I recommend sending the seeds to an orchid seed sowing lab, there are several available. Each company has their own strengths and weaknesses. It really depends on the species of orchid seeds you got. Orchid seeds are dust-like in appearance.
Some Ebay sellers are dishonest and will sell a buyer sawdust thinking that the buyer will never check the contents of the "seed packets".
The best way for an absolute newbie to check if what they've got are truly orchid seeds is to consult an experienced grower who knows how to handle orchid seeds and have them check under a jeweler's loupe or a microscope (any microscope is fine, it can even be the handheld ones).
Another way to check is to send the seeds to the lab, and during their processing of the seeds, they can check whether they are truly orchid seeds or not.
Do you mind me asking which types of orchid seeds you got? Not all orchid seeds are easy to germinate, even if you send them to a lab.
Depending on the type of orchid seeds they are, some labs may absolutely refuse to work with the seeds you want to sow, while others would be willing to help you out, but they might tell you that it could either be a complete dud or the odds of getting a large number of seeds to germinate is rather poor. Of course, there are seeds where they will readily accept, and they may even go as far as to pretty much assure you that there's a very high probability of getting some nice germination rates and nice strong seedlings.
Before the question even gets brought up here in this thread - if you end up thinking this is all too overwhelming, and you thought about sprinkling the seeds on some bark or some soil and hope that they'll germinate, the answer is, NO, they most likely will not germinate unless you have a very specific set of orchid species that the seeds originated from. And if they do, the germination rate will be very poor, and your chances of getting a plant out of the attempt is not good at all.
How do I know the answer?
Easy - it happened to me, and I failed royally. This has been proposed by a few other members on this forum in the past as well, and to my knowledge, those attempts may not have worked either.
There are only a small handful of orchid species where the seeds do not need to be sown at a lab, and those seeds are rarely offered for sale.
Assuming the seeds are able to germinate at the lab, you'd also have to learn how to grow them out once they come out of the flask they were growing in.
Depending on the orchid(s), it might be a piece of cake to grow the seedlings out to maturity, or the seedlings could be so difficult for a beginner, or even in some cases, an experienced hobbyist to grow that it might be a complete disaster.
While you're looking for an orchid seed sowing lab that will take on your project(s). I highly recommend storing them in the fridge (do
not put in the freezer).
With that said…
Habenaria radiata is also called the Egret Orchid. They grow in parts of China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. These most likely come from limestone forests, where they grow in between the crevices of limestone rocks. Your Habenaria will need some added lime. I recommend adding some dolomite, enough to cover the surface of the pot. This orchid is starting to actively grow now, and I really don't recommend digging this out at all during this phase. They handle being knocked out of the pot better during their dormancy.
FYI, the
Habenaria radiata is most likely not in the correct potting media. Like I said, they usually grow in limestone forests in the wild, I'm willing to bet the potting media that yours is in contains absolutely no calcium or magnesium in it - in other words, it's not limestone.
I recommend getting some limestone and get ready to repot into a different potting media when it goes dormant.
The temperatures that
Habenaria radiata grow in when they are actively growing are very similar to how it is here in SoCal now. Not too warm, not too cold.
Do not grow sopping wet. They like growing evenly moist. If they are kept too wet, they will rot very quickly.
The first signs of over watering that a grower is able to see, are usually black tips on the leaves, or yellowing leaves that want to drop prematurely, which can be symptoms associated with root rot. The worst readily visible symptom without knocking the orchid out of the pot is when the stem gets soft and looking waterlogged, and you can pluck it out of the pot easily. By then, it's usually too late - the tuber is most likely all rotted out.
It will start dropping leaves and begin its dormancy some time around fall.
As for
Dracula lotax - if you have a window with some diffuse light you can place them on your window sill.
They grow in bright shade, so do not blast these with light, they will quickly die from sunburn.
Forgive the essay, but sowing orchid seeds is a WHOLE DIFFERENT ANIMAL!
dracula lotax care????
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