cardboard propagation of Dactylorhiza purpurella

[eteson]

You would try the use of Methylparaben. I tested it some years ago when i started flasking. I do not remember exactly the concentration but i think that it was around 0.3 to 0.5%. It avoids fungus formation and I think that it stops also bacterial contamination.

 

[naoki]

Sorry, John. I was thinking of Roy from this thread.

It is suggested that plant cuttings that have had a hard trip through the mail or stored in cooler a bit long get a soak in sugar water (unrooted annual/perennial cuttings). Don't know general rate, but it is an accepted horticultural practice

Thanks for the info about horticultural practice, Charles!

Interesting. Reminds me of the tree bark method: http://www.orchideenvermehrung.at/cgi-local/framebreaker/reload.pl?english/seed germination/bark/ The big issue is to get the little guys to grow up to maturity.

As an aside, I've had volunteer seedlings of Dendrobium moniliforme and Ponerorchis graminifolia show up in my garden - the former on tree fern mounts and the latter in moss covered pots. Of course every year dozens of Spiranthes make an appearance, usually in pots of "old soil".

That is an interesting web site, Tom. I agree that germination part seems to be easy, but making them grow is the tough part with this kind of lazy method. Are these Den and Ponerochis from seeds from the nature or from your plants? It is pretty cool, though.

You would try the use of Methylparaben. I tested it some years ago when i started flasking. I do not remember exactly the concentration but i think that it was around 0.3 to 0.5%. It avoids fungus formation and I think that it stops also bacterial contamination.

Thanks for the info, I'm not familiar with this, so I'll read about it. But it probably kills good fungi, too, doesn't it?

 

[eteson]

Yes it does. It is more like asymbiotic germination.

 

[Stone]

I do not believe

http://www.orchid.or.jp/orchid/research/tanaka/enseedling/enseedling7.html

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

That is an interesting web site, Tom. I agree that germination part seems to be easy, but making them grow is the tough part with this kind of lazy method. Are these Den and Ponerochis from seeds from the nature or from your plants? It is pretty cool, though.

I wish they were from natural sources, but I don't live near wild populations of either species. So, to answer your question, the seed is from my garden plants. The Spiranthes seed in by themselves since they are common roadside weeds here.

 

[Berthold]

http://www.orchid.or.jp/orchid/research/tanaka/enseedling/enseedling7.html

Stone, thanks, but some years ago there was a British physical chemist who caused a nuclear fusion in his laboratory.
But the procedure could not be reproduced by himself or anybody else on the world

 

[Linus_Cello]

Stone, thanks, but some years ago there was a British physical chemist who caused a nuclear fusion in his laboratory.
But the procedure could not be reproduced by himself or anybody else on the world

And Utah (BYU)?

 

[naoki]

Here is an update of this project. Here is the rough sketch of what happened during the last year.

- Oct 14, 2014
Cardboard sowing. Placed in the heated garage, which could go down to 40F.

- Jan., 2015
Brought them indoor (60-70/50-55F) in the dark grow tent.

- Feb 26, 2015
lots of germination, about 0.5-2mm.

- Mid March, 2015
some were transplanted to another cardboard setup. Too many germination, and it was getting too crowded. All of these were experimental, and they didn't make it. This is part of the reason that the number of survivors are low. I have to think how to deal with this transplant issue. The ones which was left in the original germination container survived, and kept growing.

- April 13, 2015
some were moved under T8 light. I left others (including the original germination tray which survived) in the dark until later in the summer (I forgot to record when I brought them under the light). But they appear to be able to stay in the dark for a long time.

- Oct 24, 2015
moved to cool garage (around 10F). By this time, the tubers were about 6-8mm long, and they looked dormant. Quite a lot of germinated seeds didn't grow as fast as the ones which grew well. In other words, there were 2 discrete group; good growers and not good growers (majority). By this time, most of the cardboard was completely degraded and became mash. In the first year, I could see the leaf like structure, but none of them expanded the leaves. I think they need cold period to expand the leaves.

- April 11, 2016
They were moved indoor (72F max, 63F min) under old-fashioned red+blue LED. Inside of the container was still moist, I watered only once or twice in the winter dormancy. I didn't see any green leaves, but the tubers looked ok.

- April 22, 2016
The leaves appeared from about 5 tubers, about 2cm long. Amazingly quick expansion of the leaves. I'm going to start to remove the cover gradually.

So, it seems that this may be a success after all. The rest should be similar to deflasked seedlings. The number of survivors is low, but if I paid more attention, I'm sure I have gotten quite a bit more than a half dozen. I sprinkled tiny beat of oat meal to "feed" fungi. It wasn't a good idea, and this killed some seedlings.

Last year, the parents flowered well, so I got lots of seeds, if anyone wants to try this, let me know. I can send you the seeds from 2015 or maybe something fresh this fall.

The leaves expanded to 2cm in 11 days after bringing them into warm room.


These two are smaller ones (about 1cm):


How the original germination bed looks like. You can see the leaves on far right. The cardboard pieces are completely degraded.

 

[NYEric]

Thanks for sharing, I wonder if tubers could benifit from growing in a similar set-up.