How to polinate a Masdevallia?

[murphy48]

I went to my first orchid society meeting and won a Masdevallia barlaeana 'Harold', HCC/AOS and a few other plants in a raffle. Being a species and noticing that no seeds were ever sent to Troy Meyer I thought it would be fun to see if I could pollinate it. Problem is, it is so tiny I can't seem to find the anther cap or stigma. Does anyone have experience pollinating Masdevallia?

I'd love some advice!

Thanks
Kristen

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I think it would be awesome to pollinate a Masdevallia barleana.

In fact, I would love to be able to pollinate a Masdevallia compared to the small to tiny flowered Pleurothallis or Scaphosepalums.

You're lucky. Masdevallias have flowers that are more open, so their sepals and petals don't get in the way of your tools or fingers.

However...you need a jeweler's loupe. (Love those catches don't cha!?) Another thing you may have to do is to somehow find a way to get the loupe over your eye like a monocle so you can use both hands. I tend to use twisty wire to fasten it over my eye.

You may also need some wires to prop the flowers in view. Be careful, it's easy to snap the flowers off the plant. (You see the beautiful Pleurothallis sp I have up for my avatar pic? That's what happened to it. I got over zealous and broke the flower off while trying to pollinate it. Sadly, it was also the only flower on the plant.)

The column is short and the petals and lip are tiny. In fact the stuff you see without a magnifier are actually the flower's sepals (you know, the part with the sepaline tails or pointy parts).

You need a needle to get to the pollinia which is hidden behind the anther cap.

The easiest reference to make is if you look at the Masdevallia's close cousin Draculas, Draculas have a monkey face to them right?

Well, the tiny button nose between the two eyes (the eyes are actually the petals), is the column where the anther cap is. Use the needle to pop off the anther cap and get to the pollinia which resemble tiny bunny ears when they attach to the needle.

I may have used Draculas for reference, but it's the same with Masdevallias, just Draculas have flower parts that are easier to spot than Masdevallias upon first glance.

Next you gotta find the stigmatic opening. This opening is behind the anther cap, but underneath the column (don't confuse the stigmatic opening for where the depression on the front part of the column where the pollinia were being held in place). I imagine for a Masdevallia it is tiny. Once you find the stigmatic opening, stick the pollinia in the hole.

Do not leave any part of the pollinia hanging out of the stigmatic opening. Make sure it's in there and stays in.

In a few days the stigmatic opening will close and the flower will wilt. The ovaries right behind the sepals will harden and start turning green and swell up.

If all is well, you can harvest the seed pods after about 1 to 3 months after pollination (depends on the species).

Keep accurate logs for future reference.

Pollinate as many flowers as you can. They don't all take.

Another warning is that some orchids don't self pollinate. So if none of the pollination attempts take, you must find another person with Masdevallia barleana and trade pollinia. Or buy another colony from another dealer (a genetically different plant will offer better pollination success and hardier seeds).

Have fun and good luck.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

These are links to pics of Dracula vampira. They're closeup shots so you can see the parts in question. Dracula vampira has flowers that are anywhere around 12" in height from tip of sepaline tail to tip of sepaline tail.

http://www.arkive.org/media/F4/F41E7...arge/photo.jpg

Google Image Result for http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1128/798411872_024908ce67.jpg?v=0

Here's a closeup pic of a Masdevallia hybrid so you can see the intimate parts of a Masdevallia flower.

Google Image Result for http://www.orchidsonline.com.au/files/images/MasdevalliaRandwickBells%27BetterthanBeenak%27.pre view.JPG

Here's a closeup of Masdevallia princeps to let you know what you're looking for. Masd princeps have flowers that are 8" to 10" tall from tip of sepaline tail to tip of sepaline tail.

Google Image Result for http://farm1.static.flickr.com/32/88447263_52448a824f.jpg?v=0

Google Image Result for http://farm1.static.flickr.com/32/88447263_52448a824f.jpg?v=0

http://lh5.ggpht.com/nakaran4649/R7J...0/CA390017.JPG

Here's a closeup pic of an orchid pollinia just in case you've never seen one before.

http://culturesheet.org/_media/photo...s:pollinia.jpg

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Here's a cross section of an orchid so you can tell where the stigmatic opening is.

http://utc.usu.edu/factsheets/CarexF..._pollinium.jpg

More pics of orchid flower parts.

http://culturesheet.org/_media/photo...:pollinia2.jpg

[murphy48]

Thank yo so much King for all these wonderful pictures and links. I've manage to mutilate/destroy 2 flowers. I'm able to get the anther cap off but haven't been able to see the stigmatic opening. Its so tiny! I might take it to work and try again using the dissecting microscope. 2 flowers left...

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Wow...

You got a microscope, too cool!

I'm thinking of getting one of those Dino-Lite adjustable digital microscopes that can also take digital photos and measurements (the manufacturer claims it magnifies up to 200x, don't know how accurate that claim is though). Gotta save up for one. Might make things like Scaphosepalums easier to pollinate (just in case you wanna try, it's hard, I can get to the pollinia but I can't see were the stigmatic opening is; the floral anatomy is different from a lot of other orchids, I can't help you with Scaphos at the moment).

Keep trying and be clever/creative, while hoping for the best. You never know, the ones you botched up may end up being the ones that take (seen it multiple times in my efforts).

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I was just thinking, how'd the pollination attempt end up going?

I would assume that if they were successful, that you'd have pods by now.

So...

How goes it?

[murphy48]

Sorry I forgot to write back sooner... unfortunately it didn't work. I'll try again next year and hopefully will have better luck. Thanks for checking King!

[Masdyman]

Sometimes it is easier to remove the sepals and petals of Masdevallia to ease pollination, so basically a dissection! It looks ugly but you will lose these flower parts anyway...

[isurus79]

Keith beat me to it, but I was gonna say don't be afraid to chop off the petals!