A Dendrobium Seed Pod and the Long Chain of Ifs
Back in March, I happened to have two Dendrobium orchids in bloom at the same time and decided to try and cross them. After one false start, I got a pod. This week the pod opened! Unlike the Phalaenopsis pod which took nine months, this one took only two.
In the photo above, you can see me collecting the seed as it drops into a paper towel. In the photo on the right, you can see a closeup of the open pod. That tiny fluff is just the packaging – the seeds are too tiny to be visible to the naked eye.
Like the Phalaenopsis pod, I’m going to send it off to Troy Meyers for flasking. The pod’s parent plant is Dendrobium kingianum, and the pollen is from D. “Micro Chip,” a named hybrid I got at the last Pacific Orchid Expo. They’re both small orchids with sprays of little flowers.
Now we enter the “long chain of ifs.” If the seeds have viable embryos, and if Troy Meyers is able to grow them in a flask, and if I’m able to transition them to pots, and if I’m able to grow them happily for a few years, then finally we may get to see what the resulting flowers look like.
See Also
Two Links Closer in the Chain of Dendrobium Ifs
That layer of yellow blobs are all clusters of tiny, growing Dendrobium embryos. Sexy goop, eh?
I Think I Impregnated My Dendrobium
Try, try again.
Pollination By Post
Back in May, my friend Zach sent me some pollen from one of his Phalaenopsis orchids in the mail.
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