Viable seed from Orchid flowers?

[Tracy]

So how does one determine if a flower pod on an orchid will have viable seeds?  My Encyclia hanburyana flowered quite a while back and one of the flowers eventually turned into this flower pod which I have left on it.  Any feedback on when to try to do something with the flower pod?

[tropicbreeze]

Orchid seed pods can take a long time to ripen, many months. Germinating them (successfully) is a difficult process. Are you planning on germinating them by flasking, or just sprinkling them around?

[Tracy]

On 1/5/2019, 3:26:51, tropicbreeze said:

Orchid seed pods can take a long time to ripen, many months. Germinating them (successfully) is a difficult process. Are you planning on germinating them by flasking, or just sprinkling them around?

Having never done it either way, I will likely try the path of least resistance first..... just sprinkling them on an appropriate medium where I'm growing some other epiphytes (yet to be determined).

[tropicbreeze]

Orchid seed don't store much in food reserves so seedlings grow symbiotically with fungus. Without the fungus seedlings usually die off.  Sprinkling seed is a bit of a lotto draw, the majority of seeds don't come out winners. Best chance is around the base of parent/established plants, quite likely the right fungus will be there. It's a simple process but results aren't guaranteed.

With flasking the seeds are placed in flasks/bottles which have a layer of agar saturated with nutrients. It has to be done in absolutely sterile conditions. It's the common commercial way of raising orchids from seed. You virtually need a laboratory though. There are companies (probably find them on the internet) that are set up to do this for you for a fee.

I have some Dendrobiums that produce seedlings in surrounding trees. Also Geodorum which are coming up like weeds everywhere. My Spathoglottis have been producing a lot of seed for years and I still haven't found a single seedling yet. So sprinkling is always worth a try but "don't count your seedlings before they hatch".

[Tracy]

Different genus this time, and a terrestrial growing orchid.  This seed is from a flower last summer on my Sobralia macrantha.  I sprinkled it around on the ground below the potted plant, on a couple of other hanging orchids of completely different genus and still have some left to try sprinkling elsewhere.  Anyone have experience with the sprinkle method and Sobralia's or other terrestrial orchids?

[MOlivera]

You can do an online search for companies that do orchid flasking. The other question is, do you have any other species of encyclia in the area? Encyclias hybridize readily with other encyclia species but they would have to be flowering at the same time as your E.  hanburii. As stated earlier, you can sprinkle the seeds on a tree but there has to be a specific micorrhizae that provides the sugars for the seed to germinate and the seedlings to grow. Your seed pod looks like it’s almost ready.. some flasking companies prefer green pod which means they want a seed pod that hasn’t opened yet because the seed will be sterile. Once the pod opens then the seed is no longer in a sterile environment and the flasking company will have to sterilize the seeds before sowing them. Hope this helps

Edited August 7, 2019 by MOlivera

[Tracy]

8 hours ago, MOlivera said:

You can do an online search for companies that do orchid flasking.

I was curious if the lazy way would work particularly with the Sobralia being a terrestrial plant as opposed to an epiphyte.  I do know people in the area who flask and hybridize their own plants that I could approach.  Another friend in the LA area (Carlos if you are out there) who posts here periodically has had success without flasking some genus/species I just don't think he has tried with Encyclia or Sobralia, hence my fishing expedition for others experience.  On the Encyclia hybridization, there are several other Encyclia species in my garden, just none in bloom at the same time as the E hanburyana.

Thank you for recommending searching for orchid flasking though.