the sunny path to failure but i feel that if i rub enough seeds into orchid roots of several species or individuals there will be a few who both find their symbiont fungus and are genetically suited to the environment I'm providing. Like i said about others who surely thought this i may be on the primrose path but oh well at least the journey may be interesting.

You might start with reed-stem Epidendrums. They do tend to germinate pretty easily. If you have some (grown outside) you likely will end up with some voluntary seed pods (either pollinated by hummingbirds o self-pollinating) Of course you will have no idea of parentage... they're "mutts". But I have occasionally had these show up in pots. Some terrestrials (such as Cynorkis fastigiata) also may pop up in other pots. Look for posts from Epiphyte78 .... he has had some success propagating orchid species in plants growing in his yard (he's in southern California) Not a formal "breeding program", just some experiments to see what might sprout without the usual lab effort.

[FL_Orchid_Collector]

I have a special intrerest - I have an Encyclia tampensis I want to see flower and then divide up to stick in different trees around me and see what happens. I wanted an Oncidium ensatum and saw one either at Andy's or Hausermann but it went out of stock before I bit the bullet and I haven't found it again. Broward ag extension had 20 seedlings for $80 but I would have had to pick it up and that went out of stock too. I guess it's a seasonal offering so I'l try again nextt spring and in the meantime I've appeased myself with a Sharry Baby. It arrived with the center leaf on the newest growth rotted out, it got stuck in Memphis for two extra days and one corner of the box had been soaking in the runoff from a fully defrosted seafood package and it smelled godawful on unboxing but my Phal. bellina was in perfect condition. Those came from Hausermann, and I ordered the Dracula diabola and two vanda falcata, one standard, one pink-flowered variety from Hausermann also before my first two even arrived. The standard falcata arrived in bloom and it was packed so perfectly the tiny blooms were unblemished and everything from them has had juicy, healthy roots on arrival. I also ordered some from Andy's (the Encyclia, Bulbophyllum lasiochilum, and Haraella odorata). I love the way they mount them, and my Haraella odorata had a spike with a bud which has still not blasted, and another spike has appeared since I mounted it Thursday in the same terrarium my Drac. and a Bulbophyllum lasiochilum are mounted in.

I know the water chemistry is not too similar to the mountain runoff and clouds but I know the mountain runoff could have a low pH due to splashing around and collecting CO2 and different minerals, rainwater can be very soft and acidic like swamp water and I think my frogs will provide some antifungals to the environment if that makes sense haha. As long as they don't jump and smash the flower on my Haraella but they seems coordinated enough not to try to land on tiny things that will dunk them in the drink. It's been sitting pretty since Thursday with no changes except the second spike growing and the roots getting longer so I've got my fingers crossed that I've got what they need... please wish me luck too, I need all I can get!

---------- Post added at 07:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 PM ----------

I have a special intrerest - I have an Encyclia tampensis I want to see flower and then divide up to stick in different trees around me and see what happens. I wanted an Oncidium ensatum and saw one either at Andy's or Hausermann but it went out of stock before I bit the bullet and I haven't found it again. Broward ag extension had 20 seedlings for $80 but I would have had to pick it up and that went out of stock too. I guess it's a seasonal offering so I'l try again nextt spring and in the meantime I've appeased myself with a Sharry Baby. It arrived with the center leaf on the newest growth rotted out, it got stuck in Memphis for two extra days and one corner of the box had been soaking in the runoff from a fully defrosted seafood package and it smelled godawful on unboxing but my Phal. bellina was in perfect condition. Those came from Hausermann, and I ordered the Dracula diabola and two vanda falcata, one standard, one pink-flowered variety from Hausermann also before my first two even arrived. The standard falcata arrived in bloom and it was packed so perfectly the tiny blooms were unblemished and everything from them has had juicy, healthy roots on arrival. I also ordered some from Andy's (the Encyclia, Bulbophyllum lasiochilum, and Haraella odorata). I love the way they mount them, and my Haraella odorata had a spike with a bud which has still not blasted, and another spike has appeared since I mounted it Thursday in the same terrarium my Drac. and a Bulbophyllum lasiochilum are mounted in.

I know the water chemistry is not too similar to the mountain runoff and clouds but I know the mountain runoff could have a low pH due to splashing around and collecting CO2 and different minerals, rainwater can be very soft and acidic like swamp water and I think my frogs will provide some antifungals to the environment if that makes sense haha. As long as they don't jump and smash the flower on my Haraella but they seems coordinated enough not to try to land on tiny things that will dunk them in the drink. It's been sitting pretty since Thursday with no changes except the second spike growing and the roots getting longer so I've got my fingers crossed that I've got what they need... please wish me luck too, I need all I can get!

[Roberta]

Haraella odorata (retrocalla) is a wonderful, very robust little species that is happy under a wide range of temperatures. You can get several flowers in succession on a spike, and it can bloom several times a year. And fragrant. E tampensis should do really well for you outside. V (Neofinetia) falcata also grows under a wide range of conditions. I wish the flowers lasted longer, but they're so fragrant...

A note about Andy's ... if the website shows out of stock, maybe and maybe not, it's not maintained all that well. And it's only something like 15% of the species that he has, so if you don't see what you're looked for, send an email and ask. There's LOTS more that he has that isn't listed. If he doesn't have what you're looking for he might be able to suggest something else similar.

[estación seca]

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