How can I get some seeds ?

Before you can start sowing seeds you have to solve the problem that seeds normally can not be bought in shops. So you have to pollinate your own plants. To pollinate an orchid the plant should be strong and healthy.
To start building a capsule you have to transfer the pollinia of one flower to the stigma of an other plant. If you have got only one plant or only one flower you can transfer the pollinia to itīs own stigma. Some orchids do not allow self pollination so we have to try if it acepts itīs own pollinia or not.

Here are some examples of flowers where you can see where the stigma and the pollinia are.

Our pollination technique

We use wooden toothpicks to transfer pollinia. The best time to pollinate your orchid is when the flower has finished opening. Move the end of the toothpick into the flower an pull out the pollinia. Sometimes the pollinia does not stick on the tootpick. In this case you should use a forceps to pull them out. In the next step remove the anther cap and place the pollinia on the stigma, as close as possible to the entry of the stigma channel, of the other flower. Last but not least write down the pollination date and the name of the secound plant.

Basic rules to label the pollinated flowers

With some examples we want to show you the common way to label seed capsules and plants.

Harvesting capsules

The seeds inside the capsule have finished their development about 3/4 of the time the capsule needs from pollinia transfer till releasing the mature seeds. If you want to sow green capsules (in vitro) you can harvest them after this time. Itīs very important that the green capsule has no holes or places where fungi could reach the seeds otherwise they are not free of contaminations (fungi, bacteria, ...).

Phalaenopsis (3 months old)	Cleisostoma arietinum (3 months old)	Masdevallia coccinea alba (3 weeks old)

For sowing dry seeds just wait till the capsule starts to open (dehisces) and then harvest it.

A very large list of seed-capsule ages is available at BARRY'S ORCHID PAGE.

You can order orchid seeds at ...