I have a lot of seedpods on my Dendrobium and they are ready to be harvested for propagation. However, after reading a lot of articles and the process of growing them, i decided to just let it go 😊

I don't gave the patience and the energy it takes to grow my very ordinary no ID Dendrobium orchids seedpods into seedlings. Very interesting though! One article stated that there are nurseries that will grow your seeds for a fee but I could not find a listing.

I found this article though that is interesting to read.
http://www.timespub.tc/2013/06...

Alice @ardesia, are you the one who teaches students to grow from seeds. This could be an interesting fun project for your students.

Hmm, not unless one can set up a sterile lab for this project.

True. Just the thought of pressure cooking anything makes me cringe. I haven't pressure cooked anything in my life.

Aw Gigi, thanks for thinking of me but pressure cooking and total sterility do not fit here either. I am a mess.

Yep, that's why I never even considered growing orchids from seeds. No training (I could easy read how), no equipment, no total climate control, and no way to have a sterile environment.

I will put sphagnum moss and spread the seeds on the base of the orchids in spring just to give it a chance. See if our local environment wil be kind with it or not.

Good idea, should be interesting to see what happens.

I think that's a great idea, Gigi. Give them a chance, but don't stress about it. If our winter weather keeps going the way it is, they might indeed germinate and grow for you.

After all, orchids do indeed grow from seed in nature, without all the pressure cooking and sterile conditions and flasks etc. That's why they make so very many seeds, because most likely only a few ever make it to maturity.

Those "man made" conditions are what commercial growers use to ensure a high rate of germination and survival. But, well you really don't need several thousand more tiny Dendrobiums, do you?

probably not Elaine

Hi '
you can grow Catasetums, Brassavola, even cattleya from seeds by scattering, provided conditions are replicated.
I have Catasetums hybrid seeds ,Brassavola, growing in our shade house even though it is in a bad state, along with laelia
rubrascence white and pale pink.
One of our orchid grower has grown seeds on sphagnum moss. I would do the photographs of those plants and upload them.
Note: please note this method of dispersing seeds in nature is not a substitute for doing flasking in sterile conditions.
Prabhi S

Phrabhi,good to know! Would love to see pics of what it looks like.

Good day! My name is Juan and I'm a graduate student of the University of Puerto Rico. I have always loved orchids and in a scientific point of view, they are fascinating. I have my own orchids and starting to see and study a little bit more about them, even reading about scientific journals. Moreover, growing from seeds seem to be a challenge, and as a Ph.D. student in Chemistry, I know what it is. I would like to see more from the orchids and start to grow them by seeds, learn about the process and all the efforts on it...for me, it is very interesting. If you can guide me on this I will appreciate all the help. Moreover, If you know of any place that I can get/buy seeds from will be of great help too.

One again thank you and I really appreciate all your time and efforts

Have a great day

Juan

Hi Juan!
Perhaps you might start by growing some of your Orchids outside where natural pollination will place. I always wind up with seed pods on my Orchids. Or get out the tooth pic and do some pollination yourself.
Regarding the sterile germination of Orchid seeds, one might start reading Joseph Arditti, he was instrumental in developing techniques to grow Orchids by sterile flasking and micro preparation. Google his name and you should get tons of stuff to read.
Have fun!

Come to think of it, one might want to include Knudson in your search.


a start:
http://www.msmbb.org.my/apjmbb...
starting with sterile flasking and branching out to meristem cloning.

My daughter is attempting to grow orchids from seeds. There are quite a few people close to our end of the earth who are very interested in her efforts. They have been supplying her with seed and I gave her a pressure cooker for Christmas. She thinks she knows where she is going wrong but needs more fresh seed. Let me know if anyone has any.

Kawamoto and Olomana (on Oahu) are both supplying her with seed when we go in December but, its a steep learning curve, even with the help of her big sister (a chemist).

Daisy, I might have some seed from one or more of my terrestrials. I had lots of seed-pods from the Bletilla 'Kate' last summer and a graduate student at Princeton asked me to send her all I found. She was in some sort of a research study. Anyway, that's just what I did and she says she got lots of germinated seeds. She is headed to medical school this summer so won't need more seeds. If I have them, I will send them to you.