Wild Orchid from seed

  • 10 Replies
  • 1262 Views
*

Scottie

  • New Member
  • *
  • Location: Shropshire hills.
  • 36
Wild Orchid from seed
« on: October 24, 2022, 11:02 »
Hi, anyone tried it? I have some growing in an old fruit garden and have always wanted to increase them. I saved the seed this year. Any tips for when to sow, do they need a cold spell outside? As far as I know they are common spotted. I just wanted some advice in case I get it all wrong. Thanks.
orc9722.JPG
Do a little but leave a lot.

*

Aunt Sally

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Sunny Kent
  • 30501
  • Everyone's Aunty
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2022, 11:09 »
You can grow them from seed… but it’s tricky and takes a long time.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/orchids/planting-orchid-seeds.htm

Orchid agar is available on-line.

*

Scottie

  • New Member
  • *
  • Location: Shropshire hills.
  • 36
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2022, 11:52 »
You can grow them from seed… but it’s tricky and takes a long time.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/orchids/planting-orchid-seeds.htm

Orchid agar is available on-line.
Not sure how to like a post, so thanks. Just had a read and that looks like hard work. Funny they self seed in the garden. I moved one, this year, to another part of the garden but will have to wait a year to see if its taken.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2022, 12:02 by Scottie »

*

Aunt Sally

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Sunny Kent
  • 30501
  • Everyone's Aunty
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2022, 12:35 »
To like a post just click on the drop down box at top right of the post.

*

Aunt Sally

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Sunny Kent
  • 30501
  • Everyone's Aunty
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2022, 12:40 »
Funny they self seed in the garden.

But consider how many dust like seeds they  shed.  The success rate, even in their natural habitat, is very low.

*

Scottie

  • New Member
  • *
  • Location: Shropshire hills.
  • 36
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2022, 12:59 »
To like a post just click on the drop down box at top right of the post.
Not giving me that option, just states 'Quote' maybe as I am new.

*

Aunt Sally

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Sunny Kent
  • 30501
  • Everyone's Aunty
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2022, 13:01 »
Yes, that could be it - keep posting  ;)

*

Subversive_plot

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Athens, Georgia, USA
  • 2439
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2022, 15:28 »
I have actually (tried) to grow tropical orchids from seed.  FWIW, I have been growing orchids since the 1980s, and was once the president of a local orchid-growers club.

Orchid seeds are dust-like, nothing like what you expect in other flowering plants (an orchid seed capsule 3 cm long and 2 cm diameter might contain several hundred thousand seeds).  The seeds lack cotyledons (seed leaves) that supply nutrients to the growing plant in most flowering plants, so the seed contains just the "germ" that develops into an embryonic plant.  Caveat emptor: you will sometimes see "orchid seeds" offered for sale on online sales sites, these are almost always fake.

Rather than relying on cotyledons to feed the growing embryo (called a protocorm), orchids in the wild rely on nutrients coming from very specific beneficial fungi. Growing the seeds in agar, specially formulated to supply the right nutrients, which mimic the nutrients from the fungi, is what orchid breeders do to produce large numbers of plants.

The seeds I tried growing came from one of my own orchid plants.  I did my best to keep the equipment and agar sterile, and grow the tiny embryos into plants.  I had a few tiny seedlings (out of hundreds of protocorms) that survived long enough to grow roots and tiny leaves. Sadly, all of the seedlings eventually succumbed to pathogenic fungi.  The process to get plants that were less than 2 cm tall took me 3 years!  I later tried having a professional orchid lab grow some seeds for me, those attempts also failed.

Something you CAN try at home:  You have a wild orchid already growing in the ground.  It is quite possible that the right fungi already live in the soil surrounding that plant*. Try taking the tiny dusty seed you have and scatter it on the soil surrounding that plant.  Keep an eye on the area surrounding the plant, new orchid plants may develop from those seeds (be prepared to not see anything noticeable develop for many years).  You can also try scattering seed in a new area that seems to be similar. Orchid seeds in the wild are usually dispersed by wind, so you can scatter some of that seed to the air on a windy day, you never know where they might land and take root.  Keep in mind that of the hundreds of thousands of seeds in an orchid capsule, often only one or two will survive and make a plant.

Scotty, by the way, your orchids are spectacular! 

* Some people try to take orchids from the wild and re-plant them at home; most often, this fails because of the lack of the right fungi in the garden soil, and the inability of the fungi to adapt to new growing conditions).
« Last Edit: October 25, 2022, 15:42 by Subversive_plot »
"Somewhere between right and wrong, there is a garden. I will meet you there."~ Rumi

*

Yorkie

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: North Yorkshire
  • 26421
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2022, 16:15 »
I have actually (tried) to grow tropical orchids from seed.  FWIW, I have been growing orchids since the 1980s, and was once the president of a local orchid-growers club.


* Some people try to take orchids from the wild and re-plant them at home; most often, this fails because of the lack of the right fungi in the garden soil, and the inability of the fungi to adapt to new growing conditions).

Here in the UK, digging up wild plants is also illegal, so I definitely wouldn't advise it!

Fascinating info about attempts to grow them there, SP  :)
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

*

Subversive_plot

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Athens, Georgia, USA
  • 2439
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2022, 17:57 »

Here in the UK, digging up wild plants is also illegal, so I definitely wouldn't advise it!

Fascinating info about attempts to grow them there, SP  :)

That's good to know.  Also illegal over here, since I didn't know the laws over there, I'm glad you could provide that information.

Growing orchids from seed is definitely not for the impatient, or faint of heart. A friend from my old orchid club (sadly, no longer with us, lung cancer) was a commercial orchid grower.  He did make a few of his own hybrid orchids.  Some, he told me, took 15 years to get from seed to flowering plant!  Many of the best orchid hybrids are now produced through cloning meristem tissue (mericloning), rather than risking the variability you get with seed growing.

*

Scottie

  • New Member
  • *
  • Location: Shropshire hills.
  • 36
Re: Wild Orchid from seed
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2022, 13:05 »
Thanks for all the comments, I do not have the 'like' function on my PC, it only works on my laptop! I will just have to live with that. I got mine of a friend that grows them and there are some specialists online that cultivate and sell. A couple of fields along from me, my neighbour has some some rare ones in his field. He is into natural meadows and manages his land the old way. I have always enjoyed growing unusual plants.


xx
Orchid

Started by jamima on General Gardening

3 Replies
1534 Views
Last post May 15, 2012, 13:49
by Mrs Bee
xx
HELP with orchid

Started by muntjac on General Gardening

26 Replies
6444 Views
Last post February 12, 2008, 19:09
by agapanthus
xx
orchid

Started by chrissie B on General Gardening

5 Replies
2472 Views
Last post May 17, 2014, 20:59
by chrissie B
xx
Orchid

Started by mrs bouquet on General Gardening

1 Replies
850 Views
Last post March 05, 2022, 02:50
by Subversive_plot
 

Page created in 0.127 seconds with 39 queries.

Powered by SMFPacks Social Login Mod
Powered by SMFPacks SEO Pro Mod |