Ken, Most people I have talked to do a self pollination for two reasons.
1. it is extremely rare, or it is the only example they have or have seen of the species, so they self pollinate it to propagate the species. In most cases growers will try to swap pollen with a cooperating grower who has another plant of the same species. 2. it is an exceptional example of a species, that is above all other plants of the species they have or have seen. As a result they would be mixing inferior genes with an exceptional plant to do a sibling cross. The grower self pollinates the plant with hope to get some great progeny they can then sib cross to create an exceptional line of the species. Many individuals will self pollinate their plants because they want to propagate a species they have and do not know anyone to swap with the same species they can swap pollen with. Personally, I have only self pollinated a plant for the second reason, because it is an exceptional species and I have not seen anything that approaches it, and I want to propagate the plant. Unfortunately, I have found that many times self pollination gives very poor seed production and very poor germination of what you get for seed, this varies a lot by genera. Tom Hillson On Nov 22, 2006, at 2:11 PM, Dr Ken Williams wrote: > I often see that an orchid plant is a 'selfing'. What do hybridisers > seek to gain by 'selfing'? On what basis do they select an orchid to > self. > > Ken Williams (Newcasle, Australia) > > _______________________________________________ > the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) > orchids@orchidguide.com > http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
