# Newbie questions on breeding orchids



## Wonderpants (Jun 12, 2021)

I have an adult female orchid who moulted to adult about 4 weeks ago, and a male who moulted to adult about 4 days ago. As I was thinking about getting an adult male to try and breed the female, this feels like a sign! From reading up on it, the general advice is to wait for a month after the female has moulted and two weeks for the male, and make sure the female is well fed before putting the male in to get his groove on.  

Anything else to bear in mind? Is there any way to know when they’re ready to mate, and what are the chances of success?


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## yankeeman1421 (Jun 16, 2021)

Sometimes males need as little as a week or as much as 3 weeks to mate. Each one is different. Females, I personally like to wait 4-6 weeks before making any mating attempts. Also, try to feed her honeybees, moths, and roaches that have a diet consisting of bee pollen. Bee pollen and honeybees help A LOT in getting orchid females to lay ooths, a common problem that exists in female orchids. This also seems to help enhance ooth fertility as well. Another thing is to keep the orchid female living on a live pothos plant or something similar, as female orchids tend to like laying their oothecae on broad, leafy live plants.


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## Wonderpants (Jun 21, 2021)

Thanks.

I put my male in with the female yesterday and he got busy  so I’ve got my fingers crossed for an ootheca. 

Does it help to give her lots of food, or pure honey as a substitute for bees? And what sort of time does it take for her to lay an ooth and for it to hatch?


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## Wonderpants (Jul 11, 2021)

3 weeks and counting. 

 I don’t know if she’s developing eggs or just been eating a lot, any thoughts?


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