The following spring, plant the resulting small tubers in trays of potting mix and place outside for the entire growing period. Plant out or pot on at this point. Flowering should be within three to four years from sowing.
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Page 4
The following spring, plant the resulting small tubers in trays of potting mix and place outside for the entire growing period. Plant out or pot on at this point. Flowering should be within three to four years from sowing. |
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Bletilla is one of the hardy terrestrial orchids; a lovely and easy plant for light or part shade. In its native lands (Japan and China), it has a relationship with mycorhizal fungi in the soil which aid in germination and growth of the seedlings. Orchid seed, unlike most seed with which we are familiar, has no seed food with it. It's designed for wind dispersal and has shed everything possible except a few embryo cells and a light framework of a seed coat to catch the wind. I was once told, by an orchid specialist, that they really needed to be sown in agar in sterile petri dishes to get decent germination. I relayed this information on a mailing list and received a reply to the contrary from Michael Wilton, who regularly gets quite good germination (see sidebar for his method). Containers You can sow seeds in just about any kind of a container, as long as it has drainage holes. I prefer to use three and a half inch (8.89 cm) square plastic pots. These are large enough so that the don't dry out too quickly (a problem, I find, with smaller sizes). The square shape fits into flats better than round ones and conserves space, yet they are large enough to sow quite a number of seeds - more than I generally ever need of any one species. If, for some reason, I want to sow a large number of seeds, I either sow into a deep flat or use more than one pot. I recycle pots. None get thrown out until they are at the crumble stage. They get washed and sterilized between uses...and this is important. You do not want to sow seeds in dirty pots, it's just asking for damping off or other problems. It's a tedious business, but an integral part of the process. I use hot water and some kind of liquid detergent - laundry or dishwashing - it really doesn't matter. The pots get scrubbed outside and in and rinsed of soap. Then, I fill the sink about two thirds full of hot water and add about a half cup of Clorox® bleach. Sometimes I let them soak a bit; sometimes not. Each pot is then rinsed well and set to drain.
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