I'm pretty sure that lady's slippers are ephemerals, which means they die back to the ground after they're done blooming. They may still be there. April

Hi Abbie,
So sorry to hear about your plants being eaten. Most likely deer. The best thing you can do is to put a thick wire cage around the plant. Most other things deer can get into.

April, the plants are not ephemerals. They should last until the cold weather and last often until first frosts nip them.

Since they have had a while to build up their buds, they will probably come back (unless all the roots are ripped) but they will be smaller next year and not flower for a year or two.

As for the seed pod, the news is not great. Hardy orchid seed has two windows of opportunity: Green pod season, and dry seed season.

Dry seed can be collected any time after about 12 weeks after pollination up until it is scattered by the wind in October or November. This seed is taken and put in a bleach solution to both destroy the seed coat and destroy germination inhibitors in the seed. Naturally, winter will do both of these to the seed, but bleach does it in 45 minutes. Unfortunately, exposing life to caustic chemicals has it's drawbacks: Success can be low for any number of reasons.

The green pod season is different. To collect green pods, you cut the stem above the first large leaf, and keep the capsule itself intact. Each species varies in time of collection, but it is important to sow it within about a week's window. The window is most often 7 to 8 weeks after pollination. Thus, the seed is immature and if dried will certainly die because it lacks a seed coat and other protective mechanisms that have not formed yet (they form in the last 4 weeks of maturation). It is because of this that immature seed is sometimes so easy to germinate.

If it has been (*maybe 10*), 11 weeks or more since pollination, you can try drying it. If it has been (*maybe 6*) 7 to 9 weeks since pollination, send it immediately. The best way to ship is to put the pod into a small sealable tube with a wet paper towel or cotton swab in the bottom. The stem should touch the paper and keep it alive like a cut flower. Priority mail is best.

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If pollination was 5 weeks or less, the seed is too immature to differentiate at all, most likely.

Let me know.

Best,
Ross

Ross,

I will send you the seed pod today per your instructions. There are some problems with the Garden Web search engine and now there appears to be a problem with having forum replies mailed to the original poster. I never received any of these follow-up messages at my e-mail address. Has anyone else had this problem. I have checked in member preferences to have follow-up e-mails mailed to my personal address.

Thank you all for your responses.

Abbie

Yes, indeed, it is the deer. They moved into our woods about 4 years ago, and devoured all the pink lady slippers.
They are so bold, they stand and eat plants, and ignore us until we yell and wave our arms at them.

There have been several articles, one recently in Nature Conservancy magazine, telling of the havoc that the expanding deer herds have be wreaking on our woodlands.
They are also the vector for Lyme disease, which is rampant here on Cape Cod.

It is very sad about the lady slippers, I dont know if they are able to re-populate. I am sure that the deer will get them just as soon as they do however.

I collect prickly dead trees, such as spruce, and make a fence around my reginae. They still get some flowers and pods, but not all of them.