Orchid from seed

[Jacquiht]

About five years ago I bought a packet of seeds while on holiday in the Canaries.  These seeds were planted and I then completely forgot about them until last week when my attention was drawn to large flower buds coming from a large pot.  I decided to take it indoors to my front porch to see what would come of it.  A few days later this is what appeared:


I am flabbergasted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Palustris]

So am I. Extremely well done. Orchids are very very difficult to get to grow from seed outside of a Laboratory as the seeds need a symbiotic relation ship with a Fungus  to begin growing. Normally one sows any seed in a pot with an Orchid of the same type already growing in it. Congratulations on a magnificent achievement.

[ideasguy]

Brilliant! Having read Erics comments on the level of difficulty, I'm very impressed with your ability Jacqui.
Congratulations is certainly in order
Its a real beauty. Well done!

[Jacquiht]

Thank you kind sirs!  I am now keeping an eye on another couple of pots in my greenhouse, one of which is labelled Bird of Paradise, Canaries.  I find this most frustrating in that I can't raise Lobelia from seed!

[ideasguy]

Good luck with the Bird of Paradise seed!

RE: Lobelia - what type of Lobelia are you having trouble with?

[Jacquiht]

Trailing lobelia - I think it's "String of Pearls".  I try each year and only manage to get a few "weedy" looking seedlings which never come to anything.  I haven't got to that packet yet, so any super tips would be appreciated.  I'm nearly up to date with my seed sowing now and last week Harold started counting the number of seedlings I have pricked out and got to 1000 and then gave up!!!  Not sure how long it's going to take me to plant them all out ...................

[Jacquiht]

Just noticed George that the timestamp on these "posts" is one hour behind - is there something I should be doing to update the time since the clocks changed?  My laptop is the correct time.

[ideasguy]

Laurie pointed that out to me when the hour changed. Haven't had time to investigate yet.

Are you OK growing the upright varieties? e.g. Crystal Palace?
My favourite is Lobelia erinus 'Mrs Clibran' and I see it has the prestigious AGM
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3400
That photo makes them look mauve, which they most certainly are not. They are the best blue and that white eye makes them really exceptional. Ive sown what looks like a close alternative this year - Sapphire and a couple of trays of Crystal Palace..
They are very easy, but I sow in March so I don't have to worry about frost. Mine are beginning to germinate this week.
In my first attempts years ago I tried growing them earlier. I had bottom heat in a seed bed in the greenhouse. Because I had to keep them in the heated seed bed environment to protect from frost they grew lanky and weak.
Then I read that they do best when given heat to germinate, then grow them on cool. So, as soon as germinated, out they go onto the top of the staging, uncovered, and that works for me. They come up in abundance.

I find String of Pearls are the most difficult. Poor germination, but they grow on OK when sown late.
I dont sow them any more.

[Eric Hardy]

I have just tuned in to this Jacqui. I am absolutely amazed. What a wonderful surprise and a lovely specimin too.

Eric H