Caladenia have yellow pollen under flaps at the top of the column. For Diuris and Thelymitra the white pollen is hidden behind the sticky stigma. Remove the front of the flower and the lip so you can see what you are doing. For greenhoods the stigmatic surface is halfway up the front of the column. If pollination is successful, the flower will collapse in a few days and the ovary will start to swell. Wipe the pollen across the stigmatic surface of the other flower and the job is done. Use a toothpick or a she-oak needle to touch the pollen which will stick to the wood. Cross pollination mixes the gene pool to prevent inbreeding. That is transfer the pollen from one flower to a flower on another plant. Fatter pods with more viable seeds result if two plants of the same species are cross pollinated. Flowers can be self-pollinated if there is only one. Look closely at the flower column to see the positions of the pollen and the stigmatic surface. Prepare two pots of each species, one for showing and one for seed. Then hand pollinate a flower or two to get seed for the NOSSA Propagation Workshop or for sowing around mother plants next autumn. Photograph your orchids when the flowers are at peak condition. There are never enough terrestrials on the trading table at the show to meet the demand. Any spare pots can be sold on the trading table. Start preparing your specimen pots for the display. The NOSSA Spring show is only a month away. Depending on the season deflasking can start after the middle of the month if a sunny and dry Spring is forecast, otherwise wait until September. The greenhoods are a feature with Pterostylis curta, nutans, pedunculata and their hybrids are all flowering. Lots of buds are developing so there is plenty to see in the orchid house. Temperatures increase and growth speeds up. When the clouds clear, the sun is stronger & higher in the sky. The days are getting longer now, noticeably so after the middle of the month. Here are Les Nesbitt’ notes from the August Journal 2019 Vol 43 No 7 Terrestrial Culture – August With Spring on the way, things are starting to change in the Orchid House.
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