How to pollinate a vanilla orchid: https://makertube.net/w/d29RMU4JAG4fhFcYWFMJf6
Thats cool as fuck, thanks for sharing!
Yeah I’m very slowly moving my vanilla content off of yt and onto maker tube.
Wow, fascinating. Are the flowers quite fragile?
Extremely. Its a bit of a ‘technique’ thing to get the flap underneath held into place and then get the pollen packets pushed down without obliterating the whole thing. I’ve also had to do it on a ladder which is much trickier.
Is the idea on nature is for another plant to pollinate another plant? Cause this technique wouldn’t work if there’s no humans
Yeah so basically, orchids pollinate in a very different manner than most other flowering plants. They don’t have loose pollen in grains, they have pollinia or packets of pollen, which are like, a bunch of pollen in a wax packet, often in a specialized structure.
Basically, the way an orchid flower works, is somewhat like a trap door. A bee climbs in looking for some nectar, and the flower has these unique flaps, that basically glue a packet of pollen onto the bee in a specific spot. Then, when the bee goes to the next orchid flower, the trap is usually evolved to work in reverse. Now, when entering the flower, the pollinia now gets stuck to the corresponding female part of the new flower.
This is a bee with a pollinia glued to its back:
I get that it all sounds rather complicated. And it is. Its hella complicated. Its definitely a “how the fuck could this evolve” scenario. But because of how fine tuned this system has to be, it also results in the potentiality for massive and rapid speciation, hence Orchids being one of the most plant families with the most species.
I have no idea, but considering what else the MAGA drones are willing to ignore to swallow whole the excrement that pours out of this shitshow, I’m guessing they just ignore that bit and keep on cheering.
