Flasking My First Orchid Seeds

This is what it's all about; sowing some Orchid seeds in flasks!  A couple of my own crosses capsules' are nearing maturity, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to practice on some that just came along.

Epidendrum seed capsules ready for flasking
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

The other night was the Orchid Society Holiday Party.  Our host had some Reed-stem Epidendrums out in the yard that he says set seed all the time.  As it happened there was a dry pod that had split open and a green one still sealed, both on the same plant.  I have been considering whether I should go with the "green pod" method or wait for my pods to spit naturally and then sterilize the seed, and here was an opportunity to try both and compare!  He let me take them both to sacrifice to the learning process in my lab (thanks Van!).

Pod Parent Tag
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

Given that the Epidendrum was probably pollinated by an insect, I have no way of knowing what the pollen parent was.  All I know for sure is that the pod parent is pink; its tag is pictured above, plus I saw a few of the flowers on another spike.  Since this is sort of an experiment, I am not really worried about the pedigree.  If I end up growing anything from these they will be good for landscaping; Reed-stem Epis are practically bulletproof outdoors in this climate.  Let's hope the seeds are hardy too:

Epidendrum Orchid seed capsule dried and split open (dehisced), fine seeds visible
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

I decided to deal with the open capsule first.  Once an orchid seed pod dries, it splits open to release the thousands upon thousands (sometimes even millions) of tiny seeds inside.  After this happens, the seeds must be considered contaminated and their surfaces sterilized before sowing.

Epidendrum Orchid Seeds being sterilized in a syringe
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

I opted to use household bleach in a ratio of one part bleach to nine parts distilled water as my sterilizing solution.  Several online tutorials and discussions recommended using a syringe to clean the seeds.  I bought dispensing syringes with caps on Amazon.com and made one cap into a filter by melting a couple of holes in it with a heated pin and then placing a small piece of coffee filter inside.

Basically, I drew up about 10mL of the sterilizing solution through the filter cap and then banged the syringe on my hand and the table for at least ten minutes to try and eliminate all of the tiny air pockets that cause the seeds to float and prevent the solution from doing its job.  Below is a close up photo of the tiny orchid seeds in the syringe of sterilizing bleach solution:

Tiny Epidendrum Orchid seeds floating in sterile solution
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

 I put the syringe, several jars of autoclave sterilized distilled water (for rinsing seeds), a few pre-made flasks with seed sowing media, and a jar of stronger bleach solution (to clean the outside of the syringe and any tools I used) into my Glove Box and sealed it up.

Tools and materials in the glove box
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

It is unfortunately impossible for me to have my hands in the gloves working and take pictures at the same time.  At some point a small tripod and/or an intrepid volunteer will enable me to post more photos of what goes on inside the sterile glove box.

Briefly, I squirted out the bleach solution, drew up a rinse of distilled water a couple of times, and then squirted a small remaining amount of water with the seeds into a few flasks.  The result is pictured below:

Tiny Orchid Seeds in Flask
©2011 MadOrchidist.com

I got some seeds on the sides of the flask, but there are plenty in there on the agar media too.  I also ended up with more water than I would have liked in the flasks, so we'll see if that hurts things any.

I'll try to get to the green pod tonight or tomorrow so that I can make a fair comparison of the results.  I also received some seeds today in the mail that I ordered from Thailand on eBay.  I think I will give today's flasks a few days to see if contamination develops, so I can change my methods if necessary before trying again.  For now, those seeds will go into my pollen storage unit in the refrigerator.

As for these flasks, now we wait . . . it's a theme with orchids . . .