Easy Species For a First-Time Flasker

[Afid]

I am working on building a laminar flow cabinet so I can start growing from seed (I may make a post about it's construction later). Are there any types of orchid that are particularly easy (relatively speaking) to propogate from seed? If so, which ones? Also, if you have any other tips or recommendations as far as types of media etc. I'd love to hear them!

[Bombotany]

Phalaenopsis and Cattleya have fast growing seed pods if you plan on starting from a mother plant. Oncidium vegetative growth moves pretty quickly, Cattleya too. It's a big undertaking, we're talking more than a year of work. Choose something you love 🙂

[Subrosa]

The easiest would be those species that can be grown from seed without flasking. Many terrestrials fall into this category. Examples that I've had grow from seed are Spiranthes cernua, S. odorata, S. sinensis, and Goodyera pubescens.

[Afid]

Ooh, I have been thinking about trying to grow G. oblongifolia (the western equivalent of pubescens) from seed. What kind of medium did you use? I have M551 Malmgrem's from OSP, which is what I was planning on using but I would love recommendations.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Afid

Ooh, I have been thinking about trying to grow G. oblongifolia (the western equivalent of pubescens) from seed. What kind of medium did you use? I have M551 Malmgrem's from OSP, which is what I was planning on using but I would love recommendations.

I've never flasked. I used mix of cardboard which had been soaked in rainwater, some lfs and perlite along with a bit of soil I collected from the root zone of a colony of G. pubescens that lives near my house. Which is where the seeds came from, as I was trying to germinate some Thelymitra which didn't work out.

[ArronOB]

I wondered about doing this myself too.

I thought that maybe I’d start with common old crucifix orchids. These seem to grow as garden plants in most countries. I often see them with ripe seed pods, growing in neglected style in people’s gardens. I appreciate you probably wouldn’t want a crucifix orchid - and certainly wouldn’t want to wait years for one to grow from seed - I was just thinking they would be easily obtainable subject matter for getting the process right.

[neophyte]

I have also heard that reed-stems (or at the very least E. radicans) are pretty easy to germinate.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by neophyte

I have also heard that reed-stems (or at the very least E. radicans) are pretty easy to germinate.

I agree reed-stem Epis must be pretty forgiving... I occasionally get them as volunteers in other pots, so they must not be very fussy about specific mycorrhizae.