Where to get some seeds
 

Hello,

I've been a long time lurking (2014...) but this is my first post.

I want to get to the next level of orchid culture and try myself at flasking. I'm looking to buy some seeds and media from a reliable source (not ebay). Is there any good source? The seedbank project seems to be out of business.

Thanks!
Bou

Asking here is a good place to start, some people have fun pollinating orchids (or local insects gave a helping hand) but don't do anything with the pods.

For media, I'm not sure where you can get some since the first (and only) time I tried flasking I ordered it from Orchid seed project...

Thanks for your answer!

I found some media at phytotech, but the shipping to Canada is $40... a little expensive. I'm looking for something cheaper.

Bou

You can also try homemade media, there are quite a few recipes floating around on the forum.

Seed-wise, besides hoping a community member's orchid ends up with an unplanned pregnancy, there is a seller from Thailand called kumpol_p who has "legitimate" seeds, some of which I have germinated. Whether the species you choose are still fresh enough viable is a different question, and one you will face anywhere when working with pods besides your own. Not familiar with Canada's ag customs requirements but that would be something you should look into.

For media, that sucks about PhytoTech shipping. It's expensive, relatively, for US but nothing like that. I've never mailed anything north of the border before, but I do have quite a bit of P668 and MS lying around if you'd like me to send you a small envelope. I buy mine without agar, but assuming you can source that yourself, ~6g of P668 will make you 500L of 0.5x P668, and I can't imagine a 6g costing that much to ship...

Thanks for the offer but I've already put my order with Phytotech. I want to start with a known good working media to have everything on my side. I will check your seller for the seeds!

Bou

I may be wrong, but I think paperwork is also necessary for importing seeds, so it may turn out quite costly and a pain just for some seed to play around with. Maybe someone else here knows more about it.

Not a quick solution, but when I played around with pollinating some of my Phalaenopsis they produced pods pretty readily. You could get some supermarket orchids and give pollinating a go?

Lurk around your local greenhouse or grocery store, pollinating all the plants! Then offer to grab their seedpods.