Dactylorhiza fuchii seed - how do I begin?
 

A seed company in the UK is selling these seeds in foil envelopes, without any instructions, except that the seed are fine and to mix with silver sand for ease of sowing. I am a complete novice in respect of growing orchids from seed. I have no idea how to proceed. Can they be sown directly onto compost, or do they need to be flasked - in which case how?

:bump:

Hi Heather, I don't know anything about these, but it might be worth contacting Jeff @ Laneside Hardy Orchids. I know he grows/sells them. Not sure if he's done them from seed or just splitting tubers though. He's usually really helpful with info about growing Hardy Orchids.

[/Edit] Just found his February Newsletter had lots of info about these including sowing from seed. Don't want to Copy/Paste it here in case there is any copyright on the newsletter, but I'll forward you the email privately. If you are interested in Hardy Orchids in the UK it's worth signing up to. It's a once a month email with info about how his orchids are going, and usually a section on a specific genus or species giving more info about their culture.

Thanks so much!

The Hardy Orchid Society might also be able to give you some advice.

You can sow them upon soil; but I would recommend finding soil from an old forest area 30 years old or older. Reason being the older the forest the symbiotic fungus needed to help germinate the seeds is more prevalent, you can search online to confirm this. Orchid seeds are unlike many other seeds, they contain very few food reserves (endosperm) to enable the seed to germinate. In orchid seeds, the nutrients required for germination are provided by a mycorrhizal fungus with which it forms an association.

Asymbiotic media have been developed using chemicals and plant extracts to imitate the nutrients supplied by the fungus. Germination on asymbiotic media can take several months, and years may be required for plants to reach a size comparable to that achieved in a few months using symbiotic methods.

A short; answer to your question.

Interesting about old forests. The info I sent Hedge suggests soil used to grow Hostas, Lilies or from Alpine troughs. Again because it is more likely to contain the required fungus.

I have read many published articles about it; and we have done some research on the Red pine forests and Chumbi Mountain just a few of China’s untouched forests in the Northeast.

Thanl you all for you advice/help. I'll let you know if I have any success