Great observation video! “I failed to mention another pollinator that leaves clues” me thinking oh, interesting I wonder what insect and what clues! you got me lol
Cool, I love registering pollinator-flower interactions, too! I have an interesting short video in my channel showing an Euglossa bee visiting a Cattleya granulosa bloom. These exquisite bees, popularly known as orchid bees, are the most frequent pollinators to orchids around here in Brazil. I have never heard of butterflies pollinating orchid flowers, though! Nice video, thanks for sharing!
Orchid bees are very cool. But, I did not see one around my tampensis plant. I do see them around my orchids and other flowers in my garden - they are very interesting to watch. For the butterfly, I do not know if it pollinated the flower - it did land on a flower but only very briefly. The small fast moving butterfly (or moth?) did spend some time on a flower. I was only there for an hour - I am not sure what else may be pollinating my butterfly orchids but pollination does seem to be occurring. Thanks for your comment.
@@plantpropagator I have seen, and registered on video, a native butterfly visiting the flowers of a Vanda tricolor, a genus that isn't even native to this continent. That surprised me because I hear that orchids have no sugary nectar to offer. Still, the insect kept on returning, and I could see it probing the flower with its proboscis, so I guess it was indeed finding something useful in those flowers. Of course, no pollination was possible because the butterfly's proboscis is tiny and couldn't pull the large orchid pollinia from its place, much less take it away to another flower.
@@Naturamorpho Maybe, I should have titled my video "visitors" instead of "pollinators" - I do not think that the Zebra butterfly pollinated my plant. I did see many visitors to the flowers - mostly the small bees and flies visited the flowers for any length of time. And, when I pollinate those flowers, the pollinia is removed very easily, the anther cap dislodges with hardly any effort so even small insects may cause pollination. When looking at the flowers, it did seem that 20-50% of them had already lost their anther cap and pollinia. These orchids often form seed capsules in nature so I guess that there is a reason that this native is so successful.
Thanks for your comment and I am happy to have given you some ideas. I see sooooo many videos showing orchid buying, hauls and flowers that I thought that this would be different. I like doing things a little different, even if fewer people watch - just to try new things. And, it was a relaxing day for me.....
@@plantpropagator agreed 100%...for us it was a relaxing day in the garden, and actually sunny for once!! but yes, you have inspired me to try something new....and maybe steal, "ahem" borrow, your ideas 🙈
Tristan at Ingram Orchids posted a video recently of his butterfly orchids as well, and he captured a screenshot of what was pollinating his plants. He thought that they were sweat bees-family Halictidae maybe?
I think that butterfly orchids have a lot of pollinators - that is why they are so successful. I showed a lot of different insects visit my tampensis flowers but I do not think that sweat bees were one of them. This is a very large bee family so it would not surprise me and Tristan has been in FL many more years than me. Thanks for your comment and I will keep my eyes open for them - today, no bees - too much rain...
Thanks for the butterfly video this morning John. Have you any experience with Soras Orchids from Homestead. They have a phalaenopsis I want to purchase . Really enjoy you videos
th-cam.com/video/i9nY39g_ybE/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/7TvzTBdQ1qg/w-d-xo.html Thanks for your comment. Let me know if you have any questions at TheOrchidPropagator@gmail.com
If you are in the US, you can contact me at TheOrchidPropagator@gmail.com and I can send you a list of my available flasks. I am a small business - do not even have a website or eBay store - I am too small. But,I do have nice flasks......
That was so beautiful!! Thanks for sharing !! ♥️
Thanks for watching! I do love to share - hope that this was a little relaxing for you!
Great observation video! “I failed to mention another pollinator that leaves clues” me thinking oh, interesting I wonder what insect and what clues! you got me lol
I am happy that someone liked that part!!!
Very informative. I did not know that one plant could have several pollinators. Loved the video!
Thanks for the comment - I will try to keep the videos interesting for you!
Cool, I love registering pollinator-flower interactions, too! I have an interesting short video in my channel showing an Euglossa bee visiting a Cattleya granulosa bloom. These exquisite bees, popularly known as orchid bees, are the most frequent pollinators to orchids around here in Brazil. I have never heard of butterflies pollinating orchid flowers, though! Nice video, thanks for sharing!
Orchid bees are very cool. But, I did not see one around my tampensis plant. I do see them around my orchids and other flowers in my garden - they are very interesting to watch. For the butterfly, I do not know if it pollinated the flower - it did land on a flower but only very briefly. The small fast moving butterfly (or moth?) did spend some time on a flower. I was only there for an hour - I am not sure what else may be pollinating my butterfly orchids but pollination does seem to be occurring. Thanks for your comment.
@@plantpropagator I have seen, and registered on video, a native butterfly visiting the flowers of a Vanda tricolor, a genus that isn't even native to this continent. That surprised me because I hear that orchids have no sugary nectar to offer. Still, the insect kept on returning, and I could see it probing the flower with its proboscis, so I guess it was indeed finding something useful in those flowers. Of course, no pollination was possible because the butterfly's proboscis is tiny and couldn't pull the large orchid pollinia from its place, much less take it away to another flower.
@@Naturamorpho Maybe, I should have titled my video "visitors" instead of "pollinators" - I do not think that the Zebra butterfly pollinated my plant. I did see many visitors to the flowers - mostly the small bees and flies visited the flowers for any length of time. And, when I pollinate those flowers, the pollinia is removed very easily, the anther cap dislodges with hardly any effort so even small insects may cause pollination. When looking at the flowers, it did seem that 20-50% of them had already lost their anther cap and pollinia. These orchids often form seed capsules in nature so I guess that there is a reason that this native is so successful.
@@plantpropagator I'd bet on the small bees in the tampensis case! Just a guess, though.
really inspiring, Dr. J...you've given me some ideas 😎
Thanks for your comment and I am happy to have given you some ideas. I see sooooo many videos showing orchid buying, hauls and flowers that I thought that this would be different. I like doing things a little different, even if fewer people watch - just to try new things. And, it was a relaxing day for me.....
@@plantpropagator agreed 100%...for us it was a relaxing day in the garden, and actually sunny for once!! but yes, you have inspired me to try something new....and maybe steal, "ahem" borrow, your ideas 🙈
@@elpilarorchids I would like to gift my ideas to you - there you go!!
I'm always looking forward to see how many spikes I'm getting from my tampensis. She's maybe 15-16 years old. Thank you for sharing your experience,
Wow, your tampensis has been around. The main plant that I show is only 4-5 years old and has 30 flower spikes! I am glad that you enjoyed my video 😁
Tristan at Ingram Orchids posted a video recently of his butterfly orchids as well, and he captured a screenshot of what was pollinating his plants. He thought that they were sweat bees-family Halictidae maybe?
I think that butterfly orchids have a lot of pollinators - that is why they are so successful. I showed a lot of different insects visit my tampensis flowers but I do not think that sweat bees were one of them. This is a very large bee family so it would not surprise me and Tristan has been in FL many more years than me. Thanks for your comment and I will keep my eyes open for them - today, no bees - too much rain...
Thanks for the butterfly video this morning John. Have you any experience with Soras Orchids from Homestead. They have a phalaenopsis I want to purchase . Really enjoy you videos
th-cam.com/video/i9nY39g_ybE/w-d-xo.html and
th-cam.com/video/7TvzTBdQ1qg/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for your comment. Let me know if you have any questions at TheOrchidPropagator@gmail.com
I was trying to find out if you have a store or website and have a flask for sale?
If you are in the US, you can contact me at TheOrchidPropagator@gmail.com and I can send you a list of my available flasks. I am a small business - do not even have a website or eBay store - I am too small. But,I do have nice flasks......