Microcoelia stolzii

Very generous little one!!

 

Very cool plant! Re: making the sib cross, do you know any medical professionals with steady hands? Provide one with a toothpick, a good loupe, and a quick course in orchid anatomy; 5 minutes and a $10k bill later you'll have a pod forming!

 

That is stunning!

 

Sometimes a pollen of the same plant isn´t accepted already at the stage of the pollination (note the difference between pollination and fertilization). Although you place the pollen correctly at the scar it isn´t pulled to the ovaries later and so no pod will develop. This is the first process of the plant preventing a self-pollination. There are some others taking place later which maybe result in seeds carrying no embryos and appearing as not-viable.
But sometimes a trick may be helpful.

Take two pollinia – one from the plant you are intending to pollinate and another about the same size but from a genus a pollination won´t certainly work, like in this case … Microcoelia and Dendrobium. Lay both pollinia on the scar side by side. In any case don´t remove the pollen of the flower you want to pollinate, not even lift the anther-cap. The next what it takes are 3 times an Ave Maria and a few days of patience. Spraying the plant with holy-water (if available) is important, too, then it takes 2 Ave Maria only.
The plant now focuses the repulsion (hoping that´s the right term in English) against the unfamiliar pollen and it can happen that it therefore shows no reaction towards its own pollen, accepts it and pulls it back to the ovaries.

This Microcoelia is very nice, indeed, never has been offered here since Isobyl ha closed her nursery. May I be so cheeky asking for some dry-seeds in the case it worked well?

 

Nice, chunky plant. Mine is in spike right now. It is my understanding (and I hope I'm wrong) that there is only one clone of Microcoelia stolzii in cultivation, at least in the US, 'Cathy Fenwick's Medusa'. Do you know the provenance of your clone?