Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dendrobium parishii

On 21 August 2011 I received dry seeds of Dendrobium parishii (amongst others) and processed them that same evening. The seeds germinated at roughtly 3 weeks post innoculation onto germination medium and grew rapidly in the incubator. Of all the Dendrobium species I have sown, this one had grow the most rapidly in vitro. This species prefers to grow mounted or in suspended pots where its canes can be allowed to hang pendulously. Its flowers are a beautiful pink and they are fragrant and long lasting. Some good general information on the species can be found here.

I have several well-developed flasks of fat little seedlings coming along which will soon need to be hardened off. The first flask to be hardened off was processed on 18 February (see image) and seems to be doing just fine in a large compot. Once established, the seedlings will be split up and mounted onto cork rafts individually.

Dendrobium parishii de-flasked
Dendrobium parishii on 5 January 2012