Timing for pollen collection

[greenhouseFrog]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

With Cattleya types, the flower needs to be fully open, ideally 2-3 days. If you try to pollinate sooner, the pollen might be ready, but the stigma is not.

With Paphiopedilum hybrids, I have pollinated anywhere from 1-2 days after opening, and up to 6-7 weeks later.

Thanks Fairorchids! At this point in time, I’m just collecting pollen in anticipation of making crosses, but I’ll keep the maturity of the stigma for Cattleya-types in mind once the appropriate time comes—a healthy percentage of my modest collection are still quite young(it was the first time that that Binosa and Hamlyn’s Magic bloomed), so I don’t know if they would be able to handle a seed capsule while this young! It’d be nice if everything was as easy as the hybrid Paphs seem

---------- Post added at 11:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------

Originally Posted by tmoney

can i ask which genera you want to propagate? always good to hear what others are thinking!

Well, for starters, I want to cross some Tolumnias and Oncidiums—this would be more breeding for interesting plant shapes more so than flowers Also, just for fun, I wanted to cross a Vanilla planifolia with a dilloniana—Vanilla dilloniana was a native until it became extinct in the wild in Florida and I wondered how a planifolia would influence the naked vines of dilloniana!

Aside from trying to create a weird novelty, nodosa hybrids are growing on me because they seem to do well in my environment and would probably make for better gifts than a Tolumnia/Oncidium hybrids—not too many people around me are interested in Oncidinae!

Of course, the Catasetinae, but I’m not doing any groundbreaking crosses within that alliance, just having fun.

I’m sure I’ll get more creative as time goes on, but for the time being I just want to have anything I can work with. I recently joined a local group dedicated to breeding orchids(with access to an actual plant laboratory) and I want to be prepared with my own cross instead of just replating/deflasking the plants of my peers(not that I wouldn’t enjoy that)

[tmoney]

right on, sounds like some good goals! are you referring to the plant propagators group? if so, or even if not, im so envious you guys have access to something like that. what a cool opportunity!

good luck with pollen collection! since you're not doing crosses just yet, can I ask how you store the pollen? just in the fridge?

[greenhouseFrog]

Originally Posted by tmoney

right on, sounds like some good goals! are you referring to the plant propagators group? if so, or even if not, im so envious you guys have access to something like that. what a cool opportunity!

good luck with pollen collection! since you're not doing crosses just yet, can I ask how you store the pollen? just in the fridge?

At the moment, exploring curiosity and having fun are the goals!

As far as the group goes, I’m not apart of John’s—he’s a bit far from me but I’ve met him and even have a few seedlings from his registered crosses! He’s a genuinely cool dude, too!

My pollen lives in .5mL microcentrifuge tubes inside pill bottles inside the bottom of my refrigerator—the tubes make me feel like a real scientist

[Ray]

Tolumnia x oncidium might not be possible - I see no registered crosses between the genera, but that could be merely a documentation issue due to slow conversions of some oncidium to tolumnia in the database.

[greenhouseFrog]

Originally Posted by Ray

Tolumnia x oncidium might not be possible - I see no registered crosses between the genera, but that could be merely a documentation issue due to slow conversions of some oncidium to tolumnia in the database.

I’ve seen crosses on websites like OrchidRoots and orchids.org that are called Oncidumnias—RHS has a Oncidumnia(Ocd.)Lemon Ice which is a Tolumnia pulchella x Oncidium sphacelatum that was registered in like 2001. Some others I saw were Ocd. Kutoo, Ocd. Snohomish, and Ocd. Lucky Girl.

I got some interesting intergenerics from a fellow named Edgar Stehli that I might also try to work in—a Zelumguezia(TolumniaxRodrigueziaxZelenkoa) and a Rodrumnia(TolumniaxRodriguezia)!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by greenhouseFrog

I’ve seen crosses on websites like OrchidRoots and orchids.org that are called Oncidumnias—RHS has a Oncidumnia(Ocd.)Lemon Ice which is a Tolumnia pulchella x Oncidium sphacelatum that was registered in like 2001. Some others I saw were Ocd. Kutoo, Ocd. Snohomish, and Ocd. Lucky Girl.

I got some interesting intergenerics from a fellow named Edgar Stehli that I might also try to work in—a Zelumguezia(TolumniaxRodrigueziaxZelenkoa) and a Rodrumnia(TolumniaxRodriguezia)!

True enough, but they are rare. I wish you luck.

[greenhouseFrog]

Originally Posted by Ray

True enough, but they are rare. I wish you luck.

Thank you, Ray—I really need all the luck I can get! My luck will be a boon for you as well in that I’ll have more plants to give Kelpak to—great product that works wonders! Thanks again!