HOW TO GROW MONKEY FACE ORCHIDS FROM SEED - A WARNING!

Monkey faced orchids are some of the most intriguing and captivating ornamental flowering plants that money can buy. And why wouldn't they be when they are one of the few plant genera than can look back at you when you look at it!

Of course the opportunities to purchase such as coveted specimen are few and far between and therefore many would-be collectors turn to the web to purchase monkey face orchid seed.

Unfortunately there are a number or unscrupulous traders who are advertising monkey face orchid seed for sale, and sadly what they dispatch is not. This is a blatant scam.

Furthermore orchid seeds are extremely small, ranging in size from nearly invisible dust-like particles and up to the size of pin pricks. Anything larger and they are not orchid seed. To clarify, orchid seeds are usually purchased as seed pods or by weight so anyone claiming to sell 5 or even 50 orchid seeds is probably lying. The seeds of most orchid species are far too small to count out in this manner.

There is a bigger problem as you cannot simply pot on and grow orchid seeds like you would with other typical houseplants. Many orchids rely on complex relationships with their parent plants including symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungal species in order for the seed to germinate.

In the unlikely event that you do manage to purchase some genuine seed and wish to grow them yourself, there is another stumbling block. You will need access to laboratory equipment such as an autoclave and laminar flow hood, as well as good practical knowledge of aseptic (sterile) propagation technique. Orchid seeds are currently grown in flasks on an agar based medium.

If you still want to get hold of a monkey face orchid then your best course of action is to contact your local orchid society.