About 2 years back when i was first getting into my gardening, I got really over zealous and bought some lady slipper seeds (they are in the orchid family). I had no idea how much work it would actually take to grow them.
Growing Orchids requires a sterile environment. Which is very difficult to reproduce in the home with out an autoclave or pressure cooker (I really need to buy a pressure cooker.)
I still have most of the seeds, I tried planting some in different conditions to no avail. Now I'm back with a renewed interest and vigor for the idea. If I can sterilize the seeds, and my equipment, which from what I've been reading can actually be done in a bleach solution. Then I may be able to get something budding. I found a source for sterile agar plates, which is half the battle of the sterile field, let's hear it for ebay!
Also I found the following pdf which discusses proper sterilization methods. It's pretty good the language doesn't get too fancy for the lay person to understand, I may give it another whirl soon.
Growing Orchids requires a sterile environment. Which is very difficult to reproduce in the home with out an autoclave or pressure cooker (I really need to buy a pressure cooker.)
I still have most of the seeds, I tried planting some in different conditions to no avail. Now I'm back with a renewed interest and vigor for the idea. If I can sterilize the seeds, and my equipment, which from what I've been reading can actually be done in a bleach solution. Then I may be able to get something budding. I found a source for sterile agar plates, which is half the battle of the sterile field, let's hear it for ebay!
Also I found the following pdf which discusses proper sterilization methods. It's pretty good the language doesn't get too fancy for the lay person to understand, I may give it another whirl soon.
I applaud your effort to sow orchid seeds! Lady's Slipper is so beautiful and quite rare in the wild. I found this out the hard way when I was 7 and exploring in the woods behind my house. Tromping along, I came across a single Lady's Slipper, it was so beautiful, I had never seen one before, so I thought it was special enough to be picked for my mom. Upon giving it to my mother, she thanked me but informed me they are rare and shouldn't be picked. I was truly sad.
I hope you have some success with your seeds!
Here are a few links that might help...
Growing Lady Slippers
About Lady Slippers
About Raising Rare Lady Slippers