Branching Out

As a Biologist, I have enjoyed keeping and cultivating a wide variety of representatives of life on earth.  Both my employment (when Biology related) and my academic studies have centered on Zoology (reptiles, amphibians, and fish in particular), but i have long had a plant hobby.

Years ago, while working toward my B.S. in Zoology, I took a plant biology class that was taught by a Mycologist (a fungi guy), and the connection to Orchids was inescapable.  That class, and my many conversations with the professor, rekindled the dormant obsession with Orchids that started as a kid in my Grandfather's greenhouse.

I soon joined a local orchid society and was collecting plants and information as fast as I could.  For years, I was happy with accumulating Orchids, Keeping them alive, and hopefully re-blooming them.

As I got more into the hobby, I learned more about orchid culture and propagation.  Things like "Clones" and "Flasks", which seemed like science-fiction before, started to make more sense, and I began wondering what else I could do with my plants.  When I kept reptiles, my aim had usually been to breed them, and I started to wonder why the same wasn't true of my orchids.  Buying orchids at a nursery or online is great, and growing and blooming them can be very satisfying, but I started to think of it as growing "someone else's plants."  Why could't I make my own?

So, I am beginning a foray into Orchid Propagation that will at least yield interest and experience, if not some great new plants.  I am building a small home laboratory set-up, pollinating Orchids from my collection, and crossing my fingers!