Dactylorhiza seed germination

[chrissyboi]

Hi experts, I foolishly bought a load of Dactylorhiza species seeds knowing I know nothing about germinating them. To my knowledge I know the itty-bitty seeds need the help of a fungus to germinate. I have quite a few Dacs growing in pots. Is it possible to take some of the growing medium from these pots, which I'm guessing may contain some of the fungus, mix it with seed compost, and give the seeds the symbiosis that way?

Another enthusiast told me he just clears a patch of garden soil and sows directly on to this with some success. This sounds a bit tricky to me as I imagine the emerging cotyledons will be almost invisible and weeding would need a magnifying glass.

I was hoping to avoid petri dishes, although that sounds quite fun...

Any tips? I have  thousands of seeds of D purpurella, Purple Giant, fuchsii, foliosa and majalis so experimentation is an option!
Thanks in advace!

[SteveC2]

I would try some in with your growing dactylorhiza rather than moving the compost.  I think changing the conditions is likely to upset the fungus.  Try sowing some in with any Hostas, lilies as I find seedlings turning up all the time in pots of these.  Sowing into the ground directly has never ever worked for me in thirty years of trying, I assume due to lack of the correct fungal partner or the wrong conditions.  But if it works for your friends it must be worth a shot.
There are people on here who have experience of germinating "on cardboard" so look that up.
If you want to get more serious the Hardy Orchid Society has info, and runs courses on growing from seed the "scientific" way.
Good luck however you attack it.

[sokol]

Try it in the garden as I did many years ago. I have put it directly in the soil at different places just a bit under the sod. If you are successful you should have flowering plants in 2020 or 2021.

I have counted more than 300 plants last year in my "lawn". But most of them are now self seeded.

If you are not successful, I have lots of seeds every year to try it again.

[chrissyboi]

Thanks Stefan, they look amazing! I think I'm going to try half your way and the other half in the pots that already have the fungus. Hopefully I'll have a meadow like yours in four or five years!

[ian mcdonald]

I have broadcast orchid seeds in the garden. The only place they have grown is in alpine troughs containing saxifrage. No luck with the cardboard method using garden soil. No luck with petrie dishes and agar gell either. In the wild orchids germinate in habitats which seem unlikely, including fly-ash tips from power stations.

[brianw]

Back in the 1950's - 1970's locally, the paper mill took over the allotments and flooded them with mill effluent, using the area as settling beds. Most of the solids would have probably been china clay and dye-stuffs and fibres from Esparto grass or wood. I would have expected the pH to be on the acid side of neutral from the paper but maybe higher from the esparto breakdown process. By the mid/late 1980's there were more than a 100 common spotted orchids there, which I removed before it was converted to an industrial estate. They survived for many years on some other land that eventually grew over. Maybe there is still some seed around. The paper mill went years ago.
I don't know of any spotted orchids growing in the immediate area so maybe they came in with the Esparto grass; Spanish I think. Being in the Chilterns lots of orchids a few miles away of course.

[Anders]

I find that Dactylorhiza self-seed very easily. I have found seedlings between the stones in my farther's courtyard and in the center of a Miscanthus, both places become very dry in summer and are not really typical Dactylorhiza habitats. Another good spot for germination is the neglected flower pots on my sister's terrace, often in pure sphagnum peat. A few years ago, I visited a garden with hundreds of seedlings in an area of only five square meters. The ground was covered with a thick layer of decaying wood chips. I think, what is common for these places is undisturbed soil and no weeding.

Anders