Pollinating Oncidium
 

Hi all,
I have several Dancing Ladies about to bloom and I was think about pollinating them. I know they are quite small so this won't be easy. I have a stationary magnifying glass so I can observe the flower. Other than the obvious, are there any tricks to successful pollination of these little lovelies?
(I checked back about 6 or so pages and did not see this as a thread topic. Sorry if this have been asked before.)
Cheers,
Joe C.

:bump: Sorry, I don't know but I will bump this for you.

I have done
 

quite a lot of pollinating - mini phal, to zygo's, to oncidiums and miltoniopsis. The most valuable thing I have found is one of those long forceps with a tiny pinch point. I have been able to carry out the most intricate pollination - forget about a toothpick !
......and don't forget to remove the pollinia of the orchid you are pollinating, you don't want an inadvertent selfing....also make sure you label the flower with the cross.

Thank you. Excellent advice.
Joe

good luck! let us know how it goes, please?

I will. I have successfully crossed several of my dendrobium and a couple of my rhynchostylis. I am waiting to see if a cattelya cross has worked or not (tto soon to tell, yet). I am hopeful that I can do these oncidiums. Would be so great.
Joe

what happened on this ? My miltoniopsis cross with Onc Debutante took but not the cross with a onc Copper Falls.

Well, I meant to get back to this thread a while ago, but...
I tried twice to get my oncidium to self cross but with no luck. Not sure why but I am going to continue to try until I either succeed or determine that my technique is just not adequate for this species. I have succeeded, however, with several dendrobium, a rhynchostylus, a vanda and an ascocenda. So my track record is not bad. I will do some further investigating to see if I can determine a better technique. (I have tried a couple cattleya as well, by the way, also with no luck.) Maybe someone else has some ideas?

it may well be that oncidia/that family are difficult to self. It may also be that the ploidy on yours is "off" ( whole new subject )
Hopefully someone else can give input.

Without further cross attempts, I won't know for sure. But, your suggestions ring true to me as well.
Joe