Paph. godefroyae var leuchochilum 'Star Burst'

[Drorchid]

After the comments on the size of the flower relative to the plant I began to wonder. Is this a multi growth plant?
As a breeder, what do you do with a plant like this? (i.e. one of exceptional quality)
Do you sacrifice the blossom, maybe collect the pollen, and hope it puts its energy into producing another growth?
Or do you let it go, maybe take it to be judged, and not use it for breeding on this cycle?
Or, even though it is a smaller plant, do you self it or out cross it?
I would think you would want to do what you could to maintain the line, so what is the best way to do that?

We are taking it to judging (to Parkside), but when it gets back I definately will use the pollen. Preferably I will sib it with another leuchochilum (we have some others that are about ready to crack), so I will at least keep the line going. I usually don't like to self pollinate, unless the flower is of exceptional quality like in this case, so I probably will self pollinate it (even if I risk loosing the plant) as well. These plants are often short lived, so I would hate not self pollinating it, and it would die say in 10 months anyway from some kind of rot. If I self it, I would at least get all of it's offspring, and I think it is big enough that it would be able to hold a pod. Now if it would get an FCC (which I doubt it will), I may change my mind and just use the pollen and cut the flower off, but we will see......

If it was a complex Paph, and a first bloomer, but of exceptional quality, I probaly would not self it, but use the pollen and cut the flower off, just because I know complex Paph's can live for a long time, and by cutting off the flower it does not weaken the plant.

Robert

 

[Scott Ware]

A flower this nice must have some pretty impressive lineage. Do you know which cultivars are in its background?

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

Robert, hate to be the bearer of bad news but you won't be selfing this flower. Least not, this year. When arriving at Parkside at 9 this morning I went straight to Orchid Limited booth. I asked Jason if he had the plant there for judging. He went under the table and produced a flower that had broken off of the plant. I'm sure you can use the pollen but no self pollinating this year. Also, I don't believe even the flower that was detached from the plant could be judged. It looked like it took a bit of a beating on the way across country.

 

[paphioboy]

...so I probably will self pollinate it (even if I risk loosing the plant)...

Robert, why is it that when a paph is selfed, you run a risk of losing the plant..? Are paphs so highly self-incompatible that when they are self pollinated, they 'self-destruct'? I know there are certain plants that when selfed, their own pollen becomes poisonous to themselves...

 

[PaphMadMan]

Robert, why is it that when a paph is selfed, you run a risk of losing the plant..? Are paphs so highly self-incompatible that when they are self pollinated, they 'self-destruct'? I know there are certain plants that when selfed, their own pollen becomes poisonous to themselves...

Since Robert isn't jumping in on this... I don't think he intended to imply that a self-pollinated paph was in danger of being killed by its own pollen more so than any other pollen. The discussion was whether this plant would be large enough to be capable of carrying a pod without endangering the plant, regardless of the source of pollen.

 

[Drorchid]

Robert, hate to be the bearer of bad news but you won't be selfing this flower. Least not, this year. When arriving at Parkside at 9 this morning I went straight to Orchid Limited booth. I asked Jason if he had the plant there for judging. He went under the table and produced a flower that had broken off of the plant. I'm sure you can use the pollen but no self pollinating this year. Also, I don't believe even the flower that was detached from the plant could be judged. It looked like it took a bit of a beating on the way across country.

Yes, I already had heard. Apparently Jason was going to "Hand Carry" it on board of the plane, but when he put the box through the scanner, it got caught, and the whole box flipped, thus braking the flower stem and the flower.:sob:

Well at least I don't have to think about if I should risk selfing it or not...

And to answer PaphioBoy, yes PaphMadMan is correct. You don't loose a brachy by "Selfing" it, it is more when you have a small plant and thus a weak plant you may risk killing the plant when you put a seedpod onto it, just because it takes a lot of energy to make the seedpod (usually it takes 7 months for the seedpods to mature).

Robert

 

[ohio-guy]

Since you may still use the pollen, how long does the pollen remain viable, and does it matter if it is still on the plant or not? I seem to recall you can store some pollens in the fridge for a while.

 

[Yoyo_Jo]

Wow. Stunning. :clap:

 

[Drorchid]

Since you may still use the pollen, how long does the pollen remain viable, and does it matter if it is still on the plant or not? I seem to recall you can store some pollens in the fridge for a while.

It stays viable as long as it does not get moldy. If you store it in the fridge with some desiccant it can stay viable for at least 1 year, put I have heard people using their pollen 3 years later after it was stored in the fridge and they still were able to get a seed pod!, but the viability definately goes down the longer you store it.

Robert

 

[Corbin]

Bummer!

 

[Drorchid]

Bummer!

Yes, I know, we should have sent it down to Iowa for judging. We sent 14 plants down there for judging, of which 6 got awards! 3 AM/AOS and 3 CCM/AOS; I will post pictures pretty soon.

Robert

 

[JeanLux]

Yes, I know, we should have sent it down to Iowa for judging. We sent 14 plants down there for judging, of which 6 got awards! 3 AM/AOS and 3 CCM/AOS; I will post pictures pretty soon.

Robert

Congratulations !!! I am very curious to see the pictures!!! Jean