Dracula/Masdevallia seed sowing

[Larssh]

Hello everyone
Does anyone of you have some advice for sowing Dracula and Masdevallia.
What kind of sterilization, sowing media, storage temperature of the flask (cold growing species) . Well any good advice are more than welkome

[WhiteRabbit]

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Sterilization; are you planning to do green pod or dry seed?
Storage temperature of the flask (cold growing species); the temperature is one concern; but so is the light period.
Can you tell us more about what kind of equipment and the growing area you have.

[Larssh]

Right now i have dry seeds of two differend spieces of Draculas,
I havea homemade "lap" with a LAF-bench, auto clave. I have been using hydrogen peroxide befor with phals and bulbophyllum. I can store the flask both cold or warm, under artificial light.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Well; we have had good success with both using Allan medium, Melin-Norkrans, Modified, MS1, A sowing medium for Dactylorhiza is very much like a 1/5 strength M&S medium, Wimber1, GD (Thomale 1954).
Sounds like you have the equipment; I don’t personally use hydrogen peroxide, I use common house hold bleach and unused blood vial, cotton wool plug and 5 to 10 percent bleach with distilled water and a drop of common clear liquid dish soap.

My notes reflect that I leave the flask in the dark for about two months at 23c and replate after the first leaf appears.

[Larssh]

Iam not familiar with those seed sowing media, but i will definitely do a little research about them.
What replate medium would you recommend.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Originally Posted by Larssh

Iam not familiar with those seed sowing media, but i will definitely do a little research about them.
What replate medium would you recommend.

Knudson, MS1 or Knudson (Arditti modified 1982)

I have 145 vitro formulas in my notes, and have used them all; at one time or another; some work better than others much depends on seed quality and plant species. I look at all our seed samples under a 60x magnification to determine a seed quality count by the number of visible embryos. I have seen many good looking well developed seed capsules have less than 3% embryo count. Some seeds need a vitro formula that needs to act like a kick starter before seed germination can begin and some seeds seem like they could germinate using any formula.

[Larssh]

Well it looks like i have a lot of studying to do. Very intetesting with the visual seed quality inspection. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Sowing orchid seeds can a rewarding experience and can become a real head scratcher or head banger at times. Every time; something goes wrong or you feel the seeds were good but the germination count is low. Then it is time to take a few steps back (AKA the beginning) to look and think what went wrong and try it again. It is not unusual for me to sow the seeds of a single pod onto 3 to 5 different vitro formulas just to see the difference in seed germination.

[raewynk]

I was put onto coconut fibre by a horticulturist.
I used a glass bottle. Microwave for 60 secs. Thick glass
Allowed to cool.
Coconut put in the sink and boiling water over the top enough to cover. Used thongs to place in sterilised jar.
I put the seeds in straight out of packet. No handling.
And behold I now have germination.
I have not opened the jar yet.
I have a 4 cm seedling and the rest various sizes.
Two lots of seeds both Dracula in the same jar.
I have done this in the kitchen and have a blue fluorescent tube in the ceiling. I have only placed the jar in low light close to sun twice.
Still growing.
Waiting for them to fill the jar before I release them.
My first time. So anxiously waiting for full growth.