Self Fertile Orchid

[voyager]

The Den. cretaceum [polyanthum] that I mentioned in a previous thread that was getting close to flowering has flowered, ... somewhat.


It developed 15 buds that grew nicely, for a while.
Then, they began what appeared to be aborting.
One bud did open very slowly and incompletely.
The lip is still folded fairly tightly and is not fully open.

All the other buds are withering.
But, their stems are enlarging. The stem of the one that opened is not enlarging.
I do not remember the who, what, where or when of it, but I have seen this before.
This plant is fertilizing itself before the flowers open.

I'm thinking that this plant is useless for flowers to look at.
I'll give it one more season to produce, if not, it'll end up on the compost pile.

[katrina]

Self-pollination - grrrr! I had an orchid that did that all the time...Epi nocturnum...and I ended up pitching it after 2 or 3 years.

It did it w/every flowering and every flower and, in my opinion, it didn't make sense to keep an orchid that never gets any farther than partially opening it's flowers.

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by katrina

Self-pollination - grrrr! I had an orchid that did that all the time...Epi nocturnum...and I ended up pitching it after 2 or 3 years.

It did it w/every flowering and every flower and, in my opinion, it didn't make sense to keep an orchid that never gets any farther than partially opening it's flowers.

Same thing happened with mine.It's getting closer to orchid heaven as we speak!

[katrina]

Originally Posted by DeaC

Same thing happened with mine.It's getting closer to orchid heaven as we speak!

Yep...I intro'd mine to Mr Trashcan. And it felt good to finally let go of that lost cause. I know someone who grows nocturnum and doesn't seem to have the same self-pollination problem so I *might* give it another try if I ever run across one. And that's a very big "might". I don't like wasting money.

[epiphyte78]

For Aloes, it seems like I've seen more than a few tall spikes that only have seed pods at the very top. It's as if the pollinators only managed to find the Aloes just before they finished blooming. Or, the pollinators found the flowers early on... but failed to find other Aloes that were compatible for cross-fertilization. So the Aloes decided that some self-fertilization was better than no-fertilization. In other words, they settled.

The first year a recently mounted Encyclia bloomed for me... nearly all the flowers ended up pollinated. The second year... none of them ended up pollinated. And perhaps the pollinator failed to find the orchid the second year. Or, perhaps the Encyclia felt safe/secure enough not to settle for selfing.

Since you weren't sure about how your Dendrobium's flowers would look like... it seems like it was a recent acquisition... which might mean a recent unpotting and mounting. Perhaps this stress encouraged the Dendrobium to settle for selfing.

What's the equivalent of a similarly stressful situation in nature? Today I noticed that some of my recently tree-mounted orchids had been severely dislodged. I'm guessing that the culprit was probably a raccoon. Imagine how much dislodging would result from a bear! So if a severely dislodged orchid is hanging onto a branch with only a few roots... clearly it's going to "understand" that its conditions have changed for the worse. As a result, given that its future is extremely uncertain... it's logical for it to settle for selfing.

Anyways, it's just a theory!

[estación seca]

Don't trash it. Find a cactus and succulent lover. They swoon for plants that look like dead sticks. They will pay a premium if you write RARE on the label.