kovachii specie seedlings

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In August I got a flask of kovachii seedlings from Piping Rock. Well actually I got 2 half flasks. There has been a lot of comments about the specie seedlings being slow and difficult to grow. Although I see some difference in growth behavior from hybrids (non kovachii) I think they are growing well so far. It would be very good if others who also got kovachii flasks could share their progress, good or bad by adding to this thread. Here are pictures of my plants.

My seedlings were shipped deflasked.

k1-k2.jpg


I potted the 5 largest seedlings in S/H in 3 inch pots. Here is a growth comparison after one month.

kovachii34day.jpg


Smaller single seedlings and clumps were planted into straight sphag.
This seedling had a ls of about 1+ inch. The root(s) were about half inch.
The top image is freshly planted and the lower image is the same plant after 32 days.

1mo1.jpg


Here is a larger seedling which also had larger roots, The lower image is the same plant after 32 days of growth.

1mo2.jpg


Here is a closeup of the largest seedling taken today after 6 weeks growth. Notice the new root growing at the base.

k1single2.jpg


I appreciate any comments, questions or added information.
 
Congratulations! Very nice seedlings and they are growing very fast, I think. Good luck with your kovachi. Looking forward to the new progress photos.
 
Nice growing. I noticed that Glen Decker showed reasonably good progress w/ growing kovachii and they actually seem to grow a lot better than schlimii, and fischeri species and primary hybrids.
 
I'm not quite sure if I understood the text, are these photos of kovachii seedlings or kovachii hybrid seedlings?
 
Nevermind, I see that you meant kovachii. Those are making good progress in my opinion! Ours slow down quite a bit in the summer, but then start to move along when it cools down.
 
Jason Fischer said:
Nevermind, I see that you meant kovachii. Those are making good progress in my opinion! Ours slow down quite a bit in the summer, but then start to move along when it cools down.

Jason... can you explain what you mean when you say it cools down. What have your temperatures been and what temp is cooled down? Also do you think the growth rate increase is a factor of cooler temperatures or are there possibly some other factors that come along with cooler temperatures?

It would be great if you posted some pictures of your kovachii seedlings.
 
And what are the kovachi species and hybrids? For example, there are "Goliath" and "Jewel" (wild clones of kovachi). If we cross them, what do we get - new specie clone or hybrid? :confused:
 
If you cross two different clones of species A (Species A by Species A) you still get species A, so no Hybrid. So Phrag. kovachii 'Goliath' x Phrag. kovachii 'Jewel' is still a Phrag. kovachii.

If you cross a clone of species A with a clone of species B, you get a Hybrid.
so Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. wallisii will be a new hybrid.

At Orchids Limited we have the following kovachii hybrids:

Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. Phrag. dalessandroi

http://www.orchidweb.com/cat_dtl.asp?P_Recno=3997&f_pagenumber=1&tpn=1

Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. wallisii

http://www.orchidweb.com/cat_dtl.asp?P_Recno=4002&f_pagenumber=1&tpn=1

Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. schlimii

http://www.orchidweb.com/cat_dtl.asp?P_Recno=3996&f_pagenumber=1&tpn=1

and Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. longifolium

http://www.orchidweb.com/cat_dtl.asp?P_Recno=3995&f_pagenumber=1&tpn=1

I will post some pictures of our Phrag. kovachii seedlings later.

Robert
 
Shadow said:
And what are the kovachii species and hybrids? For example, there are "Goliath" and "Jewel" (wild clones of kovachii). If we cross them, what do we get - new specie clone or hybrid? :confused:

We get kovachii specie, not a hybrid or clone.

The kovachii specie seedlings I have are a result of crossing 2 wild collected kovachii plants. They each were given clonal names. One is 'Laura' and the other is 'Ana'.

When you cross two specie plants you have specie offspring. A specie is a specie when it only has the one specie present in the parentage. Whether the cross is made by nature or in a nursery will not effect the fact it is kovachii specie. In time after generations of captive breeding the captive kovachii specie will be different in growth and appearance from the wild forms, but it will still be genetically pure kovachii.

By breeding two kovachii specie "clones" together you do not create a single new clone, rather each resulting seedling will be an individual. In the future, divisions (or tissue culture plantlets) will become a clone of each resultant seedling. The term "clone" is used in the case of orchids to refer to all vegetatively propagated plants from a single genetically unique plant.

A hybrid is created by mixing two or more species . A hybrid can be created by nature or by the hand of humans.
 
Here is one of our flasks of kovachii:

kovachflask.jpg


Here is a tray with some of the largest seedlings:

kovchseedling.jpg


and here is the largest seedling of Phrag. kovachii that we have thus far:

kovachseedling1.jpg


Robert
 
and yes NYEric was right....I measured the largest Phrag. kovachii seedling, and it had a leafspan of 10.5"!

Robert
 
If I remember right we took the first ones out of flask in September 2005, so they are have been growing in the greenhouse for over one year.

Robert
 
Well, the OL seedlings certainly look spectacular. This is one reason I am waiting a while to purchase. I don't know my conditions well enough at the moment (You grow for two years in one place and you have an idea of what you're doing right. You move three times in 6 months and it all goes to hell!) and I just think the experts are going to have better luck than I with young seedlings.

I have not decided who I will buy from, and when. Suspense....:)
 
Well, to follow up, when I say 'cool' I mean daytime temps that stay around or below 75 degrees, with night time temps preferably around the low 60's, or even high 50's. Moreover, the decrease of the intense summer sun (it gets very bright here in MN) really helps too. kovachii seem to like medium to low light, with good air movement and intermediate/cool temps. Semi-hydro culture looks like it works and seems interesting, but I've never tried it and am used to using small bark with phrags. I'd like to experiment on a few and see how they grow. Is the most popular semi-hydro substrate aliflor?
 
gonewild said:
In August I got a flask of kovachii seedlings from Piping Rock. Well actually I got 2 half flasks. There has been a lot of comments about the specie seedlings being slow and difficult to grow. Although I see some difference in growth behavior from hybrids (non kovachii) I think they are growing well so far. It would be very good if others who also got kovachii flasks could share their progress, good or bad by adding to this thread.

I appreciate any comments, questions or added information.
Lance, your seedlings are growing beautifully. Would you be willing to share with us your growing conditions? How much light, day/night temps, watering schecule, etc.?

I have my half-flask growing in my basement under lights. I think it's probably too warm for them, but it was the coolest spot in my house this summer. They were not doing well, so I transplanted them into a diatomite/chc mix I made up and the few that are left seem to be holding their own.

Jason, thanks for confirming that they like cooler temperatures and lower light.

Any tips from the two of you would be most appreciated.
 

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