I have been spending far too much time browsing the fantastic hardy orchid growing resource at http://forum.terrorchid.org/index.php recently and one of the most interesting threads I came across was a discussion about germinating some types of orchid seed on cardboard. This is a tried and tested method used in Japan for growing a limited range of species, which has the benefit of being relatively simple since it seems that it can be done aseptically.
My attempt so far is shown here:
http://meadowmaker.typepad.co.uk/photos/sowing_orchid_seed_on_car/index.html
My queries at the moment are that the little trays are sitting in a soup of compost tea plus inorganic soil residue which is surely bound to go rancid. One of the contributors used inorganic bonsai soils which are acidic and so prevent this happening. The nearest I could manage was a mixture of crushed perlite and seramis. I am not sure how using acidic soils works with D fuchsii seed but it seems to! I have used what I had available, which was a mixture of D umbrosa and D praetermissa seed harvested from my own plants. How well these will fare only time will tell...
Besides the potentially rancid primordial soup I have another potential problem - everyone seems to suggest using food packaging to contain the cardboard, since it drains. Maybe this is related to my first concern, maybe I need to throw away the soup that has gathered in the outer tray. Or maybe i need to lift the smaller trays up.
My final point of confusion is that I always thought that Dact seed needed some treatment to break down the seed coat, which this seems to conflict with...