My first attempt at a cross

[jpyerry]

Good evening,

Tonight I tried my hand at pollinating a few of my orchids. I watched a few online videos on how to do it, so hopefully my efforts will be fruitful.

I decided to cross my species Phals that are in bloom at the moment, as follows: Phal. stuartiana 'Sogo' x self, Phal. aphrodite 'Ben Yu' x Phal. stuartiana 'Sogo', and Phal. equestris x Phal. stuartiana 'Sogo'. The Phal. equestris that I used is peloric, so I am hoping it is not sterile, and if it isn't I look forward to seeing its offspring!

Should the pollinations prove successful, I'll be leaning on all of you for advice on when to remove the capsule and possible ideas on flasking labs I can send them to.

Well, fingers crossed!

Justin

[j0ker918]

I hope your equestris is fertile! Would love to see your future equestris x Sogo combo

[bearded orchid]

Congrats on the crossings. I hope they prove fruitful.
I would suggest green pod harvesting. If they take, it will be approximately 110 days until the pods will be ready to send out. Here is a link for information regarding this and other varieties:

Harvesting Orchid Seeds For Embryo Culture

[1joyceh]

GO Justin!!!
Sounds like you are jumping in...hope you are sucessful

[orchids4me]

I hope it all comes out capsules for you
Good luck with your project

[Brooke]

Congratulations you have remade the cross by Veitch in 1888 and the name is Leda.

From personal experience it takes around six months for a species or primary hybrid pod to be ready to harvest for green pod flasking. Watch the pod and when it starts to change color from green to tan-ish you stand the best chance of fertile seeds. The color change starts either in the area where the pod attaches to the stem or when the area inside the ribs of the pod lighten up.

In the beginning we missed having fertile seed because we were removing the pod around the four month mark. Sometimes it is useful to actually ask people who create Phals the success rate for us certainly improved after we asked. The professionals do remove the pods earlier if the pedigree is several generations of hybrid breeding. I have no idea why the difference but I trust their knowledge.

Good luck - Brooke