Orange Embers x Maronii - Flower-to-Flask

The seed pods from crosses I made in the spring are finally maturing.  I am gearing up to do a lot of flasking, so that I can get to them all before they dehisce.  So far, I much prefer the ease of "green pod" sowing, so I will try to do it that way whenever possible.

I thought I would use this post to show a sequence of photographs of the stages of one of these spring crosses up to this point.  The pod parent in this case is LC Orange Embers 'Firecracker':

LC Orange Embers 'Firecracker'
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

The pollen parent is the delicate looking Laelia Maronii:

Laelia Maronii
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

Both of these plants have the Mexican Species Laelia anceps in their background, so i would expect any progeny to be hardy and tolerant of a wide range of temperatures.  Why did I make this cross?  Well, to be honest, because they were both blooming!  I have finally started to make some crosses that deliberately factor into a larger breeding plan and direction (more on that later), but I am still practicing my flasking techniques too, so there are quite a few of these "practice pods" coming along as well.

As usual, after pollination, the flowers begin to fade and the ovaries begin to swell into pods.  Interestingly, I also made the reverse cross, with the Maronii as the pod parent, but it didn't take and no pod was produced.

Pods just beginning to swell
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

I pollinated these flowers in early March.  By late July, the fruits/pods were looking plump and ready for harvest - almost five months later.  I actually made three different crosses with this pod parent, but the one from this post is on the left.  Perhaps you can see in the next photo that it is beginning to yellow a bit.  This is a pretty good indicator that it will begin to dry and split soon, so it's time to get moving if I want to sow it "green pod."

Three pods on the Orange Embers parent
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

Speaking of that, here is a photo of the pod cut open, inside the glove box during flasking:

Seed Pod open in the glove box, showing fine seed
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

The seed was light, fairly loose, and dry-ish in there.  I think that bodes well for its maturity.  If it was still damp and green inside, that would probably mean that it wasn't fully mature yet.  Harvesting green pods is a bit of a guessing game.  If you pluck one too early, the seed may not be ready, and if you wait too long, it may split open and release the seed.

It turns out that seed capsule growth and timing is pretty much entirely determined by the pod parent.  This makes sense when you realize that the pod is made from "maternal" tissues and is not the product of the new hybrid gene combinations inside the seeds.  Any hybrid traits will only be in evidence in the offspring themselves, when and if they grow and flower.

Completed Mother Flasks
©2012 MadOrchidist.com

So, here are the two mother flasks I made with this seed.  I will be watching them closely over the next couple of weeks for germination and/or contamination.  I am always hoping for more of the former and less of the latter - fingers crossed.