Slippertalk Phalaenopsis Breeding Thread - Pollen Swap

[Sirius]

Hey everyone,

I am trying my hand at some Phalaenopsis breeding so that I can start practicing my flasking skills. I approached a couple of forum members about trading some pollen, and with their kindness, I have some seed pods forming.

I will soon have extra pollen to trade, and I thought maybe some more people might like to get involved. This thread is for Phalaenopsis orchids only at this point. If anyone would like to post photos of their species or hybrid Phalaenopsis orchids that are blooming, maybe we can get some breeding advice from the better Phalaenopsis growers here. I know Peter from Big Leaf Orchids is on the board, and maybe he can provide some guidance.

I am willing to do some flasking for anyone who wants to breed their Phalaenopsis orchids and share the results with other Slippertalk members. There are also several commercial labs that can flask if someone desires it. It's my hope that we can start swapping pollen and breed for specific purpose, and not just random crosses.

With that said, I would like to show you my first random cross, ha ha! :rollhappy: I used Dtps. Beautiful Girl as the pod parent and crossed it with Dot's Sedirea japonica for an intergeneric hybrid. The flower accepted the pollen and started swelling almost immediately. Fingers crossed, wish me luck!

Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl x Sedirea japonica

 

[Sirius]

Soon I have some Phalaenopsis violacea species blooming. I will post more details closer to bloom date, but I just wanted to start generating interest and ideas. If anyone else has some violacea species plants blooming soon, I would love to hear from you.

 

[Hera]

I really hope your first cross takes. Its hard to find Sedirea japonica intersectional crosses, but the pictures that I have seen are very interesting. Colors are very bright. I'm crossing my fingers for you.

 

[Sirius]

Thanks for sending your good vibes my way. I have actually never seen a Doritaenopsis x Sedirea cross. There are a few Phalaenopsirea? crosses out there. Does anyone know how to check the official source to see if a Doritaenopsis x Sedirea cross has ever been registered?

 

[paphioboy]

Interesting cross, especially with the blue one as a parent... I'm also very interested to see what comes out. Good luck!

 

[s1214215]

I have recently seen Sedirea japonica x Phal Abendrot for sale in Australia.

Good luck with this line of breeding.

Brett

 

[Heather]

Looks like a great idea.

How are you handling the flasking exactly?

 

[biothanasis]

Great idea indeed!!! I am very curious to see the outcome of this cross..!! Good luck!!

 

[Sirius]

How are you handling the flasking exactly?

Very carefully.

I am going to do it myself inside a homemade glove box. It's easy. At least, that is what some people online would have you believe. They have me convinced that I can do my own flasking, so I am going to give it a shot.

 

[biothanasis]

John, I think the most difficult part is to make the glove box...hehe... everything else is just practice. I would like to make one myself too. Could you please share some instructions on how did you make yours?? TYIA

 

[Sirius]

I am still working on mine. I am looking for a used aquarium on Craigslist. I hope to find one that is cracked or basically free. The guys I have been talking to about flasking don't even seal the box off. They just work with it on it's side. I may be a little more involved.

 

[paphioboy]

I am still working on mine. I am looking for a used aquarium on Craigslist. I hope to find one that is cracked or basically free. The guys I have been talking to about flasking don't even seal the box off. They just work with it on it's side. I may be a little more involved.

It doesn't have to be sealed... I use laminar flow hoods for my current project a lot to culture microbes on agar plates. So rather similar to growing orchid seed on agar. You do have to disinfect the box thoroughly. Get a UV lamp if possible, and 70% ethanol to wipe down surfaces before and after work....

 

[Sirius]

Today was orchid breeding day at my house. Phalaenopsis pollen can be very tiny! :crazy:

This is what I have crossed so far...

1. Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl x Sedirea japonica
2. Dtps. Hatuyuki "Nagoriyuki" x Sedirea japonica

3. Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl x Dtps. Hatuyuki "Nagoriyuki" (also made reverse cross)
4. Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl x Phal. i-lan Green Pixie (also made reverse cross)

5. Phal. i-lan Green Pixie x Phal. cornu cervi chattaladae
6. Phal. i-lan Green Pixie x Phal. manniphil (mannii flava x philippinense)

Many thanks to Dot and Susan for sharing pollen. If anyone would like some pollen from Phalaenopsis i-lan Green Pixie, Dtps. Hatuyuki "Nagoriyuki" or Dtps. Freed's Beautiful girl, the window for me to ship it is closing fast. Dtps. pollen is best used fresh.

 

[Sirius]

While I would love for all of my crosses to take, I am pretty sure a few of them will fail to produce viable seed. I am trying not to stress out about it, but waiting for those capsules is hard...and that is just the first of many possible failure points! :sob:

 

[Heather]

I'm voting for numbers 1 and 6.

 

[Sirius]

Sorry Heather, I adjusted my photos and number 6 is now number 5.

 

[Sirius]

Progress update: Capsules!!!

Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl x Sedirea japonica

Phal. I-lan Green Pixie x Phal. cornu cervi forma chattaladae

As you can see, two of the crosses made with pollen exchanged here on the forum are forming seed pods. Woohoo!

Apologies for the poor photo quality of the capsules. My card reader is broken, so I am using a cell phone camera.

 

[Candace]

Good luck with the home made glove box. I tried that a few times and failed miserably :< I know an AOS judge that said she turns on her stove to kill all the baddies and then uses it as her sterile environment. I'd probably go that route if I were to try it again. For now I just send off my pods to the lab....

 

[SlipperFan]

Cool, John! I'm really interested in what happens with the Dtps/Sedirea cross.

 

[goldenrose]

Cool, John! I'm really interested in what happens with the Dtps/Sedirea cross.

Me too!