Bees

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Many Angraecoids are normally moth pollinated.

Disa spp., Corycium spp., Ceratandra spp., and Satyrium spp. have a wide range of pollinators from moths, to wasps, to birds, to bees, to flies of all sorts.

Disperis spp. are most likely either fly or wasp pollinated, since they are very tiny orchids.

Some Acrolophia or Eulophia are probably bee or wasp pollinated.

I don't know how big of a role beetles play in the pollination of your native orchids in Kenya, but it is possible they may be pollinators of specific orchids as well.

If you're trying to sow your native terrestrial orchids from seed, I recommend doing a test to see what the chemical composition of the soil is and what type of soil they're growing in is. Not all of the soils will be the same, so be careful not to overgeneralize.

When the seed pods are ripe, it would be in your best interest to sow the seeds in-vitro using a nutrient medium that has a similar chemical composition to that of the soils they came from.

Should the natural pollinators of your orchids not be present in large enough numbers, you can hand pollinate them yourself.

I wouldn't disturb any kind of amphibian population at all, they are in peril due to a variety of reasons. Please don't mess with them in any way.

Some chameleons are only known from small localities in Africa, I would not go around disturbing populations of chameleons as well. Chameleons are not easy to keep, have relatively short lifespans for a lizard, and they stress out very easily. If you want to know about their care, I can provide a few tips provided I know what the species is.

Some orchids do not have obligate pollinators. At times there may be 2 or 3 different species of insects that can pollinate a particular species of orchid. The key is whether the insect can fit into the area where pollination is supposed to occur. The insect has to be the correct size and shape to remove the pollinia and be able to rub the pollinia off itself and into another flower's stigmatic opening/stigmatic surface.

The pollinators tend not to be faithful to the orchids because they eventually learn that many orchids usually do not provide a food reward for visiting the flowers.

---------- Post added at 03:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------

In regards to slugs and snails, certain snakes may be predators of these animals. I don't know what kind of snakes are in your area other than elapids, but if you guys have slugs and snails, something's eating them, and snakes may be one predator.

Some chameleons eat snails for certain. I know that the Jackson's Chameleon does occasionally pick off snails for food, shell and all.

[A. thom Aberdares]

Just some more info on my growing situation. I live in a secluded bush, high altitude (but for CO2 that doesn't seem to matter, as they bounce a bit more to compensate for less). There are plenty of trees, frogs, chameleons, and as it is rather humid, there is a kind of gorge, slugs and snails are also present, I guess some of them are taken care of by mongooses. Snakes, very disappointing, low numbers; mostly because it is too cold. Then besides the existing orchids I add others, and >95% grow rather instantly with also seedlings emerging. I make sure creepers do not have a chance, prune trees in such a way to match the light level for the species the tree got allocated. But then still you have to deal with the leaf shedding of the trees... I do collect the seed pods and plant / dispense them on soils / branches similar where the parent plant produced the seeds. Now I was thinking, when I get more seed pods, then I can increase the orchid population much faster than with collecting one plant here or there. And the bio-pressure is such that when I relocate e.g.the frogs during flowering, shortly afterwards they will be back, but in the mean time I get more seeds?