Clowesia Grace Dunn x Catasetum ivanae

I was quite surprised and pleased that this cross worked, as I tried many phalaenopsis crosses before I had a successful fertilization. This pollination worked on the first try, with saved pollen, and produced three pods!

The pod parent is Clowesia Grace Dunn from SVO's August 2023 catasetinae offering. This bloomed for me in February 2024 with three spikes.

 The pollen parent is Catasetum ivanae, also from the SVO august 2023 offering, blooming in October. 

I pollinated Cl. Grace Dunn with saved pollen from the Ctsm. ivanae in February 2024, and pods resulted from all three attempts. 

To reduce stress on the plant, I pinched all but one of the pods. This is the plant as it is breaking dormancy in April 2024. 

The pod matured in May 2024. I noticed that it had split, and I put it into an envelope to save for flasking. 

The pod was filled with plentiful amounts of seed that easily tapped out of the dry pod. 

Under the microscope, the seeds look fertile with clear embryos. 

This was a good pod to practice my flasking technique on, as there was ample seed to work with.