March 2025 – Cymbidium Orchid Seed Pod harvesting day!
So, today was a green orchid seed pod flasking day for some of last year’s early season Cymbidium orchid seed pods…..pollenated between April & June 2024.
For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a green pod flasking is where we cut open a fresh, green, Cymbidium orchid seed pod straight off the plant and put the seed directly into a flask for germination, without drying the seed out first. This technique gives a much faster germination time, usually 3 – 6 weeks, and negates the need to dry the seed. I have had an exceptionally high success rate with this method in avoiding any contamination and achieving germination.
Being primarily a Cymbidium species and primary hybrid grower, I usually leave my Cymbidium orchid seed pods on for 9-10 months, and sometimes longer for the species crosses. I find that the species plants need at least 9 months to produce good quality seed in good amounts, and some species plants need almost 12 months! At this age of pod, I usually see seed germination in 3 weeks!
Today’s pods ranged from 9 to 11 months old. And also varied in size and content, depending on the size of the plant. I flasked some pods from a few very compact primary hybrid plants which produced quite small pods with a modest amount of seed. I also flasked some pods from much larger species and primary hybrid plants too.
The pod of the day however, was this beauty!
This pod is a remake of Cym. Emerald, registered in 1924 with the RHS. Cym. Emerald is Cym. Lowio-Grandiflorum x Cym. tracyanum. It is made up of 50% Cym. tracyanum, 25% Cym. hookerianum and 25% Cym. lowianum. Cym. Emerald was used only once in further breeding so clearly it wasn’t considered too useful. However the only progeny produced was registered in 2019 so Cym. Emerald must be around somewhere!
I have never seen pictures of Cym. Emerald, in fact I can’t even find a picture of it on the internet…..So if anyone knows what it looks like, please get in touch! I’d love to see it!
My cross was made in reverse as I didn’t have a Cym. Lowio-Grandiflorum in flower last year, and i made just because I could! It might not be a popular cross to sell, but that’s not why I do this. I believe we have lost too many plants to cultivation, and reviving some of these old diploid crosses gives us a chance to see where our modern plants have come from. And displaying some of these plants at the various orchid shows always pique’s people’s interest and creates some talking points. They never take home a prize due to modern judging standards, but it’s always worth seeing people’s reactions!
I always find that Cym. tracyanum as a pod parent produces very large long pods. Not as thick as the modern tetraploids but still fairly thick, and definitely very long. This pod was every bit of 20cm in length and weighed in at a nice 141 grams. Always a good promising sign.
And the amount of seed was truly staggering…….
I made 3 mother flasks and decided to dry the rest of the remaining seed just in case I need it. And I still have enough seed for another 10 mother flasks and more!
I will treat a portion of this seed with Oryzalin for converting plants to tetraploids, and compare them to the diploids and see what we have….I can’t wait to see the results!
We already ahve several new hybrids and remakes available so check out the Orchid Wise shop for more.
A very promising day for 10 of last years early Cymbidium orchid seed pods. With another 20 pods to come, it will be a busy year in the Orchid Wise lab!
Watch this space!