Pollination: How to tell if it's a success or failure.

[dopplerthesexybeast]

I didn't see a recent thread detailing success or failure of orchid pollination, so here are my general rules of thumb for people new to making orchid seeds. I removed the flower lips and anther caps in each photo to show a better view. Let me know if anybody would like to see visuals of the pollination process itself.

Passionate orchid growers are aware of the fact that the best conditions for pollination of an orchid involve cross-pollination; some orchids just will not accept pollen from the same plant as the ovary. What's often confusing for new growers is determining whether the pollination is a success or a failure, as even cross-pollination is finicky at times.

I recently cross-pollinated six flowers with an apparent 33% success rate so far. Once a flower is "aware" of the pollen, the stigmatic opening will close over the exposed pollen; the attached photo of the yellow orchid demonstrates this. It can still fail at this point if fertilization doesn't occur... think of it as a miscarriage of sorts. After a few days, if successful, the ovary directly behind the flower will begin to swell. A failed pollination is often indicated by lack of stigmatic opening closure over the exposed pollen; the white and purple orchid demonstrates this.

I'm crossing my fingers that the pollen in the yellow flower will take. I'll post photos in a few days if it does.

[WhiteRabbit]

Good luck!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by dopplerthesexybeast

...the sepal cavity (not sure if this is the English word)...

Stigmatic opening.

Nice shots.

[dopplerthesexybeast]

I swear to God, I forgot how to speak English, lol.

---------- Post added at 11:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 PM ----------

I fixed it. And I need to work on my English. Thanks, lol.

[Rowangreen]

Very interesting! I have a phal with a huge seed pod. Didn't know to look for this, but it wasn't long to wait for the swelling anyway.

I also have a Paph I selfed a few months ago. No sign of swelling yet but apparently they can take months to show even that! Anyone know more on Paphs?

[dopplerthesexybeast]

Mine haven't started swelling yet. But there is discoloration of the anther area and flower wilting... so it definitely knows the pollen is there. I'll add more photos tonight.

[dopplerthesexybeast]

Pollinated orchid on the left (flower wilted and closed over the pollen, anther area discolored and swollen). Flower from the same plant on the right. Lighting isn't the best, but you can see a clear difference.

Let's hope it takes!

[dopplerthesexybeast]

Here's a rear view from a few days later. The pollinated flower is on the right, the unpollinated on the left. Notice the color difference and the thickness.

A failed pollination can be signaled by yellowing of several flower parts (namely the column and ovary). However, a bright green ovary is a great sign. If you look closely, you can see that the pollinated ovary is slightly thicker than the unpollinated.

It's only been about a week, but I'm confident that this will be a success. It turned out that half of the six flowers I pollinated showed awareness, but only the two on this plant are showing signs of success (i.e.: the swollen green ovaries). The pollen parents are from two different plants. This particular orchid is also over two feet tall, so I would imagine it's just hardy enough to be able to reproduce sexually.

[Island Girl]

I, for one, would love to see the pollination process! And I think your English is perfectly fine! (I would've thought that u spoke english as ur first language if it wasn't for the Thai flag)

[omega_z]

different orchid has a different signs of successfull pollination. but normally the flower will closed itself and start to wilt while the flower stalk starting to swell...