Hybridising - Courtesy of Lenette Orchids

[orchidsarefun]

some very useful tips. Would be nice if this could be made into a sticky ?


Hybridizing

I would suggest printing this out as I don't know how permanent the link is.

[Ryan.Walsh]

Thank you for posting but I think this article needs a huge [citation needed] disclaimer behind it. Some of the recommendations are completely unscientific and quite frankly hogwash.

Check the moon phase? Come one, there is not one shred of scientific evidence behind this. That makes the rest of the article questionable at best.

The reference to pollinia as pollen grains further discredits the author. You cannot insert individual pollen grains on an orchid without the help of a dissecting scope, nor would you want to. Misuse of taxonomic terms should not be tolerated in a tutorial.

"Cut excess flowers off a spike", sure if you want to increase the possibility of disease having a great entry into your mother plant. There is absolutely no reason to do this. Excess flowers will blast if there isn't enough energy for the plant to produce them. Creating an open wound on a plant is almost never a good idea.

Finally, stating that a pod should be left on the mother plant as long as possible is contrary to the scientific literature on many species of orchids. Remember green pod sowing isn't really done because the seed is already sterile, it was first done because mature seed had unknown dormancy mechanisms that could be overcome by sowing green pods. Cypripedium spp. are a great example of this phenomena, see the work done on C. candidum by a mentor of mine, Dr. Warren Stoutamire in the mid 70's as an example .

I'm certainly not trying to be overly negative but I can't stand when non-scientific information is being passed out like the gospel truth. This is especially true with orchid seed germination that has been studied extensively over the past several decades.

[orchidsarefun]

Geez. I am sure that this was written in good faith ( from years of experience ) and I did say SOME useful tips. Just ignore those that are "hogwash" in your opinion. I have used a couple and they DO WORK.

I have a Lenette-bred species and I know that Lenette have bred plenty of hybrids of all genera too. In fact - you made me check - per Orchidwiz, Lenette registered 291 hybrids.

They must have done something right.

[Ryan.Walsh]

I'm sorry if I came off as harsh, and I understand that they obviously put time and effort into their breeding. My point however is that we shouldn't take facts as facts without questioning them first. There are a whole lot of wives tales and the like in the horticultural and agricultural communities that unfortunately are quite rampant. Absolutely, keeping things sterile and using healthy plants are great tips. However as a scientist I absolute cringe at some of this misinformation.

I apologize if I came off as a bit sharp, it certainly was not meant to offend you in any way.

[orchidsarefun]

I'm not offended.

I do think that anybody who would believe anything or everything posted on the internet as fact ( without a common-sense test ), shouldn't have access to a computer

Just as I believe that science does not have the answer to everything and sometimes personal experience has the upper hand.

[Ryan.Walsh]

Just as I believe that science does not have the answer to everything and sometimes personal experience has the upper hand.

Well my personal experience as a scientist supports otherwise but we can agree to disagree on this subject

As a parting shot, remember that observation done in a systematic, testable and repeatable way is in fact what science is all about. The "done in a systematic, testable and repeatable way" is the trick.

[Vanda lover]

I think that if someone is a beginner and wants something they can understand as well as formulas for trying at home, this is fine. You can't say it doesn't work unless you have tried it. I know. The full moon thisngseems silly. But have you tried it?

[Ryan.Walsh]

You can't say it doesn't work unless you have tried it. I know. The full moon thisngseems silly. But have you tried it?

Personally? No. But the beauty of science is that I don't need to try something to know it doesn't work because others have refuted it in the past. I have no idea why the community is so anti-science when in reality the average scientist simply wants to advance general knowledge and is more than willing to help the general hobbyist do so.

There are lots of beginner tutorials across the web that aren't as unscientific as this one. Here's a great link to a Phytotech Orchid Seed germination pdf for an example. Here's another great tutorial without any non-scientific information.

My point is that there's great information out there, many more than I've listed, but the original link in my personal opinion is not one of them.

[orchidsarefun]

you said " I have no idea why the community is so anti-science "
I say
" I have no idea why scientists come across as smug, arrogant and fond of hyperbole"

Really ?

[WhiteRabbit]

Reminding everyone to keep the tone respectful