Epipactis seed

[shelagh]

How would forumists deal with this seed.  I have 3 nice fat seed pods but I haven't sown them before and I'm not sure which method to use?

[SteveC2]

As orchids they will need mycorrhizal fungi in germination and are normally grown in sterile conditions in flasks, but you could try simply spreading the seed around the parents in the ground or their pots, particularly if you have the native E. palustris or the very vigorous E. gigantea.  If you are one of the lucky ones with E. helleborines turning up in the garden just let it do its own thing.  I do not think that conventional methods will work.  Sorry if this is overly simplistic.  If you want specifics of growing in vitro I think Neil will be your man.

[ian mcdonald]

I read that spreading orchid seed on soil from the garden in cardboard boxes helped germination. I tried this last year but no sign of germination yet. Garden soil should contain all the mycorrhiza required.

[Neil]

If you have Beech or Hazel trees in your garden then sow the seeds around them and hope they have the relevant fungi to enable germination.  In a more controlled environment you could sow them using the cardboard method http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9466.0

Do you know what species they are?

[shelagh]

Red helleborine Neil. Hopefully you will say they are easier.

[Neil]

Only one of the hardest to germinate,  I have never managed to germinate them invitro and I don't know of anyone who has.  Sorry.  Best to scatter them around and hopefully you might get some germination.

[SteveC2]

I'd be amazed if you have red helleborine Sheila.  As rare as hen's teeth in the UK, two flowered this year I think, and I have never seen it for sale anywhere.  Dark red helleborine is native in your area or perhaps its royleana from the Himalayas?  Readily available and has redder flowers than others such gigantea.

And to Ian, thirty years of spreading Dactylorhiza seed in my garden has produced zero plants in the ground, plenty in pots but none in ground.  Orchids are fussy about their fungal partners, that's why they don't grow everywhere.  The cardboard technique obviously works with some of the less fussy species, but not all.

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Steve, I have also been spreading orchid seed in the garden for quite a few years. The only place they have germinated is among saxifrage plants in my troughs. I suppose the breeze carried them there and the only species to germinate are southern marsh orchids. I have tried seed of quite a few species from the exchange.