Clones and germinating seeds!

What a pleasant beginning to the week. The weekend was particularly eventful and much of my hard work and patience with my second run of clones and various orchid species seeds has paid off.

The first batch of Phalaenopsis clones did not do well at all and I worked out through a process of elimination that the problem was the lack of ventilation. This appears to be crytical in their development. The second run is working better. I have since made my own medium, having bought the various constintuents and this seems to be working just as well as the formulation sold by Phytotech Labs. I will however keep adjusting my formula to optimise growth as I go. In the mean time I have attached a photo of a P. amabilis clone producing leaves.

Phalaenopsis amabilis clone

While working hard on getting the clones to work I had also experimented with various orchid species seeds which I had flasked using various media including Sigma's P6668, BM-1, Murshige and Skoog and a modified version of the dual-phase Disa medium of Thompson et al. (2006). After waiting for what has seemed like forever, I finally have some images to post of my relative success. I say relative because it is still early days and I have a lot more seeds in vitro which await germination. Anyway, it is most exciting to get some positive results finally and on 12 December I will also get to sow the Phalaenopsis seeds that have been patiently maturing on my plants for the last 108 days.

Disa thodei germinating

Disa uniflora germinating: note shooting protocorms

Polystachya ottoniana germinating



Ansellia africana germinating



Stenoglottis fimbriata germinating

Incubator full of seed flasks!