Pollinated flower on phal aborts before making seed pod

[jreidsma]

On one of my phals I pollinated the flowers, the flowers started withering like expected but the whole flower and the flower stalk fell off. (not the one that connects to all the blooms, but to just the one) fell off.

This is my first time having orchids produce flowers and seed pods so sorry if this always happens.

[orchidsarefun]

I recommend you research ploidy of orchids to save you further time and if you want to breed. Certain phals are infertile because of their ploidy - potentially in your case either the recipient of the pollen or the pollen parent. Additionally - if ploidy is not the problem - there are other issues in that the pollen has to be mature/viable, even the time of the day you pollinated the bloom could be a factor.
I read a stat on the web where someone stated that only 20% of his crosses took. In my own case my success was less than that - until I realised that many of the crosses I had made were from infertile parents ( aneuploid and 3N ) and would thus never take.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Just in case it is not understood what ploidy means...

Ploidy is referring to the number of sets of chromosomes in the nucleus of a plant's cell.

For example, haploid (symbolized by N or 1N) means that there is only 1 set of chromosome. Diploid (2N) refers to having 2 sets of chromosomes. Triploid (3N) refers to having 3 sets of chromosomes. Tetraploid (4N) is having 4 sets of chromosomes. So on and so forth.

A plant such as your orchid should usually be diploid (2N) by nature.

It is possible to genetically manipulate the number of sets of chromosomes inside the nucleus of the plant's cells by using chemicals during cloning or sowing seeds in-vitro (in-vitro: in a bottle). Basically, you can change a plant from being diploid (2N) to being triploid (3N) or tetraploid (4N) using a certain kind of chemical, for example.

When "orchidsarefun" is talking about infertility due to issues with ploidy, the following is what he's referring to:

Generally speaking, plants with an odd numbered set of chromosomes are usually considered infertile, while those with an even numbered set of chromosomes are usually considered fertile.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

While ploidy is definitely one issue to consider when breeding plants, there are other variables that can affect the formation of the seed capsules on an orchid as well.

1. Make sure the plant can be self pollinated.

- In your case, many Phals are self fertile if ploidy does not affect fertility.

- A great example of a genus of orchid that is generally very difficult to self pollinate without using special tricks or having luck on your side would be Maxillaria.

2. Stress can also affect the formation of the seed capsules. A large amount of negative stress can force the plant to abort the pods in order to conserve energy.

3. Sometimes even when ploidy doesn't affect fertility in the plant, the pollination effort just doesn't yield a fertilized pod.

4. If the plant doesn't have enough energy resources to complete the process of forming seed pods, it will abort as many developing seed pods as the plant needs to abort in order to conserve energy and to properly distribute the energy to where it is needed.

There may be other factors as well, but right now, these are but a few of the things that can affect seed pod formation that I can think of.