Next Meeting is on Friday, June 13^th, 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Contra Costa Water District Building Board Room
 1331 Concord Ave. Concord, CA

Ed Nazzal will talk to us about 
Kitchen Seed Germination

Ed, a retired chemist, has been growing orchids since 1984. His primary interests are Paphs and Phrags and cool growing orchids. Ed has a small greenhouse where he grows mostly species and primary Paphs and Phrags hybrids. He also grows a large variety of cool growing orchids outdoors.

Ed is also very interested in native orchid species of the Bay area and California. Ed is also interested in orchid seed germination, has made few hybrids and developed a technique for orchid seed germination without the use of sophisticated lab equipment.

Orchid Seed Germination in Your Kitchen - A Low Tech Approach

In nature orchids seeds are only germinated with the help of a fungus. Since this happens very rarely orchids have evolved to produce huge numbers of seeds to increase the odds that some will germinate. 
In 1922 Lewis Knudson developed a process to germinate a large percentage of mature orchid seeds. Since orchids seeds lack any source of energy for the growing embryo, Knudson provided the energy source by adding sugar to the growing media. Unfortunately that will encourage the growth of all kinds of undesirable organisms and inhibit or completely prevent the germination of the orchid seeds. Therefore it is critical to do all the preparations of the media and the sowing of the seed in strictly sterile conditions. This process typically requires the use of sophisticated and expensive laboratory equipments. 
Ed has developed a process where orchid seed germination can be achieved using common equipment found in every household. This way orchid seeds can be successfully germinated by the hobbyist.