Ok last night was day 3 since the first of two blooms opened up. So I figured Id try to pollenate the first flower and keep the other for reference. I read somewhere here, that you would notice in 24 hrs if its going to do something so I wanted a control flower. I took the pollinia I had saved in a coffee filter out and grabbed a flat tooth pick. I first touched the flat end of the tooth pick on the stigmatic depression (its the area behind the anther cap). Since its sticky back there, it will help hold the pollinia on the toothpick when trying to do your thing. I then put the pollinia in place and gently pressed upwards to make sure I had contact. This was done on the right flower last night. Now tonight the 2nd flower was open enough so I wanted to do that one tonight. But first for reference.
When I conpared the flower I worked on last night I noticed that the lip is curling to form a tube instead of being somewhat being a 1/2 pipe shape like normal. Also the two petals are crossing each other which isnt normal. Does this mean I've succeeded or just damage from handling during pollenation..?? time will tell. I hope it takes. heres the pics for reference. Please note, using a clean, sterilized exacto knife, I trimmed the sheath back after it was open so I wouldnt accidently snap off a flower while working on it.
This is what the regular blooms are supposed to look like-
This is the control bloom. The left flower which I did tonight while taking these photos.
this is the right bloom which I tried to pollenate 24 hours ago. Note how the lip is now forming a tube instead of being normal.
