I understand how to pollinate....but what next?!

[amandarenee]

I don't have any fancy orchids yet, but I am learning the more challenging aspects of being an orchidmaniac on lesser orchids so I don't harm my fancy ones when I get them.

I understand pollinating...but what happens after that? How will I know if it worked? Do I need to leave the stalk on until it dries out on it's own? I'm having a hard time finding what I want to know online. Any good reading material you can suggest?

Thanks!

[Eyebabe]

I too have begun to have an interest in this as well and made a point to visit someone who actually makes crosses etc.
I highly recommend you call your local orchid society and find out where you might do this as close to home as possible. If you can't visit directly, maybe you could get together at your society meeting and ask the questions.
My limited starting knowledge thus far is after you have made your cross/pollination a pod will form which grows on the plant for about 6-8 months (I am speaking cattleya only here). Then before it opens you send it away to be "flasked". You will get flasks back after 1-2 years with 100 or so baby plants in it.
Then you have to handle those....it can take 7 years before you get a blooming plant!
I have the highest admiration for such patience, and if I decide to do a cross of my own, it will be a most ambitious endeavor for someone as impatient as me.

[Royal]

Hi amandarenee,

After pollination, the tissue around the stigma kind of swells to close off the stigmatic opening. The petals usually dry up but the rest of the flower remains green and alive. The pedicel or the "stem" of the flower that attaches to the flowering stalk is what becomes the seed capsule (not really a pod). The fruit swells and splits as the seed is mature. I like to let the capsules split on their own, then harvest them and let them dry quickly to avoid mold or fungi - like drying flowers.

If your lab prefers green capsules, then you will have to harvest them early as Eyebabe stated. It just might be tricky to know if they are mature enough until you know how long it takes to split on their own. One little crack in the capsule, and they have to be disinfected like dry seed.

Pic 1 - mature caps, already split.
Pic 2 - Epi. calanthum a few weeks after pollination.
Pic 3 - P. equestris with a newly pollinated flower in the background. Petals are closing, but pedicel is still green.

[amandarenee]

Thanks for the clarification! I knew this would be a looong process, and I don't intend to really harvest seeds until I have a plant worth breeding. (Right now I have my eye on a Vanda Coerulea, gorgeous!). Especially since we are moving from TX to AZ in July--don't want to worry about seed pods splitting or stalks breaking! Yikes!