...........Have you ever tried to polinate and grow Disas from seed? Apparently they are very easy - simply sow the seed on wet moss, and they grow! A little hard to believe. There must be more to this. Although, I have heard this of other genera too. Don't all orchids need a fungus to germinate?
hello Kevin,
I just found that posting.
I have some Disas in my small collection of terrestrial Orchids, mainly from Europe, and several winter hardy Cypripediums.
I made some seed sowing from Disa seeds,
which I recieved from a buddy in the US.
these are from selected deep red cultivars.
I have sown the seeds on pure peat.
only moisten the peat with RO water,
adjust the pH to about 4 pH.
the seeds germinate after about 4 weeks ,
at about 20 Celsius under lights, not in the dark.
(most terrestrials only germinate in the dark)
I did my first sowing efforts last year,
and those seedlings have a leaf span of abot 8 cm now.
maybe the strongest can make theîr first flower next summer
I also have seedlings of Disa uniflora Xanthic yellow.
but these are weak growers,
just about 3 cm leaf span,
sown at same date as the "reds" in august 2007.
I also tried to sow on NZ Super Sphag (dried sphagnum moss),
this works too,
but MY results were better with the "acidic peat"
This year I made some pollination with different hybrid Disas,
but up to now the results are disappointing,
I only found 5 !! seeds with embroys under the microscope,
in one large capsule.
all others seeds were "empty".
But those 5 are just germinating.
AND with some buddies here,
we have first results of germination,
first seedlings are just out of flask from the
outstanding Disa cornuta from SA!!
but they were sown on sterile flasked medium
about 20 months ago !!
cheers
Dieter
