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Re: Germination requirements of Bletilla striata

I did some research on this year before last and found a man on the net who
is rather an authority and was kind enough to correspond with me about it.

It appears that this orchid is only reliably propagated from seed in agar
and sterile conditions...don't ask me the particulars, I've never done
this.  He told me that sometimes you can get germination by sowing on damp
sphagnum (NOT peat) moss with the whole shebang enclosed in a ziplock
plastic bag and kept at room temperature, but it is iffy and he told me not
to get my hopes up too high.

I tried this with no luck.  May have been that my moss was not of the best
quality and if one could find some that was actually still "alive", one
might have better luck.  May have also been any number of other reasons.

Seems the orchid seeds have virtually no "food" in them to feed the
developing embryo and, in the wild, rely on mycorhizal fungi found in the
soil where they originate (China).

Now, I just did a bit of a search in my saved files and found that Michael
Wilton, who was on Seeds-list in May of last year posted that he had some
success with Bletilla by sowing the seed around the base of the parent
plants, where, presumably some of the required mycorhizal fungi might be
found.  This post should be in the Seeds-list archives if you want to read
it.  Think I'll try this next year for the heck of it.  Bletilla make
enormous quantities of their chaff-like seed.  Best way to propagate would
probably be division, but fooling around with the seed is fun and you just
never know....

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
http://www.suite101.com/frontpage/frontpage.cfm?topicID=222
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----------
> From: william borgman <sunsetco@pacbell.net>
> To: seeds-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: Re: Germination requirements of Bletilla striata
> Date: Wednesday, February 18, 1998 4:26 PM
> 
> Daryl & Julie wrote:
> > 
> > Anyone know what the germination requirements are for Bletilla striata,
> > the hardy ground orchid?  I've searched the databases and archives
> > without success.  The seed is dust-like and almost microscopic.  This
is
> > the first year I'm attempting to grow it from seed.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Julie Finn
> > Zone 7/Virginia
> I think all orchids have to be grown in Agar or something like that.
> They can't make their own food. Also it ( everything ) must be sterile.
> Do a search on Alta Vista for ? seed propogating orchids ?.
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