When I went to visit Grandma the other day, I noticed some dry Dendrobium canes leaning in an empty pot outside. She is nearly 90, so she doesn't make it out there to water very often, and between that and the recent cold, this plant had wasted away. The roots were dry and cracked (not even potted in any mix), and there wasn't a leaf to be found. There were even a few well developed keikis that had made a start, withered, and died. Even so, I noticed a few nodes that were developing a last ditch effort at new plants.
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| Dendrobium lifeboat! ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
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| Cane Nodes cut from a dead(ish) Dendrobium ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
I brought it home and cut the canes up, leaving just a bit on either side of the three nodes with developing keikis I thought looked viable. I realize now that I should have made more effort at this point to get all of the dry papery covering off, as this may be a source of contamination later - we'll see.
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| Orchid cuttings in sterile solution ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
I soaked them in a mild bleach solution for about 10 minutes, and prepared some sterile distilled water while I waited. I already had empty flasks made up with media, and I didn't want to run the pressure cooker autoclave for just one jar of water, so i microwaved some distilled water in a jar. I actually set the lid on too, which I know is not usually a good idea in the microwave, but its smooth surface did not allow any sparks to occur. While not ideal, I hope this water is sterile enough to rinse my cuttings without adding contamination.
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| Boiled Distilled Water ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
Once the water cooled, I placed it, the cuttings (in sterilizing solution), and the necessary implements into my glove box, closed it up, and sprayed everything with bleach.
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| Tools in the Glove Box ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
Below is my view through the clear acrylic window in the top of the Glove Box:
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| My View while Working in the Box ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
Basically, I just scrubbed the cuttings with a toothbrush, cut off a little more at each end, and then placed each one into its own baby-food-jar flask.
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| Flasks in the Glove Box ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
Here is the result:
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| Developing Dendrobium in Flask ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
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| Result: More Orchids! ©2011 MadOrchidist.com |
There was actually one small "new lead" developing at the base of the withered mother plant too. It had new root tips developing, and I opted to pot it up in sphagnum moss and try to grow it alongside the node flasks for comparison.
I have read that other folks doing this kind of culture at home have had a hard time with contamination due to the difficulty of completely sterilizing the cuttings. Only time will tell if these proto-orchids will grow in the flasks, or something gross will grow instead!
This is very cool! How did those small orchid starts turn out? Did they make it? It's amazing that such a sensitive plant can live wild in jungles--the world is hardly a sterile place!
ReplyDeleteThanks! In wild conditions there are "contaminating" organisms that would actually help young orchids - in cultivation, it is not practical to culture or rely on those organisms, so sterile conditions are required. Also, things like tissue culture don't actually happen in the wild, and the nutrient media creates an unnaturally perfect environment for bacteria and fungus - hence the need for sterility.
DeleteI am sad to report that these particular flasks were overrun with an unpleasant fungus and did not survive.
Thanks for commenting!
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteYour picture above, with all the white coverings is exactly where I found a pretty Den Nobile at my Grandmothers house too. The plant had started in a pot and literally grew a new plant 2 inches away right on top of the rim of the pot it was planted.
I wet the whole plant, separated with hands, then sterilized and made a cut. Call the Left half, the good side. That had foilage and looked healthy, I repotted and left for my Gram.
I took the deader looking side, split again, and I am trying to grow basically, 2 plants. 1 plant has great roots, and I have high hopes it will "turn on" and continue growing.
The other plant had no distance on the roots, just very short.
Both look like stalks, as I peeled the white covering away they looked very green. I think they will both grow, they do not seem dead.
Am I on the right track? would you Do anything more or different?
They are in a bark mix, very little, resting in small 78cent terra cotta pots.
- John "Yanni Orchids"