Embedded Files
At Isle of Portland Orchid we grow orchids from seed in our propagation laboratory from the 600+ species we have in our collection. We hand pollinate flowers and collect ripe seed when the seed pod split 6 to 12 months later.
Orchid seed is very small and has no food supply for the developing embro. In the wild a seed depends on being invaded by a mycorrhizal fungus that the seed digests for the sugars and minerals it needs to develop. In our propagation laboratory we provide the sugars and minerals in a sterile nutrient jelly. All work must be done microbe free as a single bacteria or fungal spore would contaminate and destroy the seed.
Seed pod on Phalaenopsis mannii
Orchid seed is variable in size and colour
The dry seed is surface sterilzed in a weak bleach solution and rinsed in sterile water before it is squirted into the jars of sterile growing media.
Seed usually takes 1-3 months to germinate and seeds form a spherical protocorm before developing shoots and eventually roots.
As the seedlings develop we give them more room and fresh nutrients by re-plating seedlings into new jars with tweezers (as demonstrated by Annie in the photo below)
Five seed samples in syringes of bleach solution ready for rinsing and sowing - all in a laminar flow cabinet
Orchid protocorms (germinated seed)
Prosthechea cochleata seedlings - protocorms with shoots
Annie re-plating seedlings using tweezers in a flow cabinet
Here is some of our latest lab work with seedlings of Cymbidium tracyanum. It starts with our stock plant flowering in our Himalayas greenhouse.
Cymbidium tracyanum flowering in the greenhouse
In the lab we have seedlings at different stages. the little ones are about 6 months old and the large ones filling their jar are over two years old.
When seedlings fill their jars and have decent roots we de-flask them and pot in 6cm pots. Plants then spend at least 6 months growing in one of IKEA cabinets under lights before moving to the greenhouse to join their parent plant.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse