Phrag. Robert-Jan Quené (= besseae x Fritz Schomburg)

[Drorchid]

After 13 years of breeding Phragmipediums and Paphiopedilums, I have finally named one after myself...I guess I was waiting for the right one, it was a toss up between Phrag. besseae x Fritz Schomburg and Phrag. kovachii x Fritz Schomburg, but as this cross bloomed first, and was pleased with the outcome, I went ahead and named this cross after myself.

It basically is exactly what I was going for: It looks like a giant besseae on Steroids. Thanks to kovachii the flower size it a lot larger than a regular besseae, and it looks like kovachii has also influenced the shape on the petals, making them somewhat wider. Luckily besseae influenced the plant size and shape and it is a nice compact sized plant. Hopefully kovachii will prevent it from "climbing" out of the pot, but it is still too early to tell if it will do that or not. I looked this morning, but we only have a handfull of seedlings from this cross, so NO they are not for sale at the moment, but hopefully in the near future we will have some for sale.

This cross was made with a tetraploid besseae ('Rob's Choice' AM/AOS 4N), so if it was made with a 2N besseae it probably will have a greater Kovachii influence. We do have another cross of Fritz Schomburg x besseae (2N) coming along, and next I will post a Fritz Schomburg flavum x besseae flavum (2N) that has also bloomed this week!

Here are some pictures (In real life the color is probably a little more "Peachy" than what it shows on the pictures):







compared to a besseae:


Robert

 

[Dido]

I like it congrats for the form and the color

 

[Erythrone]

Just wonderflul (of course, I need one!)

 

[NYEric]

Good choice! :wink: Yay besseae hybrids! Now to get me one!

 

[monocotman]

Fantastic and a nice compact plant!
David

 

[Hera]

Its perfect. Worth the wait.

 

[phrag guy]

very nice,and big

 

[SlipperFan]

Wonderful flower. The petal stance is cool, with it's slightly upward movement. I think you made a good choice for your name-sake.

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Fantastic!
Glad you could give yourself such an honour!

Sent from my BlackBerry Bold 9900 using Tapatalk

 

[parvi_17]

This is exciting, I like it a lot.

 

[JeanLux]

:clap: :drool: :clap: !!!! Jean

 

[eaborne]

Beautiful!

 

[gonewild]

Can you use this beauty to make future crosses or is it triploid and non fertile?

 

[Drorchid]

This one is probably a triploid, but yes I will try breeding with it. I do have a batch of diploid ones coming along, so those should hopefully be fertile.
Robert

 

[cnycharles]

Very nice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John M]

Too bad you only have a handful of seedlings from this cross. With that photo on display, you'd be able to sell a lot of sibling seedlings in the coming weeks! Do you have so few seedlings because you simply didn't have enough room to grow out more, or does besseae 'Rob's Choice' not produce much viable seed when it is used as the capsule parent? What about if it were used as the pollen parent? Would that increase your numbers?

This is a very attractive cross, Robert. It's about time you had something really nice named after you. You've done a lot for the Phrag world by being a skilled hybridizer. You deserve some recognition. Bravo on making such a nice cross!

 

[slippertalker]

I'm glad I purchased seedlings of this cross several months previous......it is exactly what I would expect from such a combination.

 

[Erythrone]

I'm glad I purchased seedlings of this cross several months previous......it is exactly what I would expect from such a combination.

I am jealous!

 

[Drorchid]

Too bad you only have a handful of seedlings from this cross. With that photo on display, you'd be able to sell a lot of sibling seedlings in the coming weeks! Do you have so few seedlings because you simply didn't have enough room to grow out more, or does besseae 'Rob's Choice' not produce much viable seed when it is used as the capsule parent? What about if it were used as the pollen parent? Would that increase your numbers?

This is a very attractive cross, Robert. It's about time you had something really nice named after you. You've done a lot for the Phrag world by being a skilled hybridizer. You deserve some recognition. Bravo on making such a nice cross!

Thanks John!
Actually the germination was pretty good on this cross. There were just a few seedlings at his moment because we had only planted out a few flasks of this cross a year ago. I just looked in the lab, and some exciting news, I found a bunch of additional "Mother" flasks from this same cross. They all need to be replated one more time, but I am guessing they should be ready to come out of the lab in 6 months from now, so we will have a bunch for sale in the near future! We don't have seedlings from the first batch listed yet as we just have a handful of seedlings left (we sold some already) but those of you that can't wait (I am guessing the new batch will be ready to sell in 12 to 18 months from now), send a private email to Jason and we will see if we can still find you one.
Robert

 

[John M]

:clap: Excellent news! I'll look forward to more of the members here posting their photos of these plants from you.

This is an awesome cross....an improvement over Phrag. Jason Fischer. Jason Fischer is of course, really incredible; but, it grows big and tall. A really well grown, well bloomed plant is a monster....and yes, a sight to behold; but, a lot of people don't have that much room. This new cross of yours has all the great qualities that a hobbyist with limited space would want. It's got a big flower, excellent colour and form...and a much more compact growth habit. Sargentianum is so much bigger than kovachii and that huge size comes through in well grown Jason Fischers. By comparison, a specimen plant of Robert-Jan Quene will carry larger, multiple flowers lower down, closer to the foliage....and on an overall, smaller, more compact plant. I think this is the best besseae cross that I've ever seen. I can't wait to see photos of multigrowth/multispiked plants in 3 or 4 years!