Hi leo. Thanks for the reply. My favorite way of growing any orchids is from flasks. Like you stated, some grow fast, some slow and others very slow.
I find that by buying a flasks of say 20 plants.
You hopefull will get a few of each type, ie "the fast, slow and very slow".
I find that by buying seedling plants from nursery by mail order, usually the public has been over the stock "lot" and bought the quick and bigger plants.
This is no reflection on the nurserys, just a fact of life.
But by buying a flask, hopefully you get a sampling across the range.
For example, I bought a flask of 12 plants of Paphiopedilum primulinum, they were deflasked on the 28 October 2001, the first plant flowered just before xmas 2004.
and by now I have 4 plants in flower.
Maybe a few more will flower this summer (2005) but the rest, I supect will flower summer 2005.
Point is as you stated.
In other words, the Paph rothschildianum seedlings could take anywere from 4 yrs to 15 yrs depending on growing conditions and the "Runts aspect"
Many thanks for your help.
Ron Boyd in sunny NSW
Ron & Tom,
I have seen a Paph rothschildianum seedling go from flask to
flowering in 4 years, yes, that is not a typographic error. Th flower was
nice, typical for a rothschildianum, not an award winner. The plant
belonged to Jim Pupelis, and unfortunately I don't think is still exists.
Jim got out of orchids some 8 or so years ago. Only one seedling in that
flask grew that fast. The rest took the normal 6 to 15 years to bloom. One
of the reasons the clone '"Rex" is used so often is that it is a
particularly fast growing plant for rothschildianum. In the USA, I think
the Orchid Inn, Sam Tsui, has the best assortment of 2nd and 3rd generation
crosses of Paph rothschildianum bred for both better form, but also better
flower count and easier growing. He does have CITES export permits, and
does ship flasks world wide. I have always found in every flask there are
one or two seedlings that grow much faster than the rest, and bloom sooner
than the rest. These are the seedlings that are the most desirable to use
in creating the next generations of crosses, either species or hybrid. I am
always suprised at the wide variation in maturation seedlings have. I kept
25 or so seedlings from a brachypetalum hybrid, the first 2 bloomed in 3
years, 2 more the 4th year, and now 6 years from flask I have 10 seedlings
that have not bloomed yet. Those stragglers are going to the compost heap.
It points to both the genetic variation in heritable growth traits and also
the fact that I am not a very consistient grower. Above all, I am not
going to breed with any of the stragglers, no mater how good the flower.
Yes, some of my seedlings are slow because I am not that good of a grower.
I am trying to improve.
If you are going to invest the time in raising small seedlings to
bloom, it is better to raise a whole batch, at least 6 if not 25 or more,
from a single cross, keep the 3 or 4 most vigorous seedlings, and at some
point, discard the stragglers. Never use a straggler as a breeding plant.
The results will be disappointing. There are heritable components of growth
characteristics, and for that reason it is bad to use a plant that grows
poorly in any kind of propagation program.
Cheers, Leo
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