How To Hand Pollinate Phalaenopsis Orchids - Growing Orchids From Seeds at Home

[@RK-cw4js]

Your charisma is off the charts, great videos. Thank you

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

😄 thanks Ryan, I'm glad you enjoy the videos 🙂

[@Alicia-jn9rf]

I don’t know how the orchids survive in nature when it looks so hard to see you pollinate it.😁

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

In the wild there is a beneficial fungus that works in a symbiotic relationship with the Orchid embryo and feeds and protects it. 🙂

[@joshuarichards8065]

Orchids usually get pollinated by specific insects and not wind pollination. They also live for a long time with few preditors so constant reproduction is not needed.

[@jigold22571]

Patience of a Saint.❣

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

🤣😂😅 my wife would disagree! 😅

[@jigold22571]

My Parents ,growers and collectors over 50 years, somethings 5 years,some 1once a year,or satisfy the orchid lust with frequent trips to other greenhouses.

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

@@jigold22571 😅 I understand there feelings, one day I hope to build a greenhouse that o can use for my Nepenthes and orchids, problem is you can never have enough... 😂

[@joshuarichards8065]

I have a mini phalaenopsis in bloom and my Zygopetalum is about to bloom, so I'm hoping to hybridise them. The miniphal is a nice purple and the zygopetalum is bright green and super deep purple, hope to see what will come of it.

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

That sounds awesome Joshua, go for it!

[@lone2234]

this was one year ago but can you hybridise 2 different genus? One is also sympodial and the other monopodial I would think their genes are not compatible?

[@joshuarichards8065]

@@lone2234 unfortunately there is no research I can find that suggests that there is a limit to what can be done with hybrid, so the question is yet unanswered. Also the differences between monopodial and sympodial orchids are not as vast as they look. I have a Miltoniopsis orchid with an old pseudobulb that has what looks like a leaf bud at the top of it, as if it could grow more leaves or even longer but has stopped. This to me suggests the pseudobulb is but a modified stem.

[@lone2234]

@@joshuarichards8065 Well, did your experiment work? Cause I'm quite curious. Since one is a rhizome system where the bulbs comes out of the axillary and the other is a single monopodial structure I wonder if it will work because anatomically they're different I wonder if it does will it just follow one of the parents growing pattern?

[@joshuarichards8065]

@@lone2234 sadly no, the flowers faded very quickly upon trying to pollinate. Happened with my miltoniopsis as well. I must have done something incorrectly.

[@cindilambert4465]

This is amazing! Thank you so much for making it! I am going to give it a try! So awesome 👏🏼 ❤😊💕🤩😎

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

You're welcome, glad you enjoy the content Cindi Lambert 😀 Happy growing!! 🌱

[@dkkoh88]

Now I know how to grow one at home thanks. By the way very interesting content

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Thanks Don! Ill have some basic Phalaenopsis care vids out shortly also. Looking forward to harvesting these seed pods and learning tissue culture at home, its super interesting stuff.

[@robertspear186]

Search for ages to find the information you provided. Thank you I’m off to pollinate.

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

You're welcome, glad you enjoy the content Robert Spear 😀 Happy growing!! 🌱

[@thephiggle913]

how has that gone?

[@anitar959]

Thank you so much I'm off to pollinate my orchid Your video was awesome

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Glad it was helpful!

[@branchingoutpermaculturewi4766]

another great video brother. super interesting learning from you

[@AnggrekKakYusri]

thanks for sharing, very useful for orchid lovers😊

[@tinagwest2692]

very good alex you make it so interesting love☺️

[@shadowellie]

Hi, thank you so much for this video! I wanted to ask you, if I could use seeds after my plant is finished blooming and the flowers fall? Thank you!

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

no, it will take about 3 months for the seed pod to develop from the flower. you have to cut it off just before it pops open. Germinating the seed is very complicated, as it has to be done using sterile tissue culture unless you are lucky enough to live in a place where those orchids grow wild. The reason is the seed is so tiny and is just the embryo and relies on a symbiotic fungus in the natural habitat that feeds and protects it. There are videos out there showing you very well how you can do this and what mediums you need to invest in. I was planning to do it, I have the necessary ingredients to start but then we moved house, the seed pods opened while I was out and ended up as dust all over the place 😂 at the moment I haven't got the head space to start tissue culture and it's on the bench for the future.

[@joshuarichards8065]

To my knowledge tissue culture is a means of using plant cells (not seeds) to clone a plant for mass production if cuttings are not viable (possibly due to lack of natural auxins or growth nodes), but I do see the potential in using it in orchid seed starting.

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Yes your right, its what TC primarily used for. But it is also used largely to grow orchids from seed, as the seed is basically only the endosperm. In there natural habitat the seed has a symbiotic relationship with a fungus that feeds and protects it during there growth. That's why we have to use TC, so the seed can grow in a sterile protected state and the jelly medium contains the nutrients and vitamins it needs to grow. TC also a great tool for growing seeds like Nepenthes, Venus Flytraps, you can grow them with out using TC but TC speeds up the process dramatically, as the plant has no harsh conditions to fight against. A Venus flytrap seedling can reach adulthood in a year compared to 3 years naturally.

[@joshuarichards8065]

@@GreenthumbsGarden I know that all of that, I'm simply more familiar with another method for growing orchids from seeds. However the method I speak of may be a "homebrew" method made to look legitimate, not sure. Instead of a nutrient rich gel they use a sponge like medium containing some sort of water soluble orchid fertilizer.

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

@@joshuarichards8065 just seen this reply now Josh. I wish KZbin would notify on replys so it could be easier to keep a conversation going. I've not heard about the method you speak of but sounds interesting, I'll have to try and research it if you could provide more information. What I'd like to try, as an experiment is to germinate the seeds in more of a natural easy way and infuse the seeds with various yeasts and see if any can replicate what happens in its native environment.

[@joshuarichards8065]

@@GreenthumbsGarden can't find the video with the sponge seed method but here is one that's closer to the common way to do it by the channel "Here, but not" kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4GllKd_edupqKM

[@leejiasheng2045]

​@@joshuarichards8065yes,this video link that you provided was tissue culture,the black color might be charcoal had added .

[@phuu186]

nice T-shirt!

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Thanks!

[@Danielle0010]

Thank you!

[@ChromaEquinox]

Super interesting!

[@rinijacob2126]

Wonderful information

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Thanks rini jacob 😀 Happy growing!! 🌱

[@alicecowan3499]

Wow! Very cool 😎

[@anitar959]

Wow

[@Graemewalatara]

Can I pollinate a white color flower from one spike with another flower on the second spike of the same plant?

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Yep, that will work 👍🙂

[@Graemewalatara]

@@GreenthumbsGarden Thank you Alex I Appreciate it.

[@karli.iskakova]

Thanks!

[@alexandracapers]

Thanks for sharing

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Thanks for watching! :-)

[@angelacesor804]

Ilang linggo bago maharvest Ang bunga ng orchid na pahanallopsis orchid

[@angelacesor804]

How many week for harvest the pods of orchid

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

It takes about 3 months. you will need to keep watch as if you leave it too long like i did, it will open and the seed will be all over your room...lol

[@hninaye3982]

How long does it take to have a seed pod ?

[@dylanphillips6906]

Great video! Thanks for the info!

[@WhosinParis]

You should show us the cherries again

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

It's coming Giannis, they just not fareing very well at the moment, they struggling alot with the hot Spanish summer...it's been in the high 40'tys so I'm hoping they will survive and pull through. They really are a cold climate plant

[@surajsagar6935]

hi frind

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

hey! 🙃

[@kepler180]

this was a much better video than the one i saw before. my only criticism is you talk a little too much. i enjoy listening but i wanted you to cut to the chase a bit quicker, maybe others will agree. Secondly, at 3:55 the pollen on the toothpick was blurry for a solid 10 seconds but then it cleared up and i could see it perfectly. Overall I'd give you 90% as a grade. I found this very helpful and i thank you kindly

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Thanks Kepler, and I appreciate the constructive criticism. It's my biggest challenge working with a camera with no auto focus. 90% is good 😀 let's try and reach for 98%

[@kepler180]

@@GreenthumbsGarden Of course. I think you should get your wife, brother, sister, cousin, friend etc. to be a temporary cameraman. I used to dabble with video making and it's significantly easier if you have another guy on the job

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

@@kepler180 yes I need this, I made a nepenthes video the other week and I ended up spending hours and hours the whole day faffing around refocusing, testing focus, trying to position the cámara and then missing the shot. It stressed me out so much I have not bothered to look at the footage yet. Having someone working the cam for some videos would be really helpful. Especially when it's hands on stuff and your making for moving alot.

[@kepler180]

@@GreenthumbsGarden yeah of course. you don't have to but you could even hire a cameraman

[@petrescuework-difficultcas6581]

What happened to your seeds? Were you successful?

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

They took about 4 months to mature and popped open when I was not at home 😂🤣 came home to find them empty and seed dust everywhere. I should have harvested them earlier but we were in the process of moving and I had no time to finish setting up the TC cultures that would hold the seed

[@petrescuework-difficultcas6581]

@@GreenthumbsGarden Aww what a bummer. Thanks for answering. I hope you're doing okay. I also tried pollinating my orchids and got seedpods at some time, but never knew what to do with the seeds. I just watched a video of how to in vitro propagate them and it looked so complicated. I guess I'll pass on this experience 😅

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

Little by little, flytrapcare.com has a great resource on home tissue culture. I hear there might be a easier way but i need time to look in to it and give it some research. we will see, if I find anything interesting ill get it on the channel :-)

[@BondanHeru]

Easy to pollinate, hard to germination naturally

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

yep, in less your fortunate enough to live in the part of the world that they native. Germinating orchid seeds requires a small investment in to home tissue culture

[@DubstepPLZ]

It’s fail-ah-nopsys

[@jbb5266]

Any update?

[@GreenthumbsGarden]

nope sadly, We moved house and i didn't have time to make a home TC set up, the seed pods burst while i was out and dusted my office with millions of seed...lol

[@thephiggle913]

Sick! Just did it, I'll update soon maybe lol