Anybody Interested In Microcoelia Seeds?
 

Several months ago I tried pollinating my Microcoelia exilis with pollen from a random Neofinetia hybrid. It was really not easy to do. The Microcoelia flowers are very tiny! Without a microscope or magnifying glass it was extremely difficult to try and remove the specks of Microcoelia pollinia and insert the much larger Neofinetia pollinia. After around two weeks of trying I threw in the towel.

Not too long afterwards...I noticed that some of the tiny ovaries were starting to swell a bit. And now I have around a dozen tiny seed pods on my Microcoelia.

My guess is that it's extremely likely that they were all selfed rather than crossed. I'm pretty sure that in my clumsy effort to remove the pollen I simply managed to self pollinate the Microcoelia flowers. But I could be wrong.

With most of my seed pods I just sow the seeds on my tree. But in this case, because it's not a common orchid, I'd prefer to go with the traditional method. All leafless orchids should definitely be more widely available.

Is anybody interested in the seeds? A few criteria...

1. Must be in the US
2. Must be experienced

This isn't the kind of seed for experimenting with. So if you're interested in some seed...then you must be able to provide some evidence that you've successfully germinated monopodial orchid seeds before.

Plus, I'm going to expect a reasonable percentage of seedlings in return. Maybe 10% or so. Of course there's no guarantee that the seeds are viable.

Not sure when the seed pods are going to be ready to harvest. They look like they could pop any day now. But for all I know it could still be another couple of months. I try and inspect them on a daily basis...and as soon as the first pod starts to open...I will remove all the pods.

So far Microcoelia exilis seems to be a really great outdoor leafless orchid for Southern California. I have two of them. The one with seed pods I traded for last year. This winter was pretty mild though. But my first exilis had no problem with a previous winter's temps down to 32F. Both of them bloomed this year and they started putting out new roots early in the year.

They are both mounted without any moss and located pretty high up under 50% white shade cloth. During the coldest days I water them once a week in the morning. During the hottest days I try and water them every night.

I am not who you want, but your cross is interesting. Too bad our neo is not less random! Hoping someone will step up to the challenge!

How certain are you that the pods are from the species and not a hybrid between the Microcoelia and the Neofinetia?

If it's the species, I'd be interested.

I will not be sowing the seeds myself, they will be sent to a professional lab I trust.

If you're looking for some seedlings in return, I can offer some of them to you for free since they are your seed stock.

As with dealing with any kind of seed, I'm sure you understand that the terms would be that there would be no guarantees of successful germination. There are also no guarantees that there would be a high yield if germination is successful.

If you're interested in working out the deal, send me a pm.

This made me chuckle... :biggrin:

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM ----------

The significant morphological differences between the two species leads me to believe that it was a self rather than a cross. For example, the Neo pollinium were nearly as large as the Microcoelia flowers.

Plus, in several instances I don't believe that I was able to successfully extricate the Microcoelia's pollinium.

I certainly can't guarantee that the pods were a result of selfing. It just seems highly likely.

Have you ever heard of a leafy orchid being successfully crossed with a leafless orchid? I sure haven't...which is why my preference is for the seeds to be the result of a cross rather than a self. Plus, I'd be really curious to know whether leaves are the dominant trait.

Nothing personal but the real problem is that there's no guarantee that you would honestly report the results. You could totally lie and I would be none the wiser.

Does the lab give you a copy of the results? As the saying goes..."trust, but verify".

Dude...

We're both in SoCal. You can literally drive to my house within 1/2 hr - 45 mins from where you live.

I can't do anything about the lab, but you can be easily assured I'm not selling you up the river.

---------- Post added at 03:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------

Forgot to answer your question...

I don't know if this applies to all leafless orchids, but there are quite a few "leafless" orchids that lead a large part of their adult lives without leaves, however, they actually grow a leaf as a seedling.

Somehow, later on in life, the plant only produces a leaf under specific environmental circumstances. The majority of the time, they will appear to be completely leafless.

Sounds like you're asking for a prenup or something :rofl: I'm not familiar with this species, but if you're not willing to do the work of sowing the seeds yourself, then you'll have to be a little bit less of a paranoid Penelope. :roll:

Did you get any takers? I'm willing to try and germinate it for you.