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Thread: When has pollination truly "taken"?

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  1. #1
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    whatever will bloom
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Michigan
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    Default When has pollination truly "taken"?

    More for kicks than anything else, I did a reciprocal cross of a species Encyclia and a hybrid mini catt (an Slc.). This was roughly 2 or 3 weeks ago.

    In both cases, for the first week or so after pollination both flowers show some small swelling of the ovary as well as some color change of that region. In both cases, the flowers showed some color change as well though it was much more pronounced with the catt and the enc's petals & sepals did not "wither up" as did the catt's. (However, never having checked into this, I have no idea if that is normal behavior for Encyclia flowers.)

    Yesterday, I noticed the Encyclia flower looking like it had gone downhill and upon gently touching the flower, it fell off. The ovary on the catt has continued to swell a tad more and remains a rather dark green.

    My question:
    Is there a point at which one can be fairly certain that pollination has been successful and the fertilized flower will NOT abort?

    Also, assuming that I find someone interested in flasking this cross for me, any idea about how many months the pod will likely take before being ready to harvest? (I realize green pod harvesting will be the way to go.)


  2. #2
    Real Name
    Zainal Abidin Bin Othman
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Huntleya, Bollea, Cochleanthes
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Melaka, West Malaysia
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    14,968
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    Default

    I dont have any experience with Catt and Encyclia but I have vandas based on my experience after a week of selfing or sibling crossing the ovary will swell and usually will progress increasing in size about 3 to 4 inches in length then focusing in maturity.Problem always arise when plants from Thailand you do crossing with the same species from the wild example the ovary is not progress as what we expected (could be they added the chemical or radiation during mass propagation) . The fruits relatively very small sometimes inside there nothing except fibers no viable seed at all.Usually crossing with primary hybrids shouldnt be a problem, again for intergeneric some of the flowers can take it but others not all depend on the time, temperature when you did the crossing for example if you just spraying the fertilizer immediately you do some crossing basically will be aborted after few days this is based on my observation. For vandas I prefer as you said green seed pods always the best the chances for contamination is reduced, basically I will harvest after 4 months and send to the lab for sowing.
    The first photo is after a week of selfing.Name:  1.jpg
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    The next photos is sibling crossing V.denisoniana wild got pollen from Thai crossing, very small seed pod and minimal seeds or maybe none. The last photos Thai denisoniana carried seed from wild deniso both of them matured together but the seed pod very small.Name:  2.jpg
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Size:  163.2 KBName:  3.jpg
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Size:  114.7 KBName:  4.jpg
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  3. #3
    Real Name
    Zainal Abidin Bin Othman
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Huntleya, Bollea, Cochleanthes
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Melaka, West Malaysia
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    Default

    Name:  5.jpg
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Size:  269.9 KBName:  6.jpg
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    The above seeds pod first one is Vanda lombokensis and the second is Vanda tessellata this is basically normal size of mature seed pods.Just from my observation Paul.

  4. #4
    My Grow Area
    Porch/Patio.
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Cattleyas, Phalaenopsis
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    Male
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    208

    Default

    A Cattleya alliance plant that I "selfed" at the end of 2012 took 8 months to fully ripen and dehisc. I now have a few tiny seedlings about 9 months after sowing the seed myself at home.

    If you are planning to grow the seed, you can have a lab flask it for you, or try sowing the seed at home. I have recently made a Cattleya cross, and when that pod is mature, I will wait for it to fully ripen and dehisc before harvesting the seed. Nothing wrong with the green pod method, I just find the fully mature seed better suited to my growing methods.
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