Coelogyne Shilleriana

[calvin_orchidL]

I'm glad you're propagating these in vitro, Brett. The more we flood the market with legitimately cultivated plants, the easier it will be to collapse the market that fuels illegal harvesting. Good job! And those photos you posted of specimen sized plants are stunning!

[s1214215]

I hope I can share this species around. I just got home to find a small infection in one of the two mother flasks though. I thought I was safe.. Oh well... One is still ok. I am going to scoop out the infection and try to sterilise the patch by burning it out with a long fire lighter gun. It is only tiny. Maybe I will get lucky.

Brett

[s1214215]

Hi Calvin

A problem with illegal harvesting though is when it is cheaper to collect wild than it is to do invitro. Here in Thailand, the local illegal trade is huge. Plants are taken from neighbouring countries as well. I have sen this first hand travelling in Burma. A guy with a load of orchids in his truck told me they were bound for Thailand near the Thai border.

Luckily there are local hobbyists and nursery people that propagate invitro, but your average Joe Thai on low income is not going to pay the higher price when he can get various species for cheap. I saw several Bulbophyllum species at 40 baht a plant the other day.

CITES as such may halt sending from country to country to an extent, but not much happens here at local level from what I see.

Brett

[s1214215]

Here are the babies on the way

[calvin_orchidL]

WOW great job! What motherflask media are you using?

[s1214215]

I used W1 media from Western Orchid Laboritory in Australia Western Orchids / Laboratory - Tissue Culture Media Formulae You can get this media from a the OSP in the USA media

Western Orchids have W3 for terrestrials and others, but I didnt have it at the time. I thought this may have been a little better for this species as it can be variable in where it grows

Brett

[s1214215]

I have 2 small samples of fresh seed for this species. PM me.

Brett