Orchids seeds non-symbiotic germination ex-vitro on example of phalaenopsis

[Surlair]

I would like to post it to attention of those who likes orchids and wants to get selfmade hybrids without steril conditions and flasks.

The idea of "natural" way of growing orchids from seeds has came to me in the end of last autumn after I read book "Culture of orchids" by I.Troyanovskiy. In the 1913 year he has described a way to grow orchifs from seeds that he saw in Brussel. As he said it had required very little: a pot, moss, piece of cloth and a cover for the pot.
In conclusion to botanical magazines from late 1800s - early 1900s years, it is said that:
- fisrt human-made orchid hybrid has bloomed in 1856
- the first experiment on orchids seeds germination in-vitro was in 1918
- the reason of experiment was the demand of market in new orchids that could not be met with original growing in organic medium.

So, I decided to put a little experiment of my own.

My orchids didn't bloom in last autumn and newbies refused to hold a seed pod, however, within time in the end of April I've got orchids seeds ready to be potted.
I've changed cinditions a bit, but I tried to keep the medium most close to described.
I've prepared moss and fir bark (for drainage) and sowed seeds on the top of the moss. Then the pot was closed.
The long time of awating has began.







The short-cut from my diary:

01 dec. 2016
pollination Sogo Yukidian x self

03 dec. 2016
seed pod starts to form

26 apr. 2017
seed pod has cracked;
seeds are sowed

29-30 apr. 2017
rhizoids start to appear;
the places of active fungal are taken out from the pot

20 june 2017
seeds start to grow

02 july 2017
a leaf appears

15 july 2017
second leaf and roots have appeared by this time

[orchidsarefun]

My first reaction is Wow. My second is, after reading the timeline, is that those plants are more than likely not orchid seedlings and that is based on my own experience with flasked seeds and the timeline for germination. That said, I say good luck and please keep us updated.

[Surlair]

Yeah, I can imagine how much doubt it can cause

Yet, in Botanical Gazette dated January 1922, that describes Lewis Knudson theory, it is said that proper germination can get from 4 to 6 month and a bit shorter in environment close to greenhouse.

Also the medium was cleaned.

Thus I believe they are phals' seedlings.

PS: at some sources on the Net I've seen simmilar phal's seedlings stage.

[epiphyte78]

Surlair, welcome to the forum!

I love your experiment but I don't see any protocorms. The green bits are probably just algae.

Not too long ago I conducted an experiment that was nearly identical to your own...



The big green things aren't orchids... they are Rhipsalis. If you look closely you can see very small, round, green things. Those are the orchids. I sowed them at the same time that I sowed the Rhispalis.

The only real difference between our experiments is that I used reed-stem Epidendrum seeds. My theory is that, unlike most orchid seeds, the reed seeds have enough nutrients to germinate on their own.

Here's what they look like when they are more mature (different experiment)...



Towards the bottom of pic you can see a "big" green orchid leaf.

My friend had gone to Cambodia, or Laos, or Vietnam and she brought back a small "vine". It turned out to be Pyrrosia piloselloides. I stuck it in a pot in a zip lock bag and sprinkled Vanda orchid seeds on top. I guessed that maybe the fern harbored the helper fungus.

Maybe a month afterwards I was very excited to see a protocorm developing. Eventually it put out a leaf, then another leaf, and then a third. Then it put out a side shoot. Eh? A side shoot? The side shoot put out leaves... and then it put out a side shoot. Eventually I became certain that it was definitely not a monopodial orchid.

I was pretty sure that I had sowed Vanda seeds.... but maybe I made a mistake? Now the seedling is looking a lot like Dendrobium crumenatum... which I don't have... and neither does my friend. So I guess the seed was already on the fern when my friend brought it with her.

When the Dendrobium was still pretty small I sowed a bunch of different seeds on the medium. Most of the seeds that germinated were just the reed Epis.

From my perspective, it would be a very important project to try and create great reed-Epi hybrids that can also be easily grown from seed. The orchid hobby would immensely benefit if there was a huge variety of awesome orchids that could be grown from seed as easily as Rhipsalis, Begonias, Gesneraids and pretty much all the other plants.

For some more info and a couple more pictures here's my blog entry... Growing Orchids From Seed Is Easy!

[Surlair]

Thank you for your answer!
Your experience is very interesting also.

As for mine...
The exact thing is that there cannot be an algae or an algae-looking fungal - the medium was cleaned roughly with special 'medicine', it's never watered from the above and all ingredients were at decomposing stage at the moment of sowing.

So there was nothing 'alive' to grow except orchid's seeds.

Also the seedling, that is photographed with close-up, is an individual plant.

Oh, yes, and thank you for your kind greeting ^_^

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

We look forward to more photos as they grow!

[Ray]

Personally, I doubt they are phalaenopsis, as well, but I sure would like to be proven wrong! (And Sulair, being new here, you wouldn't know just how rarely I have stated that here - if ever!)

[Surlair]

Thank you!

I will post new photos when the growth will be more visible than a few microns

[Subrosa]

Here are a few seedlings which spontaneously popped up in a pot. They're definitely Spiranthes, but I can't be sure if they're cernua or sinensis at this stage:

[Surlair]

That's great, I suppose.
However, I've never had a Spiranthes. So I can't tell.