Ted Byers wrote:
Hmmmmmmm. I don't read German. Is there a write-up of the method and
current experience with it, along with a comparison with other methods and
taxa, available in English?
I don't read german well... Best I can recommend is Arditti's book
(Micropropagation of Orchids). It is a little out of date now, but has
quite a bit of information. Especially for the other genera. It used
to be sold through AOS, might be on Amazon, or in your local university
library. I don't know of any reviews of the current status of paph
cloning. There is (or was) a substantial cash prize for the first
person to demonstrate a reliable method - or so I was once told. If
there is money on the line, I don't expect a lot of publications...
But if somebody points me to it, I'd be glad to read it. Might make a
good paper for some starving graduate student. Just the review part, I
wouldn't recommend paph cloning as a thesis project.
Thanks. That is an attractive flower, except for the green. I am not sure
I like green in a flower, Not eough contrast with the green of the foliage.
Maybe it is just a matter of taste, or maybe it grows on you ... :-)
I find it attractive because of the green...
You have some very nice plants and pictures. Of those I saw on Antec's
site, I think I like those in the brachypetalum and parvisepalum sections
the best. Where do these fall in your scale of seed productivity from
effectively sterile to able to produce a few thousand seeds? And what about
ease of growth relative to other paphs? I think that with some of the
others, it may be necessary to see them in the flesh to get a better sense
of them.
Not bad for a page that has been up since 1993... Maybe it was
1994... Someday I'll update it. Don't know about the fertility. If
you cross too far between groups, it goes way down. Most of the brachy x
parvi stuff seems to be reasonably fertile. I guess it would depend on
how much you want. When I was doing it, I was happy to get two flasks,
and would throw the rest away. I'd keep four flasks, but only if I was
expecting Nirvana (drat, it has already been registered. Nirvana =
Alcibiades x Aureum, 1914). Like all plant breeding, the only way to
find out is to ask somebody who does a lot of it, and to do it yourself
for a few dozen years. I haven't really done any hybridizing since I
was in graduate school, and that is getting farther and farther away.
And of course get yourself a copy of Wildcatt
(
http://www.wildcattdata.com/), which is both cheap and immensely useful.
All paphs are easy to grow... If you know how to grow them. Those
brachy and parvis that you like tend to grow a bit on the dry side, and
they would probably like to be a little cooler too. The hybrids are
easier than the species. I find emersonii and micranthum picky.
Delenatii is a weed. Malipoense is easy to grow, but not as easy to
bloom. All of the brachys are pretty easy (niveum, concolor, etc), with
the exception of bellatulum in my hands. Never had a problem with any
hybrid, except emersonii hybrids.
--
Rob's Rules:
http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit