Facts - and other trivia
Mar 98
As of 5 Feb 1998, Peter Hunt, International Orchid Registrar, RHS, states the count of orchid hybrids is 110,657. Of this number he estimates that 5000 should be deducted for entries of natural hybrids, generic hybrid names and species/synonyms. Colin Hamilton, Mar 98.
21 May 97
Andy, if you are in a rush to do your dehisced pods, you can sterilize the seeds in straight hydrogen peroxide. 8 - 10 minutes should do it. You'll get best results if you pre-sprout the crud in sugar water...pre-sprouting the crud on dry orchid seed consists of putting the seed in water to which a little sugar has been added. Soak 3 - 4 hours. Any mold and most spores will begin to sprout. Then you can decant the sugar water, cover with a good layer of peroxide or calcium hypochlorite and the kill of bad guys is much improved, nearly total. Get calcium hypochlorite from a local laboratory supply house. Most cities have one or two. Also order some when we think of it from Sigma Chem when we get medium. Most of it goes bad before we use it! nodosa (Ed in SAT)
15 Jun 98
When high temperatures prevail, power failures can be expected. Connect a sprinkler and place it in your greenhouse. In the event of power failure, turn on the sprinkler to save your plants. It isn't the best growing technique, but it can save plants until power is restored. Ed Wright
21 May 97
We brought back dozens of plants from the Redlands...lots of stuff that had to be mounted. Although not good for everything, a hot glue gun made fast work of a bulk of the plants. graphicgreg(graphicgreg the amazing photog)
I read an article in Orchids about using a hot glue gun to reattach orchids to trees after Hurricane Andrew went through FL. JCY8S(John in Arcadia CA)
For on the spot plaquing, I use rubber bands - then get back to them with strips of pantyhose before the bands rot (sometimes). [Small things like equitants make enough roots to hold themselves before the bands rot.] marylois
21 May 97
Are you suggesting that the pod parent inherently increases its dominance, just because it carries the pod?? Miami_Al
The egg parent (yes, plants make eggs) contributes more than just chromosomes--lots of other cell organelles come from the egg, not the sperm. So inheritance is not really 50/50. Hallie
I believe in pod dominance. I still make a lot of recip crosses, but almost invariably, the one with the most of what we want is from the pod parent capsule. Hallie - your egg comparison said it much better than I did. I see the differences all the time. As you point out, inheritance is not a 50-50 thing. When we go to sibling crosses and really see Mendelian effects, we realize hybridization is not necessarily a 50-50 trade at any time. nodosa
Return to Index 7 Feb 98
Vanilla has two root systems - Those for terrestrial roots and those for climbing. Both function to absorb water and nuitrients. Many vines need to be 10-15 feet long to bloom and produce. Andy NVA (Northern VA.) [I understand it's not necessarily the height but the fact that many vine types refuse to bloom til they "get to the top" - e.g. reach the roof and bend, or get to the top of a fence/tree and droop...the drooping signals time to bloom. Can't recall where I read that - makes sense...mlg]
Return to Index12 Aug 99
The pollination of vanilla has caused great consternation even to commercial propagators. Let me take you from the 'nose' of the column back to understand what is required. At the outer end of the column is a light green, easily detached tissue called the anther cap. Immediately beneath it is the pollen you will need for propagation. The pollen nestles against a divider called a septum. In most orchids, just behind the septum is the stigma or stigmatic surface and that is where the pollen should be placed -
in most orchids, that is, not vanilla. Behind the little sterile cavity is a second septum-like membrane that has a hinged section at the bottom. Lift this hinged "lid" and place the pollen behind it. In due course, pollinia will develop and find their way to the ovary to fertilize the capsule. Vanilla flowers last but a day, so you must watch them closely. Even when the seed capsule forms you will not have vanilla flavoring. That comes primarily from Vanilla planifolia capsules. Vanillin, the flavoring, is formed on the outside of the pods as a clear, granular substance that looks like sugar or salt crystals. No matter what the ice cream ads say, the flavor is in these crystals, not in chopped up bean tissue. Vanilla flavoring gets its color when the pods are immersed in ethyl alcohol to
dissolve the crystals. The alcohol also dissolves some capsule color and there you are. The best description I have found for the vanilla curing process is in Carl Withner's book, "The Orchids - A Scientific Survey". If you have difficulty hitting the right spot in pollination of vanilla, try splitting a column in half from the outer end clear down to the plant stem. You will find an easy-to-view layout of the whole works and you can spot the true stigma, false stigma and the two septae. Ed Wright
Oct 98
I would like to share a useful tip that I learned from Andres Maduro, President of the Panama Orchid Society. Consider using marine paint, instead of baits/poisons or copper strips to deter slugs and snails
from ascending your benches. Apparently, the paint used for the bottoms of boats contains a significant amount of metal compounds which deter barnacle growth. Used on the legs of benches, it has the same effect to deter slugs and snails from crossing and reaching your orchid plants. This also has the advantage of adhering to either wood, metal, fiberglass, or plastic. I will be using this on our new benches this winter. Nina Rach
Return to Index14 Oct 98
MagMagda, snowy mold is not necessarily bad for orchids but it indicates a
potential for problems. The mold can sometimes overgrow and smother tiny
seedlings but that is unusual. When organic substrates like bark chips become
wetted, they begin to decay. A continuum of different fungi, bacteria and yeasts
feed on the bark until the food source is depleted. Snowy mold occurs at one
stage of this continuous process. Marilyn Light
