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[Moises Behar <moibehar@terra.com.gt>]

I am an amateur, interested in orchids, particularly Lepanthes. I live in Guatemala and have been growing  Lepanthes for more than 30 years. I have found, and described, with Carl Luer, more than 20 species new for Guatemala. I have grown Lepanthes seeds without too much problems, although I have very limited laboratory facilities. I have even made and grown Lepanthes hybrids as well as Lepanthes by Lepanthopsis. I found that the seeds of Lepanthes germinate easily. In nature, if the environmental conditions are adequate, they reproduce prolifically, covering branches and trunks completely. They even grow epiphytic on other adult plants (see photos). In cultivation we found, for some of them, small plantlets growing sponaneuosly on pieces of tree fern or wood used for other plants. For growing the seeds, I have used different media, most frequently a commercial media from G & B Laboratories. 

Experimentally, I tried to cultivate the seed outside, in my kitchen, on sterilized flasks with white sand or crushed lava stone soaked in a solution of sugar and  a commercal fertilizer (Byfolan), with a piece of filter paper on the top, of the sand or lava stone, to keep the seed from falling into the sand. 
I sow the flasks, with seed previously washed with a solution of chloride (1%), in the open, spraying the flasks with the same chloride solution before closing them. I had no contamination and the seed germinated well. I published this experience in “Orchids”, October, 1998, pp 1040. 

Moises Behar
moibehar@terra.com.gt

Attachment: Lep. in situ.jpg
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Attachment: Lep. on leaf .jpg
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