Treating Paphs

Slippertalk Orchid Forum

Help Support Slippertalk Orchid Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

orcoholic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
603
Reaction score
11
Was at a show this past weekend where I saw some incredible paphs. There was a micranthum that was huge. We're talking a pouch alone that was at least six inches long. The entire flower must have been nine inches in length. The inflorescence was probably 2.5 feet tall.

There were also a couple of malipoense that were big, dark, and beautiful. An armeniacum to die for - it could feed every slug in my greenhouse for a week.

With the proximity to the WOC, I suspect that these were purchased there and I'm wondering if Paphs can be treated to cause flower size to increase this much. I know Catts can get treated and put on a display of huge flowers.

What do they get treated with? And, just for the heck of it, do you think it's okay to allow these to get awarded without disclosing they were treated?

Michael
 
I'm not aware of any chemical treatment that makes plants with average flowers develop huge flowers.

I think what you are referring to with Catts is colchinase, used to change the ploidy (chromosome count) of seedlings. Having xtra chromosomes can make for larger flowers and more intense colors.

This has been done to some paphs and phrags, but its not as common as for hybrid catts, and I doubt there are any 4N parvi's out there yet.

However there are some extremely well bred and grown plants out there that will have flowers 25% or more bigger than the original taxonomic descriptions, and with hybrids all bets are off.

Ploidy changes are legal and I know judges that grow them too. There are no rules against performance enhancing drugs for plant judging.
 
I think what you are referring to with Catts is colchinase, used to change the ploidy (chromosome count) of seedlings. Having xtra chromosomes can make for larger flowers and more intense colors.

Colchicine is an alkaloid that is used to induce polyploidy. It is dangerous stuff.

-Ernie
 
The treatment is done to the protocorm as they start to turn green just before leaves start to form. Many treated protocorms die and a conversion rate of 25% of the ones that survive is good. Then you have to examine the cells (root tip) to count the chromosomes to see if the normal count is doubled. Then grow and flower to see what you got. Not for the casual grower.
 
what I am interested in is if there are any hormones or other chemicals that can inhance the blooms.
I did remember a on a forum someone said some nurseries do chemcal sprays on phals to inhance blooms.

I have found a seller in Canada with paph hormones that push new growths on dormant meristems. I'm not sure if I should get some or not.

I was listening to a society speaker (student AOS judge) about cattleyas and he commented on a photo of a plant with spectacular display of blooms. He said that he wouldn't be suprised if the grower treated it with vitamin B1 to send many new leads.
 
Smartie,
I dont know about B1, but certain growth- regulators will have the effect of many leads. L Anceps, sprayed with it, suddenly starts making a lot of new growths, and develop over a short period of time in a "specimen plant", but dwarfed. Will take a photo tomorrow and post it.

The negative side however, the plant stays short (half normal size)for a long time. It would only grow out of the cycle after about two seasons.

The reason we tested it, multiple growths would mean more flowers, and stock increase for hard to come by plants. we did test it on paphs, with disasterous consequences. They die.

Can someone tell me if colchicine works on paphs?
 
what I am interested in is if there are any hormones or other chemicals that can inhance the blooms.
I did remember a on a forum someone said some nurseries do chemcal sprays on phals to inhance blooms.

I have found a seller in Canada with paph hormones that push new growths on dormant meristems. I'm not sure if I should get some or not.

I was listening to a society speaker (student AOS judge) about cattleyas and he commented on a photo of a plant with spectacular display of blooms. He said that he wouldn't be suprised if the grower treated it with vitamin B1 to send many new leads.

I use a product called Keiki Pro (Keikipro.com) that has both auxins and cytokinins. There is a distributor in my orchid society in TN. It's the only product I'm aware of that has both hormones in combination (generally the two are antagonistic). One hormone causes division at the dormant nodes, and the other causes cell elongation. So you can get division and growth in one shot. This product will produce keikis galore, and branching in spikes. It can also improve root growth. Paphs and bulbos will put on divisions faster and support good growth. It will not make flowers bigger than normal. And if your basic culture is not good and supported with proper nutrition it will not work at all.
 
Colchicine is used to treat protocorms during tissue culture. Not on blooming plants. If you want some "magic fairy dust" that actually works, try triacontanol.
 
Back
Top