Cardboard germination of Calopogon tuberosus

[Subrosa]

I started this container of seed last fall. The medium is a mix of sand, peat, Sphagnum moss, and a bit of soil collected from the root zone of a local orchid colony, surrounding strips of cardboard previously soaked for two weeks in rain water. These pics show a progression from initial protocorm develop to the greening up of the protocorms to seedlings with well developed leaves. Seeds were sown on the medium in September, the container was placed in a sealed Ziploc bag and left outside in a shaded area until a freeze was forecast. It was then brought into my basement and kept under 10 hrs of light until March, when the photoperiod was increased to 12 hours. Development commenced at that point. Lighting was increased to 18 hours as soon as leaves started developing.