Wednesday 27 February 2013

The Seeds have arrived!

When I decided that I wanted to do this for my dissertation, I needed to find some seeds. I was looking on various orchid nursery websites, I wasn't sure if I wanted to grow terrestrial or Tropical. In the end, I contacted my old mentor from Kew Gardens, where the best place to get seeds from. He replied saying as it was for my dissertation, Kew would quite happily give them to me. The seeds that I was offered were Dactylorhiza seeds. At this point I am very happy!

I had to sign a contract to ensure that I do not sell or give the orchids without the "OK" from Kew gardens, so if any of you want them, you might have to wait a while before I can give you an answer. They need to grow first though!
Once all the paper work was done (it took ages), I sent it off and, one week later, I received a parcel.....



........EEEEEEEK!!!!

 Here they are with the envelope, in tiny little vials! with the note sent with it!
The numbers here are the batch numbers! 
 


Tiny, dust like seeds waiting to be germinated.


All photos where taken by me! 
They need to be kept in the fridge until I need them! And as I am still waiting for the medium, they'll probably be there for a while!!

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Dissertation Idea

Hi,

I am a second year Horticulture student at Writtle College and we have been told to start planning our dissertation due in at the end of the third year.

I have decided to start a blog to help me log information and to share my progress with my "research".

The orchids that I will be growing are Dactylorhiza purpurella and Dactylorhiza fuschii, these are terrestrial orchids found all over the UK and Europe and some parts of the USA.

Dactylorhiza purpurella:

D. purpurella or Northern Marsh Orchid, is a perennial orchid that can get up to 45 cm when in bloom. The stems are thick and hollow, developing late March to early April. Mainly green but can have some purple tips.

When mature the plants have four to eight green, broad and lance shaped leaves (meaning they are long with a pointy tip). The leaves of this specific are normally un-spotted. The lower leaves are 16 cm long!


The flowers are violet purple with a pale throat, opening from mid May to late July. The Lip is a complex shape and is marked with deeper purple lines or spots. The upper sepal and petals will form a loose hood over the column, which contains the sexual organs. The thick, downwards pointing spur is shorter than the purple/green ovary.
The Northern Marsh Orchid is commonly pollinated by bees and bumblebees. (Kew Gardens, 2010).

D. fuchsii or Common spotted orchid has similar characteristics to D. purpurella, the only difference are the flowers. This Orchid has light purple almost white flowers, with darker purple spots on the all petals and sepals of the flower.  The leaves are the same shape as D. purpurella, and they are green and purple in the spring. (RHS, 2011).



The dissertation would be a trial with two laboratory growing mediums, one called Mirushige & Skoog and one called F522, kindly being sent to me by a company called Phyto technologies, based in Kansas, USA. Both growing mediums have different properties which I will talk about in another post and also when I have found some more information about Mirushige & Skoog and the work with orchids.