Orchid Polination help!

[kiwiorchids]

Right...so i tried to self my D. speciosum, but all the flowers dropped. Now i have a pile of D. kingianum that has bloomed, and they are all divisions from the same plant. Is it possible to, in essence, self this plant? When i say self, i assume all the genetic material has remained the same (not that i can see how it would change!)

[Orchidmorris]

Right...so i tried to self my D. speciosum, but all the flowers dropped. Now i have a pile of D. kingianum that has bloomed, and they are all divisions from the same plant. Is it possible to, in essence, self this plant? When i say self, i assume all the genetic material has remained the same (not that i can see how it would change!)

That flowers drop after pollenation is caused by self incompetability, which means that the pollinia are rejected by stigmatic surface. Because inflorescence costs a lot of energy it is best to drop the flower because its purpose is served (although unsuccesfully). The same can be seen in interspecific or intergeneric crosses; the pollen is simply not recognized by the female parts so flowers drop.
Also vegetatively propagated plants, for instance your kingianum, can act the same. But it might aswel be succesful. And with kingianum baring lots of flowers why not give it a try. And yes you will see lots of inbred in your seedlings, but you will also find beautiful and strong plants.
Enjoy!
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[Halloamey]

Yes as explained in the post above, self incompatibility is an issue in most orchids. By ensuring cross pollination plants make sure that there is a mixture of gene pools which avoids amplifying the faults in their makeup. It is very common in orchids, but nonetheless some orchids can be selfed. For eg. my Cymbidium aloifolium selves in many ways, same flower on same plant, different flowers on the same plant and different flowers on two plants both arising from the division of a single mother plant. It depends on the species. From your experience it seems that I have to add Dendrobium kingianaum to the list of self-incompatible plants, thanks !

[kiwiorchids]

Yes as explained in the post above, self incompatibility is an issue in most orchids. By ensuring cross pollination plants make sure that there is a mixture of gene pools which avoids amplifying the faults in their makeup. It is very common in orchids, but nonetheless some orchids can be selfed. For eg. my Cymbidium aloifolium selves in many ways, same flower on same plant, different flowers on the same plant and different flowers on two plants both arising from the division of a single mother plant. It depends on the species. From your experience it seems that I have to add Dendrobium kingianaum to the list of self-incompatible plants, thanks !

Thanks all! and Amey, i have just tried pollinating (selfing) my kingianum, the reason i want to self is there is a very short supply of different plants in bloom at the moment lol! i will see what happens....but i was dissapointed the speciosum just dropped, every last bloom, even though i tried pollination on one spike only.