A fun Asymbiotic orchid seed experiment.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Using an empty candy plastic box; we placed some moss in it and then, wet it with water and sow unsterilized Dendrobium hancockii Rolfe seeds over the surface and then covered with the top.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...kii-role-1.jpg

And seven days later visual germination was noticed.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...0705-010-2.jpg

On the tenth day we took a photo under 40x magnification.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-under-40x.jpg

I am doing this with the help of a 6 year old girl that my wife teaches at our home, she has developed an interest in orchids now.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Good luck with them!
Interesting results so far!

[Leafmite]

Looks like something my kids would have enjoyed when they were little.

[WhiteRabbit]

Very cool!

[OCRC_Dir_China]

She enjoys viewing the germination process under the microscope; she had her mother take her to the flower market so she could buy her first orchid.

[Leafmite]

Definitely a way to get a child interested in orchids and science at the same time.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

She is just six and she has been tested and found to be on a 10th graders level in school. She loves all her subjects and has an interest in anything new, I also teach her how to cook American food too.

[Andrew]

Ken,
Did you inoculate the moss with a fungal culture or roots? If not, where did the moss come from? Was it gathered from the wild, old moss from your plants or fresh commercially packaged moss?

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Originally Posted by Andrew

Ken,
Did you inoculate the moss with a fungal culture or roots? If not, where did the moss come from? Was it gathered from the wild, old moss from your plants or fresh commercially packaged moss?

Believe it or not; it is Chinese commercial moss supposedly sterilized; it comes in a small dry brick wrapped in plastic. I used this same brand for seven years; but lately, I have noticed the moss after a few days of being watered some of it starts to turn green. So I was talking to my 6 year old colleague, whose lab coat is slightly too large for her. We decided to try symbiotic seed sowing to see if the seeds would germinate and they did.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by OCRC_Dir_China

Believe it or not; it is Chinese commercial moss supposedly sterilized; it comes in a small dry brick wrapped in plastic. I used this same brand for seven years; but lately, I have noticed the moss after a few days of being watered some of it starts to turn green. So I was talking to my 6 year old colleague, whose lab coat is slightly too large for her. We decided to try symbiotic seed sowing to see if the seeds would germinate and they did.

Interesting. I guess the germinator fungi for some of the orchid species is more common than people assume.