Growing Orchids from seed

Two
weeks ago I attended a workshop run by the Hardy Orchid Society (HOS), which I have
been a member of for a couple of years, about the complicated business of
growing orchids from seed. I was getting fed up of spending £20 - 25 on an
orchid only to see it fail, get eaten by slugs, rot etc and I thought this
might be a way round the problem. I have tried to sow orchid seed on the meadow
previously (Dactylorhiza spp. from
Emorsgate Seeds as I recall) but since the soil was dry and the necessary fungi
were not present it was a waste of time and money.
 
The
workshop, near Didcot, was run by John Haggar (http://www.johnsorchids.co.uk/) and was
fascinating and filled me with a burning desire to get germinate orchid seed…
 
I
have spent the last couple of weeks gathering the kit required including:
 
A
pressure cooker for sterlising everything (Freecycle…so free)
Petri
Dishes / Honey Pots (HOS)
Orchid
Seed (D. fuchsia, D. praetermissa, Ophrys apifera – HOS)
Fungus
B1 and oat based Symbiotic medium (HOS)
Svante
Malmgren’s Modified Asymboitic Medium (HOS) http://www.lidaforsgarden.com/Orchids/engelsk.htm

Various
pipettes, spatulas, latex gloves etc (HOS) (Total cost about £20.00)
A
glove box – made from a clear plastic storage box, some polythene sheet, and
some gaffer tape (cost of tape £1.50)
A pH meter
and some buffer solution (Amazon - £20.00)
A few
meters of parafilm to seal the petri dishes (£5.00)
Bleach
(Domestos from Tesco – about £1.00)
Household
ammonia (Homebase – hard to track down, supermarkets don’t sell it
anymore! £1.50)
De-ionised
water (Halfords - £4.00)
I
think that is all I need but I will need to check my notes to make sure. I will
need to get some additional Pineapple juice (!), and some potato (from the
allotment) at some point. I think I have enough small pots and jars and
scalpels to manage for now.
 
Hopefully
I will be in a position to make a start this weekend – I am hoping to try
the Dactylorhiza species on the Symbiotic type first. The ophrys should be done
in February, Asymbiotically. I may need to get some more seed…and another
fridge!
 
The
petri dish containing the attempt to sow seed at the workshoph has been sat in
a drawer for a couple of weeks and the mycelia of the B1 fungus are well
established. I think that the D. fuchsii seeds I sowed there are starting to
germinate but I noticed last night that the seal was damaged, so I will get a
chance to try the sealing method again!