Does Setting a Seed Pod Pose Any Harm on Mother Plant?

[Rick]

The seed capsules on slippers are small and made up of the same photosynthetic matter as the leaves and stem.

Orchid seed also has no starch material stored with the embryos so in reality the seed capsule of an orchid takes nothing out of the mother plant than for making a leaf, root, or flower stem. Nothing like the demands of a female mammal to support a pregnancy.

So if you allowed the plant to flower in the first place there's no additional risk to going to make a seed pod.

I would suggest that if a small single fan plant with an underdeveloped root system flowers in the first place, the odds of it dying before the next growth is high regardless of whether or not it gets bred.

So if its a hard to get or critical plant in that bad a shape, then I'd breed it because then I'd have a chance of starting over with a bunch of seedlings a few years down the road.

 

[Rick]

And how does one keep pollen alive? How long do they stay viable?
I read somewhere that pollinia can be used more than once?
Is it true? If so, how is it done since the pollinia stay on the stigma I thought?

Pollen stores well in the fridge. Sometimes for well over a year if it doesn't get moldy.

I have used the same pollen in two or three flowers rarely, but it can be done. The amount of time for the pollen tubes to grow into the stigma is pretty fast. In Paph henryanum I've applied pollen and have the flower senesce in as little as two days. The pollinia is still intact and viable so I've scraped it off the stigma and moved it to a fresh flower. I have also done this with a few Bulbophylums and Phrags. If the flower reacts quickly then the pollen is usually still intact enough to transfer.

But if the flower is slow to show signs of senescing (like mastersianum or hursuitisimum) then the pollinia will usually be in bad shape and unsalvageable by the time you know its done its job.

Also, as Lance suggests you can cut up a pollinia and use tiny pieces of it.

 

[gonewild]

I have used the same pollen in two or three flowers rarely, but it can be done. The amount of time for the pollen tubes to grow into the stigma is pretty fast. In Paph henryanum I've applied pollen and have the flower senesce in as little as two days. The pollinia is still intact and viable so I've scraped it off the stigma and moved it to a fresh flower. I have also done this with a few Bulbophylums and Phrags. If the flower reacts quickly then the pollen is usually still intact enough to transfer.

That's interesting and good to know. I just assumed that scraping off the pollen would damage the pollen tubes and that in turn would possibly interfere with fertilization.

 

[Paul]

The seed capsules on slippers are small and made up of the same photosynthetic matter as the leaves and stem.

Orchid seed also has no starch material stored with the embryos so in reality the seed capsule of an orchid takes nothing out of the mother plant than for making a leaf, root, or flower stem. Nothing like the demands of a female mammal to support a pregnancy.

So if you allowed the plant to flower in the first place there's no additional risk to going to make a seed pod.

I would suggest that if a small single fan plant with an underdeveloped root system flowers in the first place, the odds of it dying before the next growth is high regardless of whether or not it gets bred.

So if its a hard to get or critical plant in that bad a shape, then I'd breed it because then I'd have a chance of starting over with a bunch of seedlings a few years down the road.

Agree Rick. On a Cattlyea it's a very high cost for the plant so you need fully mature plants to feed the big fruit.
On slippers seeds are low cost for the plant. The highest cost remains the flower(s) itself.

About pollinating, it seems different from one species to another. I've notice for sure about pollen that the earlier you pick it up and uses it, the better it is. I immediatly put the dry pollen in the freezer to use it at any time.