non-sterile technique

[gerneveyn]

Does anyone here have experience in non-sterile culture of orchid seeds on moss?I am going to attempt flasking phal seeds. I'll probably use a media from the box kind. I have been looking at different websites and gathering info. One question that I have is: At what pH should phal seeds be grown? Or are all orchid seeds grown at roughly the same pH of 5.6 or so? Are there any techniques mycorrhizal fungus in a symbiotic approach? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[orchid-man]

that type of seed sowing is so seldom done these days as its not reliable,hence the seed is sown under sterile conditions onto agar agar with added nutrients and then placed in a growing room to germinate under controled temperature.

If you go here you will find alot on flasking
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~sp...hids/breeding/

[ATester]

there are a few species which actually do just fine in non-sterile culture, most of them are the temperate climate species (I have heard that Goodyera is one of them, I am currently conducting an experiment with those...I'll give more details in a second). You just simply spread the seed in a pot with some already existing mature plants. I have also heard of spontaneous growth on moist slabs of tree fern, though I know alot of growers are shying away from using tree fern since it is expensive, non renewable and has a history of being non agreeable with certain plants. Pleurothallids are notorious for spontaneous germination on tree fern.

Ok, so for the experiment:

My control group is sowing on leaf litter from a nearby colony (but not in too close of a poximity as their tubers are close to the surface and the seed is not collected from that group but rather from a venerable house of orchid seed storage). The existence of the right fungi should be existing in the leaf litter. Group A will be sown on "sterile" (more correctly put...pasturized) chopped sphag. There are the two non sterile groups. Then, the other two will be sown in sterile agar based mediums for terrestrials.

I have a book that list two known non-sterile propogation species, I'll list them tomorrow.

[TorontoMichael]

Was wondering how successful this practice is with reg types like paphs and phals?

What kinds of bark are you using for this? or is moss the best base to see onto?

Michael