paph liemianum x haynaldianum questions

[cnycharles]

Happy New Year!

Fellow Central NY Orchid Society member Iris Cohen recently purchased the above hybrid (paph liemianum x haynaldianum) from one of our speakers Duane Erdmann a few months ago and had the following questions and observations:

"It looks exactly like halfway between the two parents, liemianum x haynaldianum. Shape is more like haynaldianum, with coloring & half-twist petals from liemianum. Right now it has two flowers open. Duane doesn't think it will have the continuous bloom like liemianum. It was registered in 2002, and as of last spring, no AOS awards. Since it is a pleasant looking flower, I am wondering why? Two possible reasons. There are a gazillion haynaldianum crosses and two gazillion liemianum crosses. With so much competition, one more hybrid might be unnoticed unless really spectacular. The judges would say, "It's just doing what it's supposed to."
The other possibility is that not being a big commercial hybrid, it hasn't been shown enough. Just curious."

Please feel free to post thoughts and comments, and I can send the link to this thread to Iris - thanks!

 

[Ernie]

Sounds like she wants to know if she should take it to judging. Ya gotta play to win/it won't get awarded sitting at home.

I can see this being very similar to Henrietta Fujiwara (prim x hay album) and Song of Love (lowii x liem). They are nice, but not really show stoppers. She'd have a better chance sending it to a monthly judging than just entering it in a show and hoping someone pulls it for AOS.

As far as flower count, we commonly get up to seven flowers out of our Henrietta Fujiwara but usually with only one or two open per spike at a time.

Better to send such hybrids for judging on their first flowers because they are commonly the best and largest and the inflorescence starts to get gangly after a couple flowers fall.

Regardless of what happens with flower quality consideration (HCC, AM, FCC), the great thing is that these hybrids are usually VERY vigorous and if grown consistently well for several years, they would make an excellent candidate for a cultural award with several spikes with a couple flowers per spike open IMO.

 

[SlipperFan]

I agree with Ernie. Plus, just because a cross isn't a big commercial success doesn't mean it can't be a desirable flower.

 

[cnycharles]

Iris is thankful for the input:

"Ernie is undoubtedly right. If it should live & be well & I'm up to it, maybe I can take it to Elmsford. However, if it is in bloom, I will certainly put it in our show. Too bad Jeanne Kaeding (a judge who lives in Rochester) can't take Paphs to Toronto. That is so stupid!

Lanky is right. The silly inflorescence is over 18 inches tall. I am going to cut it off after Sunday & see if it will put up a shorter stem under my conditions.

Dot, sometimes you have to wait for a hybrid's time to come. Onc. Twinkle suddenly became a huge commercial success 40 years after it was registered.
Thank you,
Iris"

 

[cnycharles]

Iris brought the plant to our orchid meeting a few days ago so I snapped a pic for anyone curious. it definitely is lanky! and she's going to cut it off and hope for a shorter stem on the next flowering

 

[nikv]

I love it! Perfect! It mostly takes after the haynaldianum parent.

 

[goldenrose]

Lanky is right. The silly inflorescence is over 18 inches tall. I am going to cut it off after Sunday & see if it will put up a shorter stem under my conditions....

are your conditions brighter light?
This cross should bloom under lower light conditions but they say that produces taller stems.

 

[cnycharles]

Iris grows most of her plants under lights in the cooler times, then outdoors in the summer. She bought this plant I think already in bud from a vendor at our club a few months ago so the spike may already have been longer than what it might have been had it been under lights probably fairly close to the tubes in her collection

 

[Justin]

that's a lovely paph. the long spike seems like a plus to me but i don't know much about judging.

 

[rdlsreno]

That is a nice Paph. Charlene.

Ramon

 

[NYEric]

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