How do growers get new orchid variations if orchids flowers abort after pollination ?

[AdBa]

Hello Everyone

Im new to this forum, and this is my first post.

Regarding my title: I want to know how commercial orchid growers (Like Anthura) get new variants of orchids (especially phalaenopsis) when everytime I try to pollinate the orchid the pollinated flower aborts ?

[Ray]

That's a simple question with a complex answer, as many things can affect pollination success. Here are a few:

• Maturity of the flower at time of pollination.
• Age of the pollinia.
• Relative size of the parents.
• Genetic compatibility of the parents.
• Health of the "mother" plant.

Sometimes it's simply a matter of statistics - commercial nurseries tend to have MANY plants on hand, so when hybridizing, the the probability of a cross "taking" is improved - you may try it once while they might try the same one 50 times.

Sometimes a new plant is just a variety of an existing one - an especially good "odd ball", if you will, so again, the size of their plant population increases the chance they'll see them.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Another factor is ploidy count.

When I mention this factor, it is not strictly regarding crossing Phalaenopsis.