Reproducing Spathoglottis kimballiana

[voyager]

This may not actually belong in this forum yet, but may in the future.
My Spath. kimballiana put out 5 or 6 inflorescences last season.
It produced no seedpods on any of them.

It has begun its first 2 inflorescences for this season.
One has started a seedpod.


My priority is to establish them in my yard, if possible.
I will wait and watch how this pod fares to see if it actually contains seeds.
If it produces at least 2 more pods, and this one does contain seeds, I would be open to letting someone have a pod in return for a flask from it. No use in a major discussion about this yet. It's all pie-in-the-sky for now.

But, a question does come to mind:
Is it possible that it is self-fertile or more likely that it may have a local pollinator?
Spathoglottis plicatta, Arundina graminifolia, Phaius tankervilleae several Vanda hybrids and maybe some species Vandas are invasive everywhere around here. This one would make a nice addition, to my thinking.

[WhiteRabbit]

Nice!

[voyager]

I got to thinking about the fact that Spath. plicata is invasive around here.
I have many growing throughout our yard.
I Googled Spathoglottis plicata X kimballiana,

Pine Ridge Orchids - Spathoglottis

then did a Google image search.
There is a wide range of colors possible in a cross between them.
Many are very beautiful.
I'm looking forward to how this could possibly turn out.
I might even work up some crosses myself using both as pod parents, just to see what can come of it.
But, I do not want to go to the extreme of sowing seed for flasking myself.

[epiphyte78]

A member in Northern California successfully germinated Spathoglottis plicata seeds in an unsterile jar. This method probably has a success rate somewhere between natural sowing and flasking. With natural sowing a large percentage of seeds won't land anywhere suitable. Those that do might not get adequate rain/water to germinate. If they do germinate, then quite a few seedlings will be eaten by the usual suspects. Sowing the seeds in containers should have a higher success rate... but not nearly as high as it would be for flasking.

I sow quite a few reed-stem Epi seeds in pots in zip lock bags and have decent results. Some batches do better than other batches though so I usually hedge my bets by including a couple non-orchid seeds in each pot (ie Gesneriads). That way I usually get something for my time and space.

[voyager]

Originally Posted by epiphyte78

A member in Northern California successfully germinated Spathoglottis plicata seeds in an unsterile jar. This method probably has a success rate somewhere between natural sowing and flasking. With natural sowing a large percentage of seeds won't land anywhere suitable. Those that do might not get adequate rain/water to germinate. If they do germinate, then quite a few seedlings will be eaten by the usual suspects. Sowing the seeds in containers should have a higher success rate... but not nearly as high as it would be for flasking.

I sow quite a few reed-stem Epi seeds in pots in zip lock bags and have decent results. Some batches do better than other batches though so I usually hedge my bets by including a couple non-orchid seeds in each pot (ie Gesneriads). That way I usually get something for my time and space.

You know, that idea catches my attention. I'm thinking of taking some moss from a potted yard orchid, the one behind the Spath. kimballiana, placing it in a gallon zip-lok, then shaking the pod's contents into the bag over the moss. With little doubt the moss will contain the mycorrhizal fungi needed for development. Several weed orchids start up regularly in the moss I'm thinking of using. Low tech, not labor intensive, my way of doing things.

[voyager]

I may have been up to other things.
But, I haven't forgotten about crossing S. kimballiana with S. plicata.
I went on line earlier today and found this:
http://hort.ufl.edu/plant-restoratio...m-exercise.pdf

Just from a quick perusal of the downloaded pdf, I'm thinking that one could possibly have blooming cross plants in 2 to 3 years.

We're taking off for a week on Maui the day after tomorrow.
I think I'll pursue this after we get back.

They have been introduced and seem to get along OK.

Next is to bring about fraternization.
In both directions.

[PaphMadMan]

Anywhere that Spathoglottis is naturalized, plants growing from seed without human intervention, the fungal symbiont is probably abundant in the environment, at least in proximity to those plants. Just sow the seed in close proximity to established plants that grew naturally, or prepare a bed to sow seed using soil and mulch from near those plants.