# Another Orchid Lab



## John Boy (Jun 20, 2011)

I thought I'm going to start posting pictures of my sowing projects as it happens, and as I find the time to. Since my new flasking shelf is near enough ready, I'll kepp posting stuff, until someone asks a question...

Let's begin nice and easy, *this is supposed to be fun afterall.*

Hands-up, whoever does *not* want to be pollinated!!! (it's going to be another long night)...







This is what that sort of business looks like, around about 9-14 months later! Behold: A capsule starter!!! I still have to work out a nice dressing....






The monster-pod in the middle is Cattleya schroederae x Laelia aurea (just in case you wonder....):


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## Heather (Jun 20, 2011)

Awesome! Love these posts, keep 'em coming!


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## NYEric (Jun 20, 2011)

OK, interesting.


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## Clark (Jun 20, 2011)

Can ya do it with either hand?


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## John Boy (Jun 20, 2011)

...and in the dark!!!


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## tocarmar (Jun 20, 2011)

Break out the whips & handcuffs (not the furry ones either)!!


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## John Boy (Jun 20, 2011)

*God must have had a nasty day!!!*
I just pollinated Masd. saulii with dracula cordobae, now I'm blind. The tiny stuff drives me nuts! Why would God be so mean as to make these structures smaller than my eyes can deal with, ey?!


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## Brian Monk (Jun 20, 2011)

I hate to say it, becase the cross intrigues me, but that C. schroderae x L. aurea looks like chaff. If you have access to a microscope, seed assessments for embryo percentage are very easy. 

But it still looks like you are going to have a good time!


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## Howzat (Jun 20, 2011)

John Boy said:


> *God must have had a nasty day!!!*
> I just pollinated Masd. saulii with dracula cordobae, now I'm blind. The tiny stuff drives me nuts! Why would God be so mean as to make these structures smaller than my eyes can deal with, ey?!



I think God would have thought about homo sapiens nature of always trying to do this thing by hands/fingers. And so He made all the reproductive parts as small as possible, only to let small insect to do it naturally.


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## John Boy (Jun 21, 2011)

*The morning after the battle!
*





And some battle it was.

Even Paph. thaianum had to give up a shoe…….


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## SlipperFan (Jun 21, 2011)

I'd hate to see the pile of toothpicks! oke:


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## John Boy (Jun 21, 2011)

Oh come on!!! It's good fire-wood, that!oke:


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## etex (Jun 21, 2011)

Cool- you'll have to keep us updated!


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## Sirius (Jun 21, 2011)

I couldn't resist. I created this just for you guys.


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## John Boy (Jun 21, 2011)

Today I have been working on something truly exciting, though I’m stealing time as we speak, and I should just have left it for another…. until I’d have stolen the time from some other day… 
When it comes to sowing orchids you’ll find there are 2 camps. There’s people out there trying to sow “green pods” only. Meaning: capsules not really ripe yet, or let’s say it the proper way: ripe, but not open (yet). In this instance: I did a green pod sowing, though I’m a “open pod” kinda person…. 






I’m not yet giving away what it is, I just wanted to give you guys a first glimpse into my work-bench, showing what a young orchid of the rarest possible kind these days looks like. Green Pods can be a tricky one, first, because it’s guess work deciding when to cut the capsule open, second: because onces you do: there only one way open to you (and very certainly no way back!). You can’t store the result, and if things don’t work out: guess who’s fault it is! The “open-pod-person” would just laugh at you, and wait another 12 or so weeks. 
This instance: I won, and things are working fine. And because the dish you’re seeing contains somethirg of such value that most folks would not even know what sort of plant I’m talking about, I’ve transplanted the content into 14 new starter flasks. (A thing I’ve not even done with Paph. sanderianum!!!).





So there you go. This is what Green-Pod-Sowing in its very first stages look’s like!


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## Hera (Jun 21, 2011)

How exciting. Thanks for the blow by blow for those of us who think orchid breeding is mysterious and untouchable.


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## John Boy (Jun 21, 2011)

Orchid sowing is all about common sense (in its' extreme), how else would I do it?!


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## Marc (Jun 22, 2011)

I'm curious what you have sown.

Thanks for starting this topic, it's one to follow for me.


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## Pete (Jun 22, 2011)

wow it looks like you really dig the seeds into the media. ive always just spread them lightly on top. you should be careful about having a bunch of opened seed capsules all in a pile together. dust seeds are easy to move about.. also, ive always found the opposite to be true, where green pods are much easier and have higher success rate than dried ones. i despise sterlizing dried orchid seeds.


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## Howzat (Jun 22, 2011)

There are advantages/disadvantages for both green seed and mature seed.
The advantage of green seed is obvious, that you don't have to sterilise the seed. But you need to know approx. how many days since you polllinate the flower. I have given up my personal lab. work as I did get a good percentage of contamination and also a time consuming excercise. But to some it is an exciting and a rewarding one.


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## Ray (Jun 22, 2011)

Keeping track of time-since-pollination is not really necessary for green-pod culture - just be observant, and the moment you see yellowing of either end of the capsule, harvest it.


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## Marc (Jun 22, 2011)

I know a couple of people that do their own propagating, one of them is a hobbyst and he really knows how to work with dry seeds and has a high succes rate. The other one is running his own nursery and they work quite a lot with green seed. 

I think there is no right or wrong and as long as it works eveything is fine. I hope that one day I'll find the time to do my own sowing. But for now my shorter term goal is polinating one of my own Paphs and have someone else sow them for me.


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## John Boy (Jul 22, 2011)

I can't seem to keep up with myself, so... let me just post another few pictures of non-slipper project in the making. I'll be trying to show some more lab-related stuff soon! 






















I had some (self-generated) contamination issues lately, so: I'll show some of these pictures as well. Everybody can show the good stuff, but showing the failures is quite as important I guess.


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## NYEric (Jul 22, 2011)

John Boy said:


> .



What eez it!?


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## SlipperFan (Jul 22, 2011)

It eez interesting coloring!


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## Rick (Jul 23, 2011)

John Boy said:


> *The morning after the battle!
> *
> 
> 
> ...



You know with a nice sharp razor or scalpel you can cut a window on the back of the pouch and work through that instead of cutting the whole pouch off. I don't think it makes much difference on the quality of the pollination, but the flower is still good looking when you are done.:wink:


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## Rick (Jul 23, 2011)

John Boy said:


> *God must have had a nasty day!!!*
> I just pollinated Masd. saulii with dracula cordobae, now I'm blind. The tiny stuff drives me nuts! Why would God be so mean as to make these structures smaller than my eyes can deal with, ey?!




Before you go blind you better invest in a set of jewelers magnifying binocular glasses.:wink:

http://www.amazon.com/Bausch-Lomb-Magna-Visor-Lens/dp/B003E6OJ9U/ref=pd_sim_ac_1


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## SlipperFan (Jul 23, 2011)

That looks like quite a battleground, Rick! I hope you took a lot of captives!


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## John Boy (Sep 9, 2011)

Here's a quick update, I'm still struggling to take pictures, as I work my way through sowing and pollinating, harvesting capsules, protocolling everything I do..., so (again) just a few random shots "off the shelf as it were".


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## Marco (Sep 9, 2011)

John Boy - I give it up to you. That looks like a lot of hard work! It looks like its coming along well.


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## NYEric (Sep 9, 2011)

Send us some!


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## John Boy (Sep 14, 2011)

Spending more time in the Lab-room, today I had another "most ever" day:

20 sowings, 6 x repeat sowings of stuff contaminated or "in high demand", plus another 5 green pods.

I guess I'll have to quit my daytime job rather sooner than later. If anyone has an idea how to make time: *fire away!!!*


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## Marc (Sep 14, 2011)

Nice room saving idea to use petri dishes for the first germination. 

When are you planning on opening your own shop?


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## John Boy (Sep 14, 2011)

Marc, it's not just the room, you're saving on, it's also the media! It makes a huge difference, to get away with just a few ml's for your first few weeks of germination. No point wasting the good stuff. A 3rd benefit is: they are wonderfully esay to work with, once you get to the second stage of splitting the dish into your propper "starter jars". Downside: wastage once they've served for step 1.


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## NYEric (Sep 14, 2011)

John Boy said:


> I guess I'll have to quit my daytime job rather sooner than later. If anyone has an idea how to make time: *fire away!!!*



Do they sell 5-hour energy (Extra strength) bottles there? It's an over the counter dietary supplement that's like crack in a can! BTW Looking very productive, good luck.


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## paphioboy (Sep 14, 2011)

Very cool..  How easy is it to replate/transfer seedlings from the petri dishes to regular flasks/bottles? Do you extract each seedling with tweezers?


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## Marc (Sep 15, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> Very cool..  How easy is it to replate/transfer seedlings from the petri dishes to regular flasks/bottles? Do you extract each seedling with tweezers?



I'm guessing that he uses the dishes only for the protocorns to form. Once they have formed I expect him to replate and smear the protocorn clumps out on new media in bigger pots.

But my knowledge of sowing orchid seeds is limited so I expect Johnboy to explain it better.


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