In a nutshell:

Once we receive your order, we will send you a package with a prepaid shipping label, materials, and instructions for how to pack your seeds/pods. 
Once we receive your seeds, we will sow several mother flasks. Once the mother flasks are ready, we will replate the seedlings until they are in their final flasks. When the seedlings reach an appropriate size, we will box them up and send them to you.

For more detailed information, please see our flasking process page.

From the time we sow your seeds/pods to the time the flasks are ready to ship can take anywhere from 12 months to 18 months or longer. The amount of time it takes depends on the genera of the orchid.

Our goal is to make this process as simple as possible. Once you place an order with us, we will send you a package with a prepaid shipping label, materials, and instructions for how to pack your seeds/pods. All you need to do is follow the instructions, tape the return label to the box, and send it back to us.

Pod harvest times are highly variable depending on the genera and species. You have two options: you can send us green pods, or you can send us dry seeds. Personally, we prefer sowing dry seeds, but there are pros and cons for each. Here is a link to an AOS article which gives average harvest times for green pods for some of the more common species and hybrids. Keep in mind that harvesting green pods is more of an art than a science, and note that not all orchid pods will contain viable seeds. For all but a handful of orchid species, it is best to harvest fully mature pods just before or just as they begin to release their seeds. This reduces the likelihood that pods are harvested before the seeds are mature enough to germinate in flasks.

If you are uncomfortable guessing the timing for harvesting green pods, you can wait until the pod is fully mature before harvesting it. Usually, pods will begin turning yellow or brown once they reach maturity. Harvest the mature pod, place it in a coffee filter, and keep it somewhere where it can dry for a few days. If the pod is mature, the drying process will cause it to spit open. Then, carefully tap the pod to release the seeds, and fold them up in the coffee filter (discard the empty pod). Alternatively, you can wait until the pod has begun to split open while it is on the plant. As soon as you notice it has split, wrap it in a coffee filter, remove it from the plant, and place it somewhere to dry for a few days. Then, tap the pod to release the seeds, and fold them up in the coffee filter (discard the empty pod). Viable seeds from mature pods will last a little while in ambient conditions, but it is best to order your flasks soon after harvesting your pod, so that your seeds have the best chance of germination. Please note that not all mature pods will contain viable seeds.

We take pride in our expertise and effort to satisfy all of our customers. However, due to the challenging nature of germinating and growing orchid seedlings, it is our opinion that no flasking service can guarantee complete success.  Sometimes seeds don’t germinate. Occasionally, germinated seeds fail to establish. This can be due to a variety of factors such as pod harvest time, storage conditions between harvest and receipt, an incompatible cross, etc. Sowing seeds is a tedious and delicate process. Therefore, we cannot at this time offer a refund for the sowing fee.

We keep your cross information confidential. We ask for genus/parentage information so that we know how to treat the seeds, and which flasking media to grow them on. Any extra flasks left over after shipping your order will immediately be destroyed. The only exception to this rule is if an order is abandoned.

Growing orchids from seeds takes a lot of labor and materials. We will contact you throughout the flasking process, and before shipping your order. We will not ship an order until we have received payment in full. If we let you know that your flasks are ready, but we don’t hear back from you and/or don’t receive payment, we will reach out to you again. If after two months we have not received payment for your flasks, we reserve the right to sell them in an attempt to recover our losses. Abandoned flasks may have genus/parentage information advertised.