the tropical fruit forum doesn't have a function to upload pics. just how useful is this function anyways? the correct answer can only be determined by each forum member using their donations (to the forum) to communicate their own personal perception of this function's usefulness. in the meantime, i'll use this entry to post pics for use on the forum.
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Orchids And Aloes
Here's where we need to make so much more progress...
1. There should be lots of really nice orchids that can easily grow from seed.
2. There should be lots of smallish tree Aloes that we can attach miniature epiphytes to.
Many, if not most, of the typical reed-stem Epidendrums can easily be grown from seed... no flasking required! The problem is that reed-stems don't usually make the best epiphytes. So the challenge is to find/make crosses between reed-stems and other orchids in order to find the best crosses that can easily grow from seed.
One exciting cross is Kirchara Georgie (Cattlianthe Golden Wax x Epidendrum O'Brienianum). I received it last Fall from Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids...
https://www.sunsetvalleyorchids.com/
There was a new shoot starting to develop when I received it. I potted the plant in pure pumice and placed it outside. Over the winter the new shoot matured and produced a flower spike. I'm happy that the flowers developed on the new shoot (as opposed to developing on a shoot from the previous year).
Right now the plant doesn't have quite enough canes/stems to support a seed pod. Seed pods are quite costly in terms of energy. But I definitely plan to use the pollen to pollinate various reed-stems. Here are some relevant links...
http://epiecon.blogspot.com/2017/04/growing-orchids-from-seed-is-easy.html
http://epiecon.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-adaptable-are-orchids.html
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/advanced-discussion/95431-reed-stem-epidendrum.html
The goal for Aloes is to make some really nice hosts for smallish orchids and other epiphytes. In the video you can see a cross that's possibly between Aloe bainesii (the largest tree Aloe) and Aloe distans (not even a small tree Aloe). It's a really neat cross... the trunk is good sized but there needs to be more branches. Plus, it's a little on the slow side.
Does anybody recognize the Aloe that might be a dichotoma or ramosissima hybrid? It's also nice but too slow.
The Aloe tenuior hybrid is relatively fast but so far it falls over. All of the potential fathers are tree Aloes... and their stems do tend to thicken with age. You can read more about the hybrid here...
http://epiecon.blogspot.com/2017/08/better-treasure-maps.html
Towards the end of the video you can see a phorobana that consists of a Sophronitis cernua flowering on a potted Ficus rubiginosa. The Ficus is fast and grows easily from large cuttings. The drawback is that its flowers aren't even a little showy. So it's possible that we can make an Aloe that's a better host. S. cernua is a really neat miniature orchid that grows great outdoors year around here in Southern California. The drawback is that it can't easily grow from seed.
There's so much room for improvement! Let's pool our resources and make tons of progress!
Some useful links...
https://www.facebook.com/epiphytesociety/
https://www.facebook.com/epiphytessc/
https://www.facebook.com/orchidssc/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/285776418608743/
https://www.flickr.com/groups/orchidlandscape/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/epiphyte78/
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
How Adaptable Are Orchids?
A few years back my best Brazilian friend sent me some seeds of a nice drought tolerant Begonia. I ended up with around 50 seedlings, one of which I gave to my friend Scadoxus...
She said that it hasn't grown much since I gave it to her. Which is interesting because mine have certainly grown.
Maybe my thumb is greener? 😁 Or maybe I fertilize more? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my area gets warmer than her area. We both live in SoCal but she's closer to the coast than I am.
It got me thinking. What if she had sown all the seeds? In theory, since her area is cooler, the coolest growing seeds would have had an advantage. So the seedlings she ended up with would have been better adapted to her conditions.
Is this obvious?
Recently I sowed some seeds from two of my Echeveria roseas. I grabbed 6 hanging baskets/pots that already had well draining medium in them, placed Sphagnum moss on top of the medium and sowed seeds of E. rosea, Columnea Elmer Lorenz, Anthurium scandens, a couple different Rhipsalis and a NOID Sinningia. I also placed a few pieces of a NOID Peperomia, Pyrossia and Dischidia on top of the moss. Then I put each basket/pot in a two gallon zip lock bag. The hanger made a nice teepee with a hole in the top of the bag. Lastly I put the baskets/pots in two rows of three on a table in the garage under grow lights near an open window.
The Rhipsalis started to germinate the next day, shortly followed by the Anthurium, and then the rest of the seeds started germinating a couple days after. There was a significant disparity in the number of seeds that have germinated in the pots. Here's a pot with a bunch of E. rosea seeds that look perfectly viable but haven't yet germinated...
You'll probably have to click on the picture in order to see the seeds. Here's the pot with the most seedlings in it...
The two pots closest to the window have the most seedlings, the two pots furthest from the window have the least seedlings, and the two pots in the middle have an average amount of seedlings. It might be a coincidence, but I'm guessing that it has to do with a difference in temperature. It's marginally cooler closer to the window. Right after I sowed the seeds it was over 100F each day for a week. Even though the pots are right next to each other, they are in a small, but significant, continuum of temps.
According to this website, E. rosea is the best Echeveria for the UK. This means that, not only is it cold tolerant, it's also cooler growing. Temps over 100F certainly don't count as cool. Here's where the plot thickens. I had placed the two blooming roseas right next to other blooming Echeverias (coccinea, gibbiflora) in order for the hummingbirds to cross pollinate them. E. coccinea and gibbiflora are warmer growers than rosea. So in warmer temps, the hybrid rosea seeds would have an advantage over the species rosea seeds.
Here's a pic of a rosea seed just starting to germinate...
You'll have to look closely to see it.
Right now my Epc Cerina 'Nadia' has a nice big seed pod on it…
Here’s what Cerina’s made of...
81.25% = Epi. cinnabarinum
6.25% = Epi. jamiesonis
6.25% = Epi. radicans
3.13% = C. guttata
3.13% = C. luteola
From what I've read, Epi cinnabarinum is a warmer grower with larger flowers. So it was pretty popular for the reed-stem breeding that was done in Hawaii. When I asked an Epi grower here in SoCal about Cerina he said that it has never rebloomed for him or produced keikis. Fortunately, it has for me. Here’s a pic of a couple of keikis…
Probably the main difference between the Epi grower and myself is that he is right on the coast. So his conditions are a lot cooler than mine. The disparity in Cerina’s performance provides some evidence that it does require a decent amount of heat.
Cerina’s flowers are significantly larger than the flowers of typical reed-stems. Here’s the only pic that I have of them…
The reason that I removed Cerina’s flowers was to more comfortably/carefully extricate the pollen. I put the pollen into a small zip lock bag and climbed my tree to pollinate the big floofy white Cattleya. When I inspected the first flower, I discovered that somebody else had already tried to pollinate it, and had died in the attempt. I pollinated a couple of other flowers and they developed very large pods. Unfortunately, when I harvested them, they turned out to be completely empty. The orchid and I were both tricked.
Cerina’s roots, canes and leaves are also larger than typical reed-stems. Here’s a side by side comparison of the canes of Cerina and the canes of a typical reed-stem...
The pod that is currently developing on Cerina is hopefully the result of pollen from…
Epi (Pacific Eclipse x Pacific Canary) ‘Yellow Sun’ x Epi magnoliae
Scadoxus purchased it from Sunset Valley Orchids and let me borrow it for pollination. Its yellow flowers are average sized. The plant itself is more stocky than the typical reed-stem and the leaves are relatively succulent. Right now it has a keiki on it with several thick roots.
Epi magnoliae is the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in the Americas. So it's certainly cold tolerant, but I'm not under the impression that it's a cooler grower. Andy notes the Florida form as favoring warmer temps. The other states in which it occurs also have hot summers.
Here's the breakdown for Epi. Pacific Eclipse...
46.88% = Epi. cinnabarinum
39.06% = Epi. radicans
14.06% = Epi. jamiesonis
And for Epi. Pacific Canary...
28.13% = Epi. cinnabarinum
25.0% = na (eh?)
23.44% = Epi. radicans
12.5% = Epi. secundum
10.94% = Epi. jamiesonis
Let's imagine that I split Cerina’s seed pod with Scadoxus. Hopefully the seeds will be able to germinate without flasking or fungus. My guess is that cinnabarinum would be pretty influential in the cross. This should mean that more of my seeds would germinate. However, this might not be the case if we sowed the seeds in the fall. Even though my area is warmer than Scadoxus' area in the summer, our temps are more equal in the fall and spring, and my area is actually cooler than hers in the winter.
To keep things simple let's say that Scadoxus and myself each ended up with 50 seedlings out of 1000s and 1000s of seeds. If we exchanged half our seedlings with each other then I'm guessing that, in my garden, my seedlings would grow faster than her seedlings. In her garden, her seedlings would grow faster than my seedlings.
Is this obvious?
What really isn't obvious to me is the difference in speed. I have absolutely no idea how much better my seedlings would do in my conditions compared to her seedlings. Would the difference in performance be barely noticeable? Or would it be somewhat noticeable? Or would it be very noticeable?
To put it in terms of blooming... in my conditions how much sooner would my seedlings bloom than hers? Would my seedlings bloom a week before hers? Or a month? Or a year?
The bigger the difference, the more adaptable the cross is. The bigger the difference, the more rapidly the cross will conform to its conditions. Right?
We should all know that orchids are adaptable. But I've never heard of any experiment or study that has attempted to quantify how adaptable any given orchid is. Well... maybe I have... Sem and Phylogenetic Analysis of Naturalized and Cultivated Epidendrum in Hawaii (PDF). In Hawaii, cultivated Epis were compared to naturalized Epis. It seems that there were some noticeable differences between the two groups. This is interesting given how relatively short a time that the Epis have been naturalized in Hawaii.
Reed-stems naturalizing in Hawaii isn't a very huge feat. It would be a very different story if reed-stems naturalized in California. The time it takes for them to be capable of doing so largely depends on how adaptable they are.
Does it matter to us as orchid growers how adaptable orchids are? The more adaptable an orchid is, the greater the benefit of growing it from seed yourself.
We've all heard the expression that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. If orchid seeds don't fall far from their parents, then we can't expect that some seeds will be noticeably better suited to our conditions than other seeds.
Assuming that Cerina’s pod is full of seeds, what should I do with them? Of course I’d be interested in splitting them with Scadoxus in order to try and measure how adaptable the cross is. But I’ve also considered the idea of dividing them among the members of this forum. If there are 10,000 members perhaps each one would receive 10 seeds. Heh. The more members that successfully germinated their seeds, the more adaptable the cross is?
In order to get the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, I should sow all the seeds myself. It’s always better to select from a larger pool of trait combinations. But what if I divide the seeds among 10 members? On the one hand, a smaller pool means somewhat less well-adapted seedlings. On the other hand, if 10 other members also grow the same cross, then… what?
My number one plant rule is to hedge my bets. The other day, when I inspected one of the pots with E. rosea seedlings, I discovered half a dozen tiny bush snails. I have no idea how they got in there… but it’s a good thing that I hedged my bets by sowing the seeds in 5 other pots, each in their own ziplock bag. If I shared Cerina’s seeds with 10 other members, then hopefully I would be able to obtain some seedlings from these members if something happened to mine. This alone is adequate justification for sharing the seeds.
In terms of making progress though, would there be any benefit to sharing the seeds? Here’s how I personally define “progress” when it come orchids…
Drier growing (requiring less frequent watering)
Cooler and warmer growing (hercuthermal)
Let’s say that I give 10,000 seeds to my friend Orchid Dude. If he keeps the seeds/seedlings in one of his greenhouses, then the perfect conditions won’t provide an advantage to the individuals that are exceptionally drier growing and/or hercuthermal. So if he shares some of his seedlings with me, because something happened to mine, then I’d be glad that I hedged my bets. But his seedlings probably wouldn’t be very “progressive”, for lack of a better term.
So in terms of maximizing progress, the seeds should be shared with the members whose conditions/culture will favor the most progressive individuals. In other words, the seeds should be shared with the members who will provide optimally challenging conditions. Except, the large majority of people with optimally challenging conditions probably aren't members of this forum. So I'm leaning towards the idea of auctioning off the seeds to forum members in order to raise money to promote the thread dedicated to the project.
She said that it hasn't grown much since I gave it to her. Which is interesting because mine have certainly grown.
Maybe my thumb is greener? 😁 Or maybe I fertilize more? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my area gets warmer than her area. We both live in SoCal but she's closer to the coast than I am.
It got me thinking. What if she had sown all the seeds? In theory, since her area is cooler, the coolest growing seeds would have had an advantage. So the seedlings she ended up with would have been better adapted to her conditions.
Is this obvious?
Recently I sowed some seeds from two of my Echeveria roseas. I grabbed 6 hanging baskets/pots that already had well draining medium in them, placed Sphagnum moss on top of the medium and sowed seeds of E. rosea, Columnea Elmer Lorenz, Anthurium scandens, a couple different Rhipsalis and a NOID Sinningia. I also placed a few pieces of a NOID Peperomia, Pyrossia and Dischidia on top of the moss. Then I put each basket/pot in a two gallon zip lock bag. The hanger made a nice teepee with a hole in the top of the bag. Lastly I put the baskets/pots in two rows of three on a table in the garage under grow lights near an open window.
The Rhipsalis started to germinate the next day, shortly followed by the Anthurium, and then the rest of the seeds started germinating a couple days after. There was a significant disparity in the number of seeds that have germinated in the pots. Here's a pot with a bunch of E. rosea seeds that look perfectly viable but haven't yet germinated...
You'll probably have to click on the picture in order to see the seeds. Here's the pot with the most seedlings in it...
The two pots closest to the window have the most seedlings, the two pots furthest from the window have the least seedlings, and the two pots in the middle have an average amount of seedlings. It might be a coincidence, but I'm guessing that it has to do with a difference in temperature. It's marginally cooler closer to the window. Right after I sowed the seeds it was over 100F each day for a week. Even though the pots are right next to each other, they are in a small, but significant, continuum of temps.
According to this website, E. rosea is the best Echeveria for the UK. This means that, not only is it cold tolerant, it's also cooler growing. Temps over 100F certainly don't count as cool. Here's where the plot thickens. I had placed the two blooming roseas right next to other blooming Echeverias (coccinea, gibbiflora) in order for the hummingbirds to cross pollinate them. E. coccinea and gibbiflora are warmer growers than rosea. So in warmer temps, the hybrid rosea seeds would have an advantage over the species rosea seeds.
Here's a pic of a rosea seed just starting to germinate...
You'll have to look closely to see it.
Right now my Epc Cerina 'Nadia' has a nice big seed pod on it…
Here’s what Cerina’s made of...
81.25% = Epi. cinnabarinum
6.25% = Epi. jamiesonis
6.25% = Epi. radicans
3.13% = C. guttata
3.13% = C. luteola
From what I've read, Epi cinnabarinum is a warmer grower with larger flowers. So it was pretty popular for the reed-stem breeding that was done in Hawaii. When I asked an Epi grower here in SoCal about Cerina he said that it has never rebloomed for him or produced keikis. Fortunately, it has for me. Here’s a pic of a couple of keikis…
Probably the main difference between the Epi grower and myself is that he is right on the coast. So his conditions are a lot cooler than mine. The disparity in Cerina’s performance provides some evidence that it does require a decent amount of heat.
Cerina’s flowers are significantly larger than the flowers of typical reed-stems. Here’s the only pic that I have of them…
The reason that I removed Cerina’s flowers was to more comfortably/carefully extricate the pollen. I put the pollen into a small zip lock bag and climbed my tree to pollinate the big floofy white Cattleya. When I inspected the first flower, I discovered that somebody else had already tried to pollinate it, and had died in the attempt. I pollinated a couple of other flowers and they developed very large pods. Unfortunately, when I harvested them, they turned out to be completely empty. The orchid and I were both tricked.
Cerina’s roots, canes and leaves are also larger than typical reed-stems. Here’s a side by side comparison of the canes of Cerina and the canes of a typical reed-stem...
The pod that is currently developing on Cerina is hopefully the result of pollen from…
Epi (Pacific Eclipse x Pacific Canary) ‘Yellow Sun’ x Epi magnoliae
Scadoxus purchased it from Sunset Valley Orchids and let me borrow it for pollination. Its yellow flowers are average sized. The plant itself is more stocky than the typical reed-stem and the leaves are relatively succulent. Right now it has a keiki on it with several thick roots.
Epi magnoliae is the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in the Americas. So it's certainly cold tolerant, but I'm not under the impression that it's a cooler grower. Andy notes the Florida form as favoring warmer temps. The other states in which it occurs also have hot summers.
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Here's the breakdown for Epi. Pacific Eclipse...
46.88% = Epi. cinnabarinum
39.06% = Epi. radicans
14.06% = Epi. jamiesonis
And for Epi. Pacific Canary...
28.13% = Epi. cinnabarinum
25.0% = na (eh?)
23.44% = Epi. radicans
12.5% = Epi. secundum
10.94% = Epi. jamiesonis
Let's imagine that I split Cerina’s seed pod with Scadoxus. Hopefully the seeds will be able to germinate without flasking or fungus. My guess is that cinnabarinum would be pretty influential in the cross. This should mean that more of my seeds would germinate. However, this might not be the case if we sowed the seeds in the fall. Even though my area is warmer than Scadoxus' area in the summer, our temps are more equal in the fall and spring, and my area is actually cooler than hers in the winter.
To keep things simple let's say that Scadoxus and myself each ended up with 50 seedlings out of 1000s and 1000s of seeds. If we exchanged half our seedlings with each other then I'm guessing that, in my garden, my seedlings would grow faster than her seedlings. In her garden, her seedlings would grow faster than my seedlings.
Is this obvious?
What really isn't obvious to me is the difference in speed. I have absolutely no idea how much better my seedlings would do in my conditions compared to her seedlings. Would the difference in performance be barely noticeable? Or would it be somewhat noticeable? Or would it be very noticeable?
To put it in terms of blooming... in my conditions how much sooner would my seedlings bloom than hers? Would my seedlings bloom a week before hers? Or a month? Or a year?
The bigger the difference, the more adaptable the cross is. The bigger the difference, the more rapidly the cross will conform to its conditions. Right?
We should all know that orchids are adaptable. But I've never heard of any experiment or study that has attempted to quantify how adaptable any given orchid is. Well... maybe I have... Sem and Phylogenetic Analysis of Naturalized and Cultivated Epidendrum in Hawaii (PDF). In Hawaii, cultivated Epis were compared to naturalized Epis. It seems that there were some noticeable differences between the two groups. This is interesting given how relatively short a time that the Epis have been naturalized in Hawaii.
Reed-stems naturalizing in Hawaii isn't a very huge feat. It would be a very different story if reed-stems naturalized in California. The time it takes for them to be capable of doing so largely depends on how adaptable they are.
Does it matter to us as orchid growers how adaptable orchids are? The more adaptable an orchid is, the greater the benefit of growing it from seed yourself.
We've all heard the expression that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. If orchid seeds don't fall far from their parents, then we can't expect that some seeds will be noticeably better suited to our conditions than other seeds.
Assuming that Cerina’s pod is full of seeds, what should I do with them? Of course I’d be interested in splitting them with Scadoxus in order to try and measure how adaptable the cross is. But I’ve also considered the idea of dividing them among the members of this forum. If there are 10,000 members perhaps each one would receive 10 seeds. Heh. The more members that successfully germinated their seeds, the more adaptable the cross is?
In order to get the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, I should sow all the seeds myself. It’s always better to select from a larger pool of trait combinations. But what if I divide the seeds among 10 members? On the one hand, a smaller pool means somewhat less well-adapted seedlings. On the other hand, if 10 other members also grow the same cross, then… what?
My number one plant rule is to hedge my bets. The other day, when I inspected one of the pots with E. rosea seedlings, I discovered half a dozen tiny bush snails. I have no idea how they got in there… but it’s a good thing that I hedged my bets by sowing the seeds in 5 other pots, each in their own ziplock bag. If I shared Cerina’s seeds with 10 other members, then hopefully I would be able to obtain some seedlings from these members if something happened to mine. This alone is adequate justification for sharing the seeds.
In terms of making progress though, would there be any benefit to sharing the seeds? Here’s how I personally define “progress” when it come orchids…
Drier growing (requiring less frequent watering)
Cooler and warmer growing (hercuthermal)
Let’s say that I give 10,000 seeds to my friend Orchid Dude. If he keeps the seeds/seedlings in one of his greenhouses, then the perfect conditions won’t provide an advantage to the individuals that are exceptionally drier growing and/or hercuthermal. So if he shares some of his seedlings with me, because something happened to mine, then I’d be glad that I hedged my bets. But his seedlings probably wouldn’t be very “progressive”, for lack of a better term.
So in terms of maximizing progress, the seeds should be shared with the members whose conditions/culture will favor the most progressive individuals. In other words, the seeds should be shared with the members who will provide optimally challenging conditions. Except, the large majority of people with optimally challenging conditions probably aren't members of this forum. So I'm leaning towards the idea of auctioning off the seeds to forum members in order to raise money to promote the thread dedicated to the project.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Begonia Diamantina
A couple years ago my best Brazilian friend, who I've never met in real life, sent me seeds of a few different plants, including a terrestrial Begonia. A terrestrial Begonia? Sometimes I'll say, "If it's not an epiphyte, or a phorophyte, then it's not for me!" There are certainly some epiphytic Begonias, but they are generally pretty thirsty, which doesn't work so well here in parched Southern California. What I've discovered is that plenty of drought tolerant terrestrials can actually make pretty decent epiphytes.
Here's a picture of my tree in 2012...
Begonia boliviensis and Echeveria gibbiflora are both terrestrials. They did well epiphytically... for a while. Each one has the opposite issue. The Begonia's pendent form is perfect for growing on a tree, and it's drought tolerant, but it isn't a drier grower. The Echeveria, on the other hand, is definitely a drier grower. It grows really fast and quickly develops a trunk, which eventually badly bends and causes the plant's gradual decline and eventual demise. So its upright form is far from perfect for growing on a tree. There have been a few rather interesting exceptions. I'd love to speed up the evolutionary process in order to see its optimal epiphytic form.
There are a few mainly epiphytic Echeverias... such as rosea. Here's a picture of it from "The Genus Echeveria" (I think) by John Pilbeam...
So nice!!! Here's a picture of it blooming on my tree in 2012...
It was growing a few other places on the tree as well. They were fine when I watered 3x/week at night during summer, but weren't so fine when I reduced the frequency to 2x/week.
Echeveria rosea's form is much better than gibbiflora's form for growing on trees, but gibbiflora is a much more drier grower than rosea is. It would be wonderful to have the best of both worlds!
In a small section of my garden that I water 3x/week I have some happy roseas growing in baskets and on mossy boards. When two of them bloomed earlier in the year I placed them right next to some blooming gibbifloras and coccineas growing in pots. I was hoping that the hummingbirds would do all the work of cross-pollinating them. Recently I sowed the seeds from the roseas and I'm crossing my fingers that some of the seedlings will be better at growing epiphytically here in SoCal.
My Echeveria strategy is the same one that I've planned on using with the Begonias. I've been on the lookout for drier growing Begonias... so I was really happy that my friend in Brazil sent me some seeds of one. I used water bottles for pots and put pure pumice in some and a mix of pumice and peat in others. On top of the medium I put a layer of New Zealand Sphagnum. I thoroughly watered the pots, sowed the seeds on top of the moss, misted the seeds and put the pots in ziplock bags, which I placed near windows or under lights. When the seedlings started to get too big for the bags, I gradually opened them in order to slowly acclimate the seedlings. Then I placed them outside in a somewhat shady area. I don't think that I lost a single Begonia over the winter. Here's a pic of the seedlings right before I divided and potted them up (13 Aug 2007)...
They look like nasturtiums! They were in a decent amount of shade and weren't very drought stressed. The ferns are all volunteers. They popped up when the pots were in the bags. Some might have come up from the Sphagnum, but some might have also come up from the additional epiphytic moss that I added to the pots. There were also a dozen or so regular Begonias. I'm not exactly sure where they came from.
Here's a pic of the plants after I unpotted them...
I grouped the plants according to their medium. Can you guess which group was in pure pumice? Let's just say that when I potted them up I didn't use pure pumice...
There are around 50 seedlings. I had already given one to Fernando and another to Scadoxus. I placed the Begonias in square pots in a sunnier spot that I water once a week during summer. The Begonias in the water bottle pots went back to their original location.
I'm not exactly sure which species my Begonia is. My friend said venosa but I don't think that they are. Then again, they have been growing in a decent amount of shade. They might look pretty different after getting some direct sun. I believe that my Begonias are from Chapada Diamantina. So I searched Flickr for "Diamantina" and created a gallery for the pics of Begonias. Most of the Begonias look the same but there are a few that look different. What's a little "tricky" is that there are actually two places in Brazil named "Diamantina". In the state of Bahia there's a region called Chapada Diamantina and in the state of Minas Gerais there's a city called Diamantina.
According to this article, my Brazilian Begonia might be Begonia umbraculifera. When I did an image search I found this page with a photo of a Begonia that looks quite similar to mine. What are some other possibilities? A few of the Begonias in my Flickr gallery are identified as Begonia grisea. When I search Google images for Begonia grisea, the fourth image is from an article about Begonia petasitifolia. It looks very different compared to this Begonia petasitifolia. If its leaves unfurled would they look like the leaves on my Begonia?
Whatever my Begonia is, so far it seems to be a decent drier grower. But I doubt that its tall upright form is the best for growing epiphytically. I definitely plan on trying to cross it with Begonias that have a more suitable form, such as boliviensis.
Here's a picture of my tree in 2012...
Begonia boliviensis and Echeveria gibbiflora are both terrestrials. They did well epiphytically... for a while. Each one has the opposite issue. The Begonia's pendent form is perfect for growing on a tree, and it's drought tolerant, but it isn't a drier grower. The Echeveria, on the other hand, is definitely a drier grower. It grows really fast and quickly develops a trunk, which eventually badly bends and causes the plant's gradual decline and eventual demise. So its upright form is far from perfect for growing on a tree. There have been a few rather interesting exceptions. I'd love to speed up the evolutionary process in order to see its optimal epiphytic form.
There are a few mainly epiphytic Echeverias... such as rosea. Here's a picture of it from "The Genus Echeveria" (I think) by John Pilbeam...
So nice!!! Here's a picture of it blooming on my tree in 2012...
It was growing a few other places on the tree as well. They were fine when I watered 3x/week at night during summer, but weren't so fine when I reduced the frequency to 2x/week.
Echeveria rosea's form is much better than gibbiflora's form for growing on trees, but gibbiflora is a much more drier grower than rosea is. It would be wonderful to have the best of both worlds!
In a small section of my garden that I water 3x/week I have some happy roseas growing in baskets and on mossy boards. When two of them bloomed earlier in the year I placed them right next to some blooming gibbifloras and coccineas growing in pots. I was hoping that the hummingbirds would do all the work of cross-pollinating them. Recently I sowed the seeds from the roseas and I'm crossing my fingers that some of the seedlings will be better at growing epiphytically here in SoCal.
My Echeveria strategy is the same one that I've planned on using with the Begonias. I've been on the lookout for drier growing Begonias... so I was really happy that my friend in Brazil sent me some seeds of one. I used water bottles for pots and put pure pumice in some and a mix of pumice and peat in others. On top of the medium I put a layer of New Zealand Sphagnum. I thoroughly watered the pots, sowed the seeds on top of the moss, misted the seeds and put the pots in ziplock bags, which I placed near windows or under lights. When the seedlings started to get too big for the bags, I gradually opened them in order to slowly acclimate the seedlings. Then I placed them outside in a somewhat shady area. I don't think that I lost a single Begonia over the winter. Here's a pic of the seedlings right before I divided and potted them up (13 Aug 2007)...
They look like nasturtiums! They were in a decent amount of shade and weren't very drought stressed. The ferns are all volunteers. They popped up when the pots were in the bags. Some might have come up from the Sphagnum, but some might have also come up from the additional epiphytic moss that I added to the pots. There were also a dozen or so regular Begonias. I'm not exactly sure where they came from.
Here's a pic of the plants after I unpotted them...
I grouped the plants according to their medium. Can you guess which group was in pure pumice? Let's just say that when I potted them up I didn't use pure pumice...
There are around 50 seedlings. I had already given one to Fernando and another to Scadoxus. I placed the Begonias in square pots in a sunnier spot that I water once a week during summer. The Begonias in the water bottle pots went back to their original location.
I'm not exactly sure which species my Begonia is. My friend said venosa but I don't think that they are. Then again, they have been growing in a decent amount of shade. They might look pretty different after getting some direct sun. I believe that my Begonias are from Chapada Diamantina. So I searched Flickr for "Diamantina" and created a gallery for the pics of Begonias. Most of the Begonias look the same but there are a few that look different. What's a little "tricky" is that there are actually two places in Brazil named "Diamantina". In the state of Bahia there's a region called Chapada Diamantina and in the state of Minas Gerais there's a city called Diamantina.
According to this article, my Brazilian Begonia might be Begonia umbraculifera. When I did an image search I found this page with a photo of a Begonia that looks quite similar to mine. What are some other possibilities? A few of the Begonias in my Flickr gallery are identified as Begonia grisea. When I search Google images for Begonia grisea, the fourth image is from an article about Begonia petasitifolia. It looks very different compared to this Begonia petasitifolia. If its leaves unfurled would they look like the leaves on my Begonia?
Whatever my Begonia is, so far it seems to be a decent drier grower. But I doubt that its tall upright form is the best for growing epiphytically. I definitely plan on trying to cross it with Begonias that have a more suitable form, such as boliviensis.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Growing Orchids From Seed Is Easy!
Actually, in order to germinate, most orchid seeds require the assistance of a microscopic fungus. Or they need to be sown in flasks. There are, however, a few notable exceptions to this rule. Here's my reply to... growing from seed.
********************************
The Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in America is Epidendrum conopseum/magnoliae. It's currently in 3rd place in the Great Epiphyte Race to Canada. But it's definitely the most cold tolerant epiphytic orchid in America.
Epi conopseum isn't the showiest orchid so I would recommend finding and/or making crosses with it. Especially with reed-stem Epidendrums.
Unlike most orchid seeds, the seeds of reed-stems have enough nutrients to germinate on their own. So you can sow the seeds pretty much like you would any succulent with very small seeds (ie Echeverias).
Moss attached to a wooden board placed diagonally in a pot in a zip lock bag. Reed seeds germinating along with Rhipsalis seeds. There's also a rhizome of Microgramma vacciniifolia.
Reed protocorms with Pyrrosia piloselloides. Medium was bark with some moss on top. Pot also in a zip lock bag.
Echinocactus grusonii VS Epidendrum secundum. The Golden Barrel cactus won this round. I guess the pumice was too large for most of the reed seeds. Pot in a cat litter bin covered in clear trash bag.
Reed seedlings with Anthurium scandens seedlings. Medium was bark with moss on top. Pots in zip lock bag.
********************************
Update: 2 Oct 2018
In July I sowed some Bletilla striata seeds that I received from Fernando. Here's a recent pic...
I also included some seeds from his Begonia thiemei and/or carolineifolia.
What other orchids can grow from seed as easily as reed-stems and Bletilla striata?
Update: 13 Oct 2018
Here are some reed-stem Epidendrums from seeds that I sowed a year ago...
********************************
The Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in America is Epidendrum conopseum/magnoliae. It's currently in 3rd place in the Great Epiphyte Race to Canada. But it's definitely the most cold tolerant epiphytic orchid in America.
Epi conopseum isn't the showiest orchid so I would recommend finding and/or making crosses with it. Especially with reed-stem Epidendrums.
Unlike most orchid seeds, the seeds of reed-stems have enough nutrients to germinate on their own. So you can sow the seeds pretty much like you would any succulent with very small seeds (ie Echeverias).
Moss attached to a wooden board placed diagonally in a pot in a zip lock bag. Reed seeds germinating along with Rhipsalis seeds. There's also a rhizome of Microgramma vacciniifolia.
Reed protocorms with Pyrrosia piloselloides. Medium was bark with some moss on top. Pot also in a zip lock bag.
Echinocactus grusonii VS Epidendrum secundum. The Golden Barrel cactus won this round. I guess the pumice was too large for most of the reed seeds. Pot in a cat litter bin covered in clear trash bag.
Reed seedlings with Anthurium scandens seedlings. Medium was bark with moss on top. Pots in zip lock bag.
********************************
Update: 2 Oct 2018
In July I sowed some Bletilla striata seeds that I received from Fernando. Here's a recent pic...
I also included some seeds from his Begonia thiemei and/or carolineifolia.
What other orchids can grow from seed as easily as reed-stems and Bletilla striata?
Update: 13 Oct 2018
Here are some reed-stem Epidendrums from seeds that I sowed a year ago...
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Exceptional Seeds
Forum thread: Exceptional Seeds
************************************
Check out this thread... Some things currently in bloom. Yeah, they aren't orchids... but if you scroll down you'll see some nice propagation going on.
Succulents are relatively easy to grow from seed. In other words... you don't need to flask them. Which means... what? How different would the succulent hobby be if succulent seeds did require flasking? How different would the orchid hobby be if orchid seeds did not require flasking?
I've mentioned in a couple threads that I've successfully germinated some reed-stem Epidendrum seeds without flasking them. I basically used the same technique that I use for succulent seeds, Begonia seeds, Gesneriad seeds and so on.
I'm guessing that, unlike the seeds of most orchids, the seeds of some reed-stem Epi species contain enough nutrients to germinate on their own. It's just a guess though because the only way to be certain that absolutely no facilitative fungus was involved would be to flask the sterilized seeds without any nutrients. Which I'm probably not going to do...
Instead, I've been going around sticking Epi secundum pollen in different flowers...
- Barkeria cyclotella x Bardendrum Terusan: 1 pod nearly ripe (25 Jan)
- Brassavola digbyana x nodosa: 1 pod developing (5 Apr) and 1 pod around half mature (23 Feb)
- Cattleya nobilior: 1 pod developing (5 Apr)
- Cattleya Big White Floof: 2 pods developing (5 Apr)
- Epc. Cerina 'Nadia': 2 pods around half mature (3 Mar)
- Prosthechea cochleata: 3 pods nearly mature (27 Dec)
For some of these it's a bit surprising that pods have even started to develop. And, interestingly enough, this is pretty much the same list of orchids that I've attempted to pollinate with pollen from Epi secundum. Even though it's a pretty small sample group it seems like many, or even most, orchids in the Cattleya alliance are receptive to Epi secundum pollen.
Here are the registered intergeneric crosses with Epi secundum as the pollen parent....
- Epicatanthe Morningstar Sunshine = Cattlianthe Panache Domaine x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicatanthe Party Blossom = Cattlianthe Hawaiian Party x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicatanthe Saturn's Rings = Cattlianthe Golden Wax x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicattleya Purple Passion = Cattleya intermedia x Epidendrum secundum
That's the entire list! And they were all made by the same nursery... Rex Foster Orchids.
I'm guessing that crosses with Epi secundum as the pollen parent aren't very spectacular. But, some reed-stem intergeneric crosses aren't too shabby... Reed-stem Epidendrum Hybrids. Personally, I'd be pretty happy if I could easily grow Epicattleya Orange Blaze from seed!
Epc Orange Blaze is 75% reed-stem. What are the chances that it can easily grow from seed? Coincidentally, there's one currently on eBay... Epidendrum "Orange Blaze", Orchidée, Orchid... in France.
Here's a clue regarding whether 50% or higher reed-stem Epi crosses might be able to easily germinate from seed...
If the crosses themselves are strongly influenced by the reed-stem parent... then you'd figure that the same would be true of their seeds. This would mean that there's a decent chance that the seeds of 50% reed-stem crosses can be easily germinated. If it is relatively easy to germinate 50% reed-stem seeds... then, in theory, many people would be happy to hybridize accordingly... and, by the law of truly large numbers, we'd expect to see at least a few 50% reed-stem crosses that we'd be happy to purchase or trade for. Over time there would be an increase in the supply of seeds from desirable crosses. These seeds would be relatively easy to germinate... so as their supply increased... there would be a logical and corresponding increase in total happiness.
With more and more people happily growing orchids from seed we would also expect to see faster climatic convergence. Some seedlings are always going to be better suited to any given conditions. So more seedlings grown would mean faster adaptation. As a result, there would be more and more orchids growing outdoors year around in colder and/or drier areas. Basically...
more seedlings -> more difference -> more progress
************************************
Check out this thread... Some things currently in bloom. Yeah, they aren't orchids... but if you scroll down you'll see some nice propagation going on.
Succulents are relatively easy to grow from seed. In other words... you don't need to flask them. Which means... what? How different would the succulent hobby be if succulent seeds did require flasking? How different would the orchid hobby be if orchid seeds did not require flasking?
I've mentioned in a couple threads that I've successfully germinated some reed-stem Epidendrum seeds without flasking them. I basically used the same technique that I use for succulent seeds, Begonia seeds, Gesneriad seeds and so on.
I'm guessing that, unlike the seeds of most orchids, the seeds of some reed-stem Epi species contain enough nutrients to germinate on their own. It's just a guess though because the only way to be certain that absolutely no facilitative fungus was involved would be to flask the sterilized seeds without any nutrients. Which I'm probably not going to do...
Instead, I've been going around sticking Epi secundum pollen in different flowers...
- Barkeria cyclotella x Bardendrum Terusan: 1 pod nearly ripe (25 Jan)
- Brassavola digbyana x nodosa: 1 pod developing (5 Apr) and 1 pod around half mature (23 Feb)
- Cattleya nobilior: 1 pod developing (5 Apr)
- Cattleya Big White Floof: 2 pods developing (5 Apr)
- Epc. Cerina 'Nadia': 2 pods around half mature (3 Mar)
- Prosthechea cochleata: 3 pods nearly mature (27 Dec)
For some of these it's a bit surprising that pods have even started to develop. And, interestingly enough, this is pretty much the same list of orchids that I've attempted to pollinate with pollen from Epi secundum. Even though it's a pretty small sample group it seems like many, or even most, orchids in the Cattleya alliance are receptive to Epi secundum pollen.
Here are the registered intergeneric crosses with Epi secundum as the pollen parent....
- Epicatanthe Morningstar Sunshine = Cattlianthe Panache Domaine x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicatanthe Party Blossom = Cattlianthe Hawaiian Party x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicatanthe Saturn's Rings = Cattlianthe Golden Wax x Epidendrum secundum
- Epicattleya Purple Passion = Cattleya intermedia x Epidendrum secundum
That's the entire list! And they were all made by the same nursery... Rex Foster Orchids.
I'm guessing that crosses with Epi secundum as the pollen parent aren't very spectacular. But, some reed-stem intergeneric crosses aren't too shabby... Reed-stem Epidendrum Hybrids. Personally, I'd be pretty happy if I could easily grow Epicattleya Orange Blaze from seed!
Epc Orange Blaze is 75% reed-stem. What are the chances that it can easily grow from seed? Coincidentally, there's one currently on eBay... Epidendrum "Orange Blaze", Orchidée, Orchid... in France.
Here's a clue regarding whether 50% or higher reed-stem Epi crosses might be able to easily germinate from seed...
One of the oldest artificial epidendrum hybrids is Epidendrum O'brienianum, a cross between E. radicans and a member of the E. secundum complex (Epidendrum evectum). The E. secundum influence predominates in that the column is straight and the lip is uppermost with a small fleshy callus. Epidendrum O'brienianum is a common garden plant in subtropical areas; spontaneous seedlings occur in varying colors. This hybrid sometimes "escapes" from the garden and may appear to be native in areas as far apart as Mexico and Africa. Unlabled plants in gardens and greenhouses are likely to be hybrids, and they may have almost any combination of reed-stem species in their background. These epidendrums are usually tetraploids, so that the Epidendrum parent predominates in crosses with Cattleya or Laelia. Epicattleyas of this type could easily pass for pure reed-stems in dim light, but they always have at least the tip of the column free from the lip. - Robert L. Dressler, Will the Real Epidendrum ibaguense Please Stand Up?
If the crosses themselves are strongly influenced by the reed-stem parent... then you'd figure that the same would be true of their seeds. This would mean that there's a decent chance that the seeds of 50% reed-stem crosses can be easily germinated. If it is relatively easy to germinate 50% reed-stem seeds... then, in theory, many people would be happy to hybridize accordingly... and, by the law of truly large numbers, we'd expect to see at least a few 50% reed-stem crosses that we'd be happy to purchase or trade for. Over time there would be an increase in the supply of seeds from desirable crosses. These seeds would be relatively easy to germinate... so as their supply increased... there would be a logical and corresponding increase in total happiness.
With more and more people happily growing orchids from seed we would also expect to see faster climatic convergence. Some seedlings are always going to be better suited to any given conditions. So more seedlings grown would mean faster adaptation. As a result, there would be more and more orchids growing outdoors year around in colder and/or drier areas. Basically...
more seedlings -> more difference -> more progress
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Creating The Perfect Orchid For Southern California
In an e-mail, u u (flickr, OB) said that creating the perfect epiphytic orchid for SoCal is a "Herculean" goal. What's life without one, or two, or... a dozen... Herculean goals?! But just how Herculean is this goal anyways?
For those of you who haven't been following along at home... the perfect epiphytic orchid for SoCal would be a lot like Aloe Hercules (AH)...
- Hercules, Hercutherm, Hybridize This and Hercules
- Hercuthermal Experiment
Let's geek out a bit...
Brassavola nodosa (BN)
x = 10
y = 5
Golden Peacock (GP)
x = 5
y = 10
BN is twice as succulent as GP... but GP is twice as hercuthermal as BN. BN only grows half the year here in SoCal while GP grows the entire year. What we want is the best of both worlds! We want an orchid that needs less water to grow the entire year.
So let's imagine that we crossed GP and BN. This would give us a Fatter Golden Peacock (FGP). Here are a few basic assumptions...
1. No two FGPs would be exactly alike
2. The more FGPs there are, the more variation there will be
We've all heard the expression about the apple not falling far from the tree. It's a given that the more apples that fall from the tree... the greater the distances that some of the apples will fall from the tree. This is what I've tried to illustrate in the x y graph.
In our case, we want the apple to fall far from the tree... but in the direction of AH. The more FGPs that are produced... the greater the chances that we'll end up with a fabulous outlier. This is known as the law of truly large numbers.
If there's one thing that orchids are really good at, it's producing a truly large number of seeds...
A single seed pod can contain a million seeds! A million seeds is a truly large number of seeds. I'm pretty sure that this goes a long way in explaining the success (diversity) of the orchid family.
Since orchids are exceptionally good at producing a large number of seeds, all else being equal, we should be able to make a lot more progress in a lot less time with orchids than we could make with coconuts. An average size flask of orchids can contain around 30 seedlings. But the same size flask wouldn't be large enough for even one coconut seedling. Therefore, creating the perfect orchid for SoCal should be a less Herculean goal than creating the perfect coconut for SoCal.
So how many FGP seedlings would we need to grow in order to find the fabulous outlier? A million seedlings? Maybe 300,000 seedlings? If so, that would be 10,000 flasks! That's a lot of flasks! If this is the case then...
Herculean = Expensive
In the x y graph I put AH and BN both as a 10 in terms of succulence. Clearly, in absolute terms, AH is a lot more succulent than BN. But in relative terms... perhaps they are reasonably equivalent. For some evidence that this is roughly correct, check out this photo of a BN growing on a cactus in nature.
If you looked through that gallery of orchids growing on succulents/cactus... you would have noticed that BN isn't the only Cattleya alliance orchid that grows on cactus. There are 100s of species in the Cattleya alliance that grow in seasonally dry forests and many of these orchids are happy to grow on the cactus that share the same habitat.
Here's a partial listing of some of the relatively drought tolerant species in the Cattleya alliance...
Barkeria (all)
Brassavola (all)
Broughtonia (all)
Cattleya nobilior
Cattleya walkeriana
Encyclia (all)
Laelia (Mexican... all)
Laelia sincorana
Myrmecophila (all)
Psychilis (all)
Rhyncholaelia (all)
Schomburgkia (all)
Sophronitis brevipedunculata
Tetramicra (all)
They all use different strategies to deal with drought. Barkerias are the only ones that are deciduous. Brassavolas are the only ones with entirely terete leaves... they also have very skinny pseudobulbs. Tetramicras have canaliculate/fleshy leaves, skinny pseudobulbs and multiple leaves on each pseudobulb. The pseudobulbs of the Rhyncholaelias aren't skinny or fat... but their leaves are relatively succulent. Psychilis do not have very fat pseudobulbs either... but neither are their leaves relatively succulent. Instead, their leaves are quite stiff (coriaceous). Myrmecophilas are the only ones with hollow pseudobulbs (for the ants to live in). Most of the others species have fat/succulent pseudobulbs but there's considerable variety in the size/shape of their pseudobulbs and in the quantity/size/shape of their leaves
One type of form that I find particularly appealing is the "teapot" form (short and stout). Encyclia pyriformis is a good example...
The plant is so short and stout! And here's a good photo that illustrates how stout Cattleya walkeriana can be.
Given the number of...
A. species in the Cattleya alliance that occur in dry forests
B. crosses that have been made with these species
... what are the chances that BN is truly the most drought tolerant orchid in the Cattleya alliance? Pretty slim! So ideally we'd want to cross GP with both A and B in order to find the combination of traits that is closest to AH on the x y graph.
How long would it take us to test out all these different possible combinations?! And how much money would it cost us to flask all the seeds?! Clearly the answer depends on how many of "us" there are.
Recently a friend in Australia shared a photo of a nice tree in Perth. As nice as the tree is... it has a pretty big problem. It's naked! The tree doesn't even have a single orchid growing on it. Perth doesn't have any native epiphytic orchids. And neither does Los Angeles.
Perth and Los Angeles have something else in common. Both cities have many people who love growing orchids... Orchid Society of Western Australia (OSWA) and the Orchid Society of Southern California (OSSC).
As the saying goes... many hands make light work. What if we collaborated with the OSWA to create the perfect orchid for... Southern California? For Perth? And what if we invited the members of the Cape Town Orchid Society to join us?
Here's how I've illustrated this...
Even though each of these three cities has a Mediterranean climate... there's a considerable amount of variation in precipitation (mm/inches)...
1. Perth: 730.5 / 28.76
2. Cape Town: 515 / 20.28
3. Los Angeles: 379.2 / 14.93
Out of these three cities... the least Herculean goal would be to create the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth. This is because Perth receives a lot more rain than Cape Town... and twice as much rain as Los Angeles.
Participants in Los Angeles and Cape Town would make promising crosses and send the seeds to participants in Perth. The participants in Perth would flask the seeds and allow their climate to select the most suitable individuals. The survivors of this selection process would be crossed with other promising candidates (recombination) and eventually the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth would be found. Participants in Perth would send seeds of this cross to participants in Cape Town. The same selection/recombination process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Cape Town. The seeds of this orchid would be sent to Los Angeles and the same process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Southern California.
What would we call this system? Trickle down epiphytics (TDE)?
Perth, Cape Town and Los Angeles aren't the only cities with Mediterranean climates. There are quite a few other cities in the same boat. So if we want to get the ball rolling as fast as possible (maximize the rate of progress)... then we should be as inclusive as possible...
For comparison, here are the climate graphs for Brassavola nodosa, Barkeria barkeriola and Laelia speciosa (source) ...
For even more comparison, here's the climate graph for Melbourne...
Porto gets so much rain!!! *green with envy* With as much rain as Porto gets... is there already some epiphytic orchid species or hybrid that could thrive, or at least survive, there without any supplemental watering? I'm guessing that the answer is yes. And maybe the orchid growers in Porto are already growing this orchid?
Personally, I don't know any orchid growers in Porto. And I'm guessing that I'm the rule rather than the exception. I do know an orchid grower in Rome... but I really can't say that I'm doing a very good job of networking with other orchid growers in Mediterranean climates.
Here's a partial listing of orchid societies located in Mediterranean climates...
Maybe we should create a Facebook page/group for orchid growers in Mediterranean climates?
Googling around I found this photo in Wikipedia commons....
The photo was taken by Marcia Breia in Cordoaria Garden which is in Porto, Portugal. The tree is the London plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia). The truck is so big, fat and mossy! It would be perfect for an orchid... or two.
We would certainly linger longer and be more inclined to take a photo of this tree if it had an orchid growing on it. But not only would this specific space be more appealing, it would also be more diverse.
Regarding the value of diversity...
Regarding our natural preference for orchid diversity...
Regarding our natural preference for collecting/sharing...
Regarding the virtuous cycle of diversity...
Creating the perfect epiphytic orchids for Mediterranean climates would mean that lots of people would attach these orchids to trees. Because, just like AH... they would require very little supplemental water to grow year around. All these orchids on trees would create new niches for a wide variety of living things. The logical and beneficial outcome would be more diversity.
Right now there are thousands and thousands of people growing millions of epiphytic orchids in Mediterranean climates. All these epiphytic orchids require more supplemental water than AH requires. And because people often don't have the time, or energy, to consistently and regularly water their epiphytic orchids... many epiphytic orchids are killed from dehydration. Basically, people unintentionally help nature select for the most drought tolerant and hercuthermal epiphytic orchids. This means that we will eventually end up with the perfect orchids for Mediterranean climates. Personally, I'd love to have these orchids sooner rather than later!!! It's really hard to imagine that I'm the only person in this boat! So in theory, it shouldn't be a Herculean goal to encourage people to help create/buy/test/share epiphytic orchids that might be better suited for Mediterranean climates.
For those of you who haven't been following along at home... the perfect epiphytic orchid for SoCal would be a lot like Aloe Hercules (AH)...
- Hercules, Hercutherm, Hybridize This and Hercules
- Hercuthermal Experiment
Let's geek out a bit...
Brassavola nodosa (BN)
x = 10
y = 5
Golden Peacock (GP)
x = 5
y = 10
BN is twice as succulent as GP... but GP is twice as hercuthermal as BN. BN only grows half the year here in SoCal while GP grows the entire year. What we want is the best of both worlds! We want an orchid that needs less water to grow the entire year.
So let's imagine that we crossed GP and BN. This would give us a Fatter Golden Peacock (FGP). Here are a few basic assumptions...
1. No two FGPs would be exactly alike
2. The more FGPs there are, the more variation there will be
We've all heard the expression about the apple not falling far from the tree. It's a given that the more apples that fall from the tree... the greater the distances that some of the apples will fall from the tree. This is what I've tried to illustrate in the x y graph.
In our case, we want the apple to fall far from the tree... but in the direction of AH. The more FGPs that are produced... the greater the chances that we'll end up with a fabulous outlier. This is known as the law of truly large numbers.
If there's one thing that orchids are really good at, it's producing a truly large number of seeds...
A single seed pod can contain a million seeds! A million seeds is a truly large number of seeds. I'm pretty sure that this goes a long way in explaining the success (diversity) of the orchid family.
Since orchids are exceptionally good at producing a large number of seeds, all else being equal, we should be able to make a lot more progress in a lot less time with orchids than we could make with coconuts. An average size flask of orchids can contain around 30 seedlings. But the same size flask wouldn't be large enough for even one coconut seedling. Therefore, creating the perfect orchid for SoCal should be a less Herculean goal than creating the perfect coconut for SoCal.
So how many FGP seedlings would we need to grow in order to find the fabulous outlier? A million seedlings? Maybe 300,000 seedlings? If so, that would be 10,000 flasks! That's a lot of flasks! If this is the case then...
Herculean = Expensive
In the x y graph I put AH and BN both as a 10 in terms of succulence. Clearly, in absolute terms, AH is a lot more succulent than BN. But in relative terms... perhaps they are reasonably equivalent. For some evidence that this is roughly correct, check out this photo of a BN growing on a cactus in nature.
If you looked through that gallery of orchids growing on succulents/cactus... you would have noticed that BN isn't the only Cattleya alliance orchid that grows on cactus. There are 100s of species in the Cattleya alliance that grow in seasonally dry forests and many of these orchids are happy to grow on the cactus that share the same habitat.
Here's a partial listing of some of the relatively drought tolerant species in the Cattleya alliance...
Barkeria (all)
Brassavola (all)
Broughtonia (all)
Cattleya nobilior
Cattleya walkeriana
Encyclia (all)
Laelia (Mexican... all)
Laelia sincorana
Myrmecophila (all)
Psychilis (all)
Rhyncholaelia (all)
Schomburgkia (all)
Sophronitis brevipedunculata
Tetramicra (all)
They all use different strategies to deal with drought. Barkerias are the only ones that are deciduous. Brassavolas are the only ones with entirely terete leaves... they also have very skinny pseudobulbs. Tetramicras have canaliculate/fleshy leaves, skinny pseudobulbs and multiple leaves on each pseudobulb. The pseudobulbs of the Rhyncholaelias aren't skinny or fat... but their leaves are relatively succulent. Psychilis do not have very fat pseudobulbs either... but neither are their leaves relatively succulent. Instead, their leaves are quite stiff (coriaceous). Myrmecophilas are the only ones with hollow pseudobulbs (for the ants to live in). Most of the others species have fat/succulent pseudobulbs but there's considerable variety in the size/shape of their pseudobulbs and in the quantity/size/shape of their leaves
One type of form that I find particularly appealing is the "teapot" form (short and stout). Encyclia pyriformis is a good example...
The plant is so short and stout! And here's a good photo that illustrates how stout Cattleya walkeriana can be.
Given the number of...
A. species in the Cattleya alliance that occur in dry forests
B. crosses that have been made with these species
... what are the chances that BN is truly the most drought tolerant orchid in the Cattleya alliance? Pretty slim! So ideally we'd want to cross GP with both A and B in order to find the combination of traits that is closest to AH on the x y graph.
How long would it take us to test out all these different possible combinations?! And how much money would it cost us to flask all the seeds?! Clearly the answer depends on how many of "us" there are.
Recently a friend in Australia shared a photo of a nice tree in Perth. As nice as the tree is... it has a pretty big problem. It's naked! The tree doesn't even have a single orchid growing on it. Perth doesn't have any native epiphytic orchids. And neither does Los Angeles.
Perth and Los Angeles have something else in common. Both cities have many people who love growing orchids... Orchid Society of Western Australia (OSWA) and the Orchid Society of Southern California (OSSC).
As the saying goes... many hands make light work. What if we collaborated with the OSWA to create the perfect orchid for... Southern California? For Perth? And what if we invited the members of the Cape Town Orchid Society to join us?
Here's how I've illustrated this...
Even though each of these three cities has a Mediterranean climate... there's a considerable amount of variation in precipitation (mm/inches)...
1. Perth: 730.5 / 28.76
2. Cape Town: 515 / 20.28
3. Los Angeles: 379.2 / 14.93
Out of these three cities... the least Herculean goal would be to create the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth. This is because Perth receives a lot more rain than Cape Town... and twice as much rain as Los Angeles.
Participants in Los Angeles and Cape Town would make promising crosses and send the seeds to participants in Perth. The participants in Perth would flask the seeds and allow their climate to select the most suitable individuals. The survivors of this selection process would be crossed with other promising candidates (recombination) and eventually the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth would be found. Participants in Perth would send seeds of this cross to participants in Cape Town. The same selection/recombination process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Cape Town. The seeds of this orchid would be sent to Los Angeles and the same process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Southern California.
What would we call this system? Trickle down epiphytics (TDE)?
Perth, Cape Town and Los Angeles aren't the only cities with Mediterranean climates. There are quite a few other cities in the same boat. So if we want to get the ball rolling as fast as possible (maximize the rate of progress)... then we should be as inclusive as possible...
For comparison, here are the climate graphs for Brassavola nodosa, Barkeria barkeriola and Laelia speciosa (source) ...
For even more comparison, here's the climate graph for Melbourne...
- Veracruz: 1,516.38 / 59.7
- Porto: 1,237 / 48.7
- Antalya: 1,057.4 / 41.628
- Puerto Vallarta: 988.06 / 38.9
- Rome: 804.3 / 31.665
- Lisbon: 774 / 30.47
- Perth: 730.5 / 28.76
- Melbourne: 648.3 / 25.524
- San Francisco: 600.7 / 23.65
- Adelaide: 544.9 / 21.453
- Tel Aviv: 527.6 / 20.773
- Cape Town: 515 / 20.28
- Valencia: 475.0 / 18.701
- Athens: 414.1 / 16.303
- Los Angeles: 379.2 / 14.93
- Guanajuato: 368.3 / 14.5
Porto gets so much rain!!! *green with envy* With as much rain as Porto gets... is there already some epiphytic orchid species or hybrid that could thrive, or at least survive, there without any supplemental watering? I'm guessing that the answer is yes. And maybe the orchid growers in Porto are already growing this orchid?
Personally, I don't know any orchid growers in Porto. And I'm guessing that I'm the rule rather than the exception. I do know an orchid grower in Rome... but I really can't say that I'm doing a very good job of networking with other orchid growers in Mediterranean climates.
Here's a partial listing of orchid societies located in Mediterranean climates...
- Lisbon?, Portugal - Clube dos Orquidófilos de Portugal (Facebook)
- Valencia, Spain - Orquidiòfils Valencians (Facebook)
- Rome?, Italy - Associazione Italiana di Orchidologia (Facebook)
- ?, Greece - Greek Orchid Society (Facebook)
- Perth, Australia - Orchid Society of Western Australia (Facebook)
- Adelaide, Australia - Orchid Club of South Australia (Facebook)
- Cape Town, South Africa - Cape Orchid Society (Facebook)
- ?, Israel - Israel Orchid Society (Facebook)
- San Francisco, United States - San Francisco Orchid Society (Facebook)
- Los Angeles, United States - Orchid Society of Southern California (Facebook)
Maybe we should create a Facebook page/group for orchid growers in Mediterranean climates?
Googling around I found this photo in Wikipedia commons....
The photo was taken by Marcia Breia in Cordoaria Garden which is in Porto, Portugal. The tree is the London plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia). The truck is so big, fat and mossy! It would be perfect for an orchid... or two.
We would certainly linger longer and be more inclined to take a photo of this tree if it had an orchid growing on it. But not only would this specific space be more appealing, it would also be more diverse.
Regarding the value of diversity...
Biological diversity is a natural protection against surprises and shocks, climatic and otherwise. Among diverse species will be some adapted to prosper in a new landscape in new circumstances. - Daniel J. Evans et al, Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base
More genetic variety in a species or a population means a higher likelihood that some individuals will adapt to changing conditions. Lower genetic variety results in uniformity of species, and ultimately translates into vulnerability.
As an example, modern agricultural practices typically are monocultures - the practice of planting vast swathes of genetically identical plants. This is an advantage when it comes to growing and harvesting crops, but it can be a problem when a disease or parasite attacks the field, as every plant in the field will be susceptible. Monocultures are also unable to deal well with changing conditions, such as the changing percipitation and temperature regimes associated with climate change. - Sarah L. Burch, Sara E. Harris, Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Practice
Regarding our natural preference for orchid diversity...
One would think that man could find enough variation in the orchid family, as it occurs in nature, to more than satiate his taste for variety. Yet man's appetite for variety is never appeased. He has produced over two times as many hybrids, in the past 100 years that he has been engaged in orchid breeding, as nature has created species in her eons of evolutionary effort. - Calaway H. Dodson, Robert J. Gillespie, The Botany of Orchids
Regarding our natural preference for collecting/sharing...
The absence of [Dendrobium johannis var. semifuscum] from the mainland of the Northern Territory and its presence on Melville and Bathurst islands leads to the speculation that it might have been introduced to the islands by Macassamen (trepang fishermen) who were known to plant all manner of things on some of the places they visited during their travels. - A. W. Dockrill, Australian Indigenous Orchids
People collect baseball cards and people collect plant seeds. In reality, it is not all that surprising that as people move around they help preserve the genetic diversity of plants. - Norman C. Ellstrand, Maize Germplasm Conservation in Southern California’s Urban Gardens: Introduced Diversity Beyond ex situ and in situ Management
A far less technical way of preserving a species is in gardens. Although the managers of botanical gardens or arboreta are more self-conscious of their role, any gardener can help. The wide cultivation of Bougainvillaea and the para rubber tree, for example, protects them from extinction in tropical America. By collecting and breeding novel plants, nurserymen preserve biological diversity. By selling novel plants, they diversify the places the plants are grown and so help preserve them. - Daniel J. Evans et al, Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base
Regarding the virtuous cycle of diversity...
Thus, the total diversity of an area provides the pool of competitors for niches in developing ecosystems. The larger the pool, the more likely it is that the system will evolve into a complex, highly interrelated system. And complex, highly interrelated systems provide more niche opportunities for new species. Over time, interspecific dependencies, both of predation and mutualism, will evolve. Further, interspecific competition often aids in avoiding competitive exclusion, as predators concentrate on the competitively advantaged species on any given trophic level. Thus, total diversity plays a key role in the development of ecosystem structure through ecological time. That structure, in turn, provides opportunities for more species to survive and thereby increases total diversity further. Therefore diversity augments diversity in a continuing upward spiral. - Bryan G. Norton, The Preservation of Species
Creating the perfect epiphytic orchids for Mediterranean climates would mean that lots of people would attach these orchids to trees. Because, just like AH... they would require very little supplemental water to grow year around. All these orchids on trees would create new niches for a wide variety of living things. The logical and beneficial outcome would be more diversity.
Right now there are thousands and thousands of people growing millions of epiphytic orchids in Mediterranean climates. All these epiphytic orchids require more supplemental water than AH requires. And because people often don't have the time, or energy, to consistently and regularly water their epiphytic orchids... many epiphytic orchids are killed from dehydration. Basically, people unintentionally help nature select for the most drought tolerant and hercuthermal epiphytic orchids. This means that we will eventually end up with the perfect orchids for Mediterranean climates. Personally, I'd love to have these orchids sooner rather than later!!! It's really hard to imagine that I'm the only person in this boat! So in theory, it shouldn't be a Herculean goal to encourage people to help create/buy/test/share epiphytic orchids that might be better suited for Mediterranean climates.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Orchid Olympics
Reply to reply: Cool Growers x Warm Growers
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Pretty much the saddest story ever... :( :( :( And there are no diminishing returns. Each time I hear this story it's just as sad as the last time I heard it.
I just looked at a map of the US. I guess North Carolina (NC) is a bit below the "mid-Atlantic coast"? Just in case you didn't know... NC is home to the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in North America.... Epidendrum conopseum (EC). But, what are the chances that EC is the most cold tolerant epiphytic orchid in the world? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Southernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in South America? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in Asia? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Southernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in... Down Under? National pride? "Our soccer team is better than your soccer team... and our epiphytic orchid is more cold tolerant than your epiphytic orchid!"
In another forum a fellow in Tampa was wondering what type of tree he should plant. While digging around for an answer I ran across these two things...
There's a line that marks the Northernmost distribution of EC. This line really isn't static! It's very dynamic. In exceptionally cold years... this line is moved South by many many miles. And maybe in exceptionally warm years... the line is moved North by many many miles. Where was this line 1000 years ago? Where is it 100,000 years ago? Wouldn't it be amazing to see an animation of this line over the past million years? Has EC even been around for that long?
It's a race to Canada! As far as tropical epiphytes are concerned... Pleopeltis polypodioides (PP) is in first place. I think it grows no problem outdoors year around in the mid-Atlantic coast? In second place is Tillandsia usneoides (TU). And in third place is EC.
PP cheats because it got a head start. TU also cheats because birds help carry it. So it's only fair that we (ie you!) help EC cheat. Just go around sowing a gazillion EC seeds in its favorite trees. If enough other people do the same thing then eventually I'll have no problem believing that EC is the most cold tolerant orchid in the world. I'll be swoll with national pride. Well... unless the other countries start doing the same thing.
I guess we'll need to start the orchid Olympics (OO)? Medals for most cold tolerant orchid? And most drought tolerant orchid? And orchid that's most attractive to hummingbirds? Poor Africa will never place in that last event! Well... they do have Disas... but there aren't any terrestrial orchids allowed in the OO!
Lots of accusations of doping? Testing for miracle grow? DNA testing for genetic purity?
Genetic purity is overrated?
What allows EC to make any real progress in the race to Canada? It's the fabulous outliers. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Deng Xiaoping was fond of saying that it didn't matter whether the cat was black or white... what mattered was whether it caught mice. Lots of people will probably freak out if I suggest that we (ie you!) deliberately introduce hybrid ECs to the wilds of the mid-Atlantic coast. But nature doesn't care whether an orchid is a species or a hybrid. If nature cares about anything it's survival of the fittest.
Plants don't have a crystal ball. They can't predict exactly how their environment is going to change. Plants can't predict global warming or cooling or drying or wetting. Orchids aren't an exception to this rule. What makes orchids exceptional is that they are really good at hedging their bets. Orchids are really good at producing lots of seeds. A single seed pod can contain a million seeds. Each seed is a different bet... so a million seeds is a lot of different bets. It's a given that all these different bets can't be equally good. Just like ideas can't all be equally good...
It's a bad idea to facilitate the hybridization of EC? Because EC's hybrids will be less adaptable to change? Or because they will be more adaptable to change?
Yeah, your story is truly sad. But there's no reason that it can't have a happy ending! There's no reason that there can't be a wide variety of epiphytic orchids that are happy to grow outdoors year around in the mid-Atlantic coast.
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Unfortunately for me I can only grow temperate orchids outside year round. - chibae
Pretty much the saddest story ever... :( :( :( And there are no diminishing returns. Each time I hear this story it's just as sad as the last time I heard it.
I just looked at a map of the US. I guess North Carolina (NC) is a bit below the "mid-Atlantic coast"? Just in case you didn't know... NC is home to the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in North America.... Epidendrum conopseum (EC). But, what are the chances that EC is the most cold tolerant epiphytic orchid in the world? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Southernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in South America? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Northernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in Asia? Why should we suspect that EC is more cold tolerant than the Southernmost occurring epiphytic orchid in... Down Under? National pride? "Our soccer team is better than your soccer team... and our epiphytic orchid is more cold tolerant than your epiphytic orchid!"
In another forum a fellow in Tampa was wondering what type of tree he should plant. While digging around for an answer I ran across these two things...
It is interesting to know that for a period of 46 years this orchid has evidently escaped collectors in North Carolina. In a conversation with Professor Oakes Ames last winter he expressed the opinion that the reason for this was perhaps due to the "Big Freeze" of 1888-89 which may have destroyed these plants this far north and thus temporarily moved the limits of its northern range farther south. It is also possible that the position of the orchid high up in the trees may have made it easily overlooked. - Donovan Correll, Epidendrum conopseum in North Carolina
In December 1989, a severe cold front passed through Florida; temperatures reached -5C, killing all the orchids. At other central Florida sites, mortality of Encyclia tampensis was high (>80%). - Ronald J. Larson, Population Dynamics of Encyclia tampensis in Florida
There's a line that marks the Northernmost distribution of EC. This line really isn't static! It's very dynamic. In exceptionally cold years... this line is moved South by many many miles. And maybe in exceptionally warm years... the line is moved North by many many miles. Where was this line 1000 years ago? Where is it 100,000 years ago? Wouldn't it be amazing to see an animation of this line over the past million years? Has EC even been around for that long?
It's a race to Canada! As far as tropical epiphytes are concerned... Pleopeltis polypodioides (PP) is in first place. I think it grows no problem outdoors year around in the mid-Atlantic coast? In second place is Tillandsia usneoides (TU). And in third place is EC.
PP cheats because it got a head start. TU also cheats because birds help carry it. So it's only fair that we (ie you!) help EC cheat. Just go around sowing a gazillion EC seeds in its favorite trees. If enough other people do the same thing then eventually I'll have no problem believing that EC is the most cold tolerant orchid in the world. I'll be swoll with national pride. Well... unless the other countries start doing the same thing.
I guess we'll need to start the orchid Olympics (OO)? Medals for most cold tolerant orchid? And most drought tolerant orchid? And orchid that's most attractive to hummingbirds? Poor Africa will never place in that last event! Well... they do have Disas... but there aren't any terrestrial orchids allowed in the OO!
Lots of accusations of doping? Testing for miracle grow? DNA testing for genetic purity?
Genetic purity is overrated?
As interspecific gene flow is frequent and the new lineages were able to backcross, species cohesion is difficult to accept in orchids. Wherever lays the definition of species boundaries, it is no doubt questionable in orchids making it difficult to establish natural entities. - Yesenia Vega, Isabel Marques , Sílvia Castro, João Loureiro, Outcomes of Extensive Hybridization and Introgression in Epidendrum (Orchidaceae): Can We Rely on Species Boundaries?
What allows EC to make any real progress in the race to Canada? It's the fabulous outliers. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Deng Xiaoping was fond of saying that it didn't matter whether the cat was black or white... what mattered was whether it caught mice. Lots of people will probably freak out if I suggest that we (ie you!) deliberately introduce hybrid ECs to the wilds of the mid-Atlantic coast. But nature doesn't care whether an orchid is a species or a hybrid. If nature cares about anything it's survival of the fittest.
Yes, change is the basic law of nature. But the changes wrought by the passage of time affects individuals and institutions in different ways. According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. Applying this theoretical concept to us as individuals, we can state that the civilization that is able to survive is the one that is able to adapt to the changing physical, social, political, moral, and spiritual environment in which it finds itself. - Leon C. Megginson
Plants don't have a crystal ball. They can't predict exactly how their environment is going to change. Plants can't predict global warming or cooling or drying or wetting. Orchids aren't an exception to this rule. What makes orchids exceptional is that they are really good at hedging their bets. Orchids are really good at producing lots of seeds. A single seed pod can contain a million seeds. Each seed is a different bet... so a million seeds is a lot of different bets. It's a given that all these different bets can't be equally good. Just like ideas can't all be equally good...
Individual decision making is closely connected to creativity not because all choices are excellent, but because they constitute a broad field out of which the best responses can emerge. If we wished to establish a connection to Darwinian ideas, we could say that the wide spectrum of decisions is similar to the field of the spontaneous variations of living things from which the pressure of natural selection preserves only the most apt. Without such experimental structures and behaviours, responses remain stagnant and life sinks under the weight of institutionalised routine. Freedom multiplies actions and ideas, some of which turn out to be brilliant and others fundamentally flawed. The important fact, however, is that few if any of them could have occurred under conditions of enforced conformity. To leave people alone with their projects is to permit - even to encourage - the exercise of private imaginations. - John Lachs
It's a bad idea to facilitate the hybridization of EC? Because EC's hybrids will be less adaptable to change? Or because they will be more adaptable to change?
Yeah, your story is truly sad. But there's no reason that it can't have a happy ending! There's no reason that there can't be a wide variety of epiphytic orchids that are happy to grow outdoors year around in the mid-Atlantic coast.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Substantive vs Superficial Selection
When it comes to selection...there seems to be only two categories to choose from...artificial or natural. But what about when we select for traits that help organisms adapt to nature? Would we say it's natural selection that's human assisted? Or artificial selection that's nature assisted?
My comment on Uncommonly early blooming Laelia anceps
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The first L. anceps to cross the finish line? What did this guy do for the rest of the year? Cheer on the slow pokes?
The "volunteer" L. anceps on my tree started to put out a second growth back in August...
Here's a recent photo...
Given that temps have cooled considerably...and I've reduced water accordingly...not sure how completely the new growth will mature.
My L. anceps was too young to allocate any energy to flowering...but it sure seems theoretically possible to select for a L. anceps that blooms twice a year. The trick would be to cross-pollinate the earliest blooming individuals...which are the fastest and/or the coolest growing individuals. In some cases though they might simply be the luckiest individuals...ie in the warmest and/or most nutritious micro-climates.
But I think it's definitely a good idea if we all feature our orchids that finish the "race" (complete their growth cycle) in record time. Not just with L. anceps but with all epiphytic orchids. For example, this NOID ugly duckling...
...is one of my "fastest" Cattleya alliance orchids. I divided it this year which is why it finished later than usual. Noting which of our orchids are the "fastest" is basically highlighting the individuals that are better adapted to growing outdoors in Southern California. If we all exchange their pollen then we should be able to make much better progress in this area.
My comment on Uncommonly early blooming Laelia anceps
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The first L. anceps to cross the finish line? What did this guy do for the rest of the year? Cheer on the slow pokes?
The "volunteer" L. anceps on my tree started to put out a second growth back in August...
Here's a recent photo...
Given that temps have cooled considerably...and I've reduced water accordingly...not sure how completely the new growth will mature.
My L. anceps was too young to allocate any energy to flowering...but it sure seems theoretically possible to select for a L. anceps that blooms twice a year. The trick would be to cross-pollinate the earliest blooming individuals...which are the fastest and/or the coolest growing individuals. In some cases though they might simply be the luckiest individuals...ie in the warmest and/or most nutritious micro-climates.
But I think it's definitely a good idea if we all feature our orchids that finish the "race" (complete their growth cycle) in record time. Not just with L. anceps but with all epiphytic orchids. For example, this NOID ugly duckling...
...is one of my "fastest" Cattleya alliance orchids. I divided it this year which is why it finished later than usual. Noting which of our orchids are the "fastest" is basically highlighting the individuals that are better adapted to growing outdoors in Southern California. If we all exchange their pollen then we should be able to make much better progress in this area.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
We'll Make Great Plants
Reply to: Bay Area Xeric Guerrilla Gardeners
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Let's say that you finally get the plant that's been at the top of your want list for the past 10 years. Hmmm...if I could have any plant I wanted...I wonder which I'd pick. I feel like I should, or do know, the answer. Probably some exceptionally rare orchid that was exceptionally tough, hardcore...a hard *unt...that probably wouldn't get introduced into cultivation because its flowers aren't showy enough. There are probably dozens of orchids that match this description...but if a genie could grant my wish right now I'd pick the epiphytic orchid from Yemen...Angraecum dives.
Let's say that it's my lucky day and one of you decides to be my genie! So you go to Yemen and somehow manage to bring this orchid back for me. Thanks...a lot!!! Do I want this orchid for my selfish benefit and enjoyment? Yes, very yes. Would the species be better off if one ended up in my care? Yes, very yes.
Honestly I think we should set up a government program that pays us for each rare/endangered plant that we grow. How could that not be a good use of taxes?
Oh no, the cat on my lap just put its head down on my right wrist. It's purring and I'm endeavoring not to ruin its joy.
If this Yemen orchid ended up in my care...I'd really endeavor not to ruin its joy.
One of the most important factors in a plant's joy is its location...also allocation (I just used my left hand to click the cursor keys to correct a typing mistake).
(now my wrist is feeling numb...)
As all of you know...not every single location in your yard is equally beneficial to any given plant. Just like not every single position on your lap is equally beneficial to a cat. Locations in your garden range from hell to heaven. Some are definitely better than others...and no two spots are equally beneficial...so it's a given that there's a single best allocation in your yard for a plant.
Can you have a green thumb and consistently put plants in the wrong places (misallocations leading to an inefficient allocation of plants)? I don't think so. Plants die in the wrong places so you can't really have a green thumb if your plants consistently die. People like this probably shouldn't sign up for the Plant Species Richness Protection Program.
Oh, the cat finally lifted its head up! Phew. Now its paw is over my right wrist. I think I'm going to put my arm over its paw. Maybe not.
If I finally got this Yemen epiphytic orchid...I'd strive to pick the perfect spot for it in the garden. What are the chances that I'd select the perfect spot though? Slim...which is why if it was my super lucky day...my genie would give me a plant that was large enough to divide. Then I could hedge my bets by dividing it and placing the divisions in a range of the most likely locations in my garden. By observing how they responded to their marginally different conditions...I'd see which divisions did the best and reallocate the divisions accordingly. I could "triangulate" the orchid's most ideal location. I could discern the most efficient allocation in less time. I could learn about its requirements sooner rather than later. This would yield more plant joy...and more plant joy equals more divisions to share with others.
My foot fell asleep so I had to try and move it...that was the last straw for the pot pie. It finally had enough of my antics and made the effort to find a more suitable habitat. In search of its perfect joy.
I'm so zoned into the plant perspective that when I learned that feral parrots had actually naturalized in the Netherlands I was like, "woah, that's pretty darn amazing that something tropical could survive there".
Oh, I spelled "feral parrots" really wrong..."farral perrot". Like I was trying to say "Perry Farrell" all wrong.
Eh? What in the world is a FurReal parrot? Sometimes when google tries to guess which search terms I might be trying to type...it informs me about weird things.
Anybody like Perry Farrell? *sings* We'll make great pets...we'll make great pets...we'll make great pets...
Woah, youtube commercial...Victoria Models are way too skinny.
Did anybody look up the lyrics to the song "Pets"? They seem relevant and funny and poignant. Aliens coming along and making us pets? How rude. Funny...and interesting about the logistics...(would I enjoy sleeping on some alien's lap? Some alien laps have to be more comfortable than others...)...but it wouldn't happen because it would be a violation of Xero's Rule (my rule).
Where was I? Oh yeah, the parrots. The second obvious thought I had about parrots is that they can seek shelter. That's why some parrots have been able to naturalize in the Netherlands. That will be an interesting day when plants can seek shelter.
I was actually kinda surprised that these parrots can even survive in the frozen wasteland that is the Bay Area. Stan, you never told me about any wild parrots. Is Stan even reading this? Where's Stan?
Dang, I wonder how many plant forums Stan and I are both on. A lot! haha We sure like learning and talking about plants.
I think I should send Stan a lot of plants...a big box each month. If it fits...it ships! Epiphytic Gesneriads, succulents, Epiphyllums, bromeliads, Tillandsias, Begonias, Anthuriums, ferns, orchids, Peperomias and more. So many neat plants to test against marginally colder winters. Hah, it's also so many neat plants to try and efficiently allocate! There's always room for more epiphytes of course. It would be cool if somebody in San Diego did the same thing for me. *hint hint?*
Perhaps the orchid I have that is most like the Yemen orchid is Sobennikoffia robusta. It's also a monopodial orchid...and it grows in the Spiny Forests of Madagascar. How many awesome succulents come from that area? Lots. (Anybody have these two books...awesome right?). Unlike the Yemen orchid though... Sobennikoffia robusta has showy flowers...which is why its in cultivation. There are plenty of other epiphytic orchids in spiny forests that aren't in cultivation because their flowers aren't showy. They should all be in cultivation. And we should get paid to grow them.
Because Sobennikoffia robusta is so awesome...I sacrificed and bought a community pot of it (this is the stage after they've come out of the flask and have already adjusted)...even though I had already had one...
There were around 15 or so individuals in the community pot. I carefully separated them and used fishing line to tightly attach each one directly (without any moss) to a 10" or so section of old trellis wood. Then I tried to put them in what I felt was the most suitable range of microhabitats. The range was from less water to more water and bright light to more direct sun. Most have put out nice fat roots and grown really well. None have rotted...some of the smaller ones have withered a bit...maybe they would have been fine if I had given them more TLC or they had been kept in the flask longer. Or they might just be marginally less fit individuals.
How much direct sun can Sobennikoffia robusta take? How much drought can it take? How much cold can it take? These are all good questions. Another good question is...what other monopodial orchids can it be crossed with?
Monopodial orchids are strange because you can make these intergeneric crosses that, based on morphological differences and geographical distances, you really wouldn't guess would be possible. Well...many sympodial orchids are kinda like this too I suppose...but I don't know of any sympodial orchids from different continents in different genera that you can successfully hybridize.
For example here are some crosses that have been made with Neofinetia falcata (an epiphytic, cold tolerant, monopodial orchid from Japan). I'd be surprised if you couldn't cross Neofinetia falcata with the Ghost Orchid. Dendrophylax lindenii is our most famous orchid...and one of three? monopodial orchids native to the US.
Should the cross be tried? Sure, why wouldn't we want a more cold tolerant Ghost Orchid? We should also cross the Ghost Orchid with Sobennikoffia robusta. Put it in as many vehicles as possible in order to maximize the chances of it making the future a more awesome place.
I put quite a bit of effort, skill and knowledge to work trying to ensure that my Sobennikoffia robustas thrive. So that hopefully someday I can pass some hardy crosses on to Stan and plenty of other people.
I'd definitely do the same thing with the Yemen orchid...Angraecum dives. But I'd try even harder.
It's really weird to think though that just because Angraecum dives occurs naturally in Yemen...that this is the best location for it. It's like those people who marry their high school sweethearts. Chances are extremely good that there are more efficient allocations...
Refute that. Good luck.
I can't say it's selfish or arrogant to desire to keep plants more or less in their current locations...but I'm pretty sure it's ignorant. It's like believing that randomly determining the location of Angraecum dives in my yard would produce the most desirable outcome. One location is not as good as any. Some locations are better than others. We all know this.
It's like being really drunk in a bar, closing your eyes, spinning 20 times and throwing a dart. Chances are really good that it's not going to hit the bull's eye. The allocation probably won't be very efficient. In other words...its placement probably won't create any value. It would be a mistake...like marrying the wrong person.
Check out this mistake graph I created...
Every single allocation of your resources will create/destroy value for you (x axis horizontal) and others (y axis vertical). Every single allocation of Angraecum dives in my yard will create/destroy value for myself/others. The closer to 10,10...the more efficient the allocation. The closer to -10,-10 the less efficient the allocation.
The current allocation of Angraecum dives falls somewhere on this graph. Its allocation creates/destroys x value for itself and y value for others. Can its allocation be improved? Can it be made more efficient? Yes, it could definitely create more value for itself and myself if its current allocation included my garden.
As you might be able to guess...on flickr nearly all my contacts upload photos of neat and interesting plants...which is why I follow them on flickr. So it's kinda rare and surprising to see people where plants usually are! Just recently there wasn't just one person...there were two! Both posing with round objects of interest...
This image I captured is found art for sure.
The guy is in New Zealand and the girl is in Central America. Chances are good that they weren't high school sweethearts. Chances are good that they'll never meet. As such, they'll never know how much value their friendship would have created/destroyed for themselves and others.
Unfortunately we can't be in multiple places at the same time...but plants can be. And they should be...if we want to maximize their chances of survival.
**********************************************
Let's say that you finally get the plant that's been at the top of your want list for the past 10 years. Hmmm...if I could have any plant I wanted...I wonder which I'd pick. I feel like I should, or do know, the answer. Probably some exceptionally rare orchid that was exceptionally tough, hardcore...a hard *unt...that probably wouldn't get introduced into cultivation because its flowers aren't showy enough. There are probably dozens of orchids that match this description...but if a genie could grant my wish right now I'd pick the epiphytic orchid from Yemen...Angraecum dives.
Let's say that it's my lucky day and one of you decides to be my genie! So you go to Yemen and somehow manage to bring this orchid back for me. Thanks...a lot!!! Do I want this orchid for my selfish benefit and enjoyment? Yes, very yes. Would the species be better off if one ended up in my care? Yes, very yes.
Honestly I think we should set up a government program that pays us for each rare/endangered plant that we grow. How could that not be a good use of taxes?
Oh no, the cat on my lap just put its head down on my right wrist. It's purring and I'm endeavoring not to ruin its joy.
If this Yemen orchid ended up in my care...I'd really endeavor not to ruin its joy.
One of the most important factors in a plant's joy is its location...also allocation (I just used my left hand to click the cursor keys to correct a typing mistake).
(now my wrist is feeling numb...)
As all of you know...not every single location in your yard is equally beneficial to any given plant. Just like not every single position on your lap is equally beneficial to a cat. Locations in your garden range from hell to heaven. Some are definitely better than others...and no two spots are equally beneficial...so it's a given that there's a single best allocation in your yard for a plant.
Can you have a green thumb and consistently put plants in the wrong places (misallocations leading to an inefficient allocation of plants)? I don't think so. Plants die in the wrong places so you can't really have a green thumb if your plants consistently die. People like this probably shouldn't sign up for the Plant Species Richness Protection Program.
Oh, the cat finally lifted its head up! Phew. Now its paw is over my right wrist. I think I'm going to put my arm over its paw. Maybe not.
If I finally got this Yemen epiphytic orchid...I'd strive to pick the perfect spot for it in the garden. What are the chances that I'd select the perfect spot though? Slim...which is why if it was my super lucky day...my genie would give me a plant that was large enough to divide. Then I could hedge my bets by dividing it and placing the divisions in a range of the most likely locations in my garden. By observing how they responded to their marginally different conditions...I'd see which divisions did the best and reallocate the divisions accordingly. I could "triangulate" the orchid's most ideal location. I could discern the most efficient allocation in less time. I could learn about its requirements sooner rather than later. This would yield more plant joy...and more plant joy equals more divisions to share with others.
My foot fell asleep so I had to try and move it...that was the last straw for the pot pie. It finally had enough of my antics and made the effort to find a more suitable habitat. In search of its perfect joy.
I'm so zoned into the plant perspective that when I learned that feral parrots had actually naturalized in the Netherlands I was like, "woah, that's pretty darn amazing that something tropical could survive there".
Oh, I spelled "feral parrots" really wrong..."farral perrot". Like I was trying to say "Perry Farrell" all wrong.
Eh? What in the world is a FurReal parrot? Sometimes when google tries to guess which search terms I might be trying to type...it informs me about weird things.
Anybody like Perry Farrell? *sings* We'll make great pets...we'll make great pets...we'll make great pets...
Woah, youtube commercial...Victoria Models are way too skinny.
Did anybody look up the lyrics to the song "Pets"? They seem relevant and funny and poignant. Aliens coming along and making us pets? How rude. Funny...and interesting about the logistics...(would I enjoy sleeping on some alien's lap? Some alien laps have to be more comfortable than others...)...but it wouldn't happen because it would be a violation of Xero's Rule (my rule).
Where was I? Oh yeah, the parrots. The second obvious thought I had about parrots is that they can seek shelter. That's why some parrots have been able to naturalize in the Netherlands. That will be an interesting day when plants can seek shelter.
I was actually kinda surprised that these parrots can even survive in the frozen wasteland that is the Bay Area. Stan, you never told me about any wild parrots. Is Stan even reading this? Where's Stan?
Dang, I wonder how many plant forums Stan and I are both on. A lot! haha We sure like learning and talking about plants.
I think I should send Stan a lot of plants...a big box each month. If it fits...it ships! Epiphytic Gesneriads, succulents, Epiphyllums, bromeliads, Tillandsias, Begonias, Anthuriums, ferns, orchids, Peperomias and more. So many neat plants to test against marginally colder winters. Hah, it's also so many neat plants to try and efficiently allocate! There's always room for more epiphytes of course. It would be cool if somebody in San Diego did the same thing for me. *hint hint?*
Perhaps the orchid I have that is most like the Yemen orchid is Sobennikoffia robusta. It's also a monopodial orchid...and it grows in the Spiny Forests of Madagascar. How many awesome succulents come from that area? Lots. (Anybody have these two books...awesome right?). Unlike the Yemen orchid though... Sobennikoffia robusta has showy flowers...which is why its in cultivation. There are plenty of other epiphytic orchids in spiny forests that aren't in cultivation because their flowers aren't showy. They should all be in cultivation. And we should get paid to grow them.
Because Sobennikoffia robusta is so awesome...I sacrificed and bought a community pot of it (this is the stage after they've come out of the flask and have already adjusted)...even though I had already had one...
There were around 15 or so individuals in the community pot. I carefully separated them and used fishing line to tightly attach each one directly (without any moss) to a 10" or so section of old trellis wood. Then I tried to put them in what I felt was the most suitable range of microhabitats. The range was from less water to more water and bright light to more direct sun. Most have put out nice fat roots and grown really well. None have rotted...some of the smaller ones have withered a bit...maybe they would have been fine if I had given them more TLC or they had been kept in the flask longer. Or they might just be marginally less fit individuals.
How much direct sun can Sobennikoffia robusta take? How much drought can it take? How much cold can it take? These are all good questions. Another good question is...what other monopodial orchids can it be crossed with?
Monopodial orchids are strange because you can make these intergeneric crosses that, based on morphological differences and geographical distances, you really wouldn't guess would be possible. Well...many sympodial orchids are kinda like this too I suppose...but I don't know of any sympodial orchids from different continents in different genera that you can successfully hybridize.
For example here are some crosses that have been made with Neofinetia falcata (an epiphytic, cold tolerant, monopodial orchid from Japan). I'd be surprised if you couldn't cross Neofinetia falcata with the Ghost Orchid. Dendrophylax lindenii is our most famous orchid...and one of three? monopodial orchids native to the US.
Should the cross be tried? Sure, why wouldn't we want a more cold tolerant Ghost Orchid? We should also cross the Ghost Orchid with Sobennikoffia robusta. Put it in as many vehicles as possible in order to maximize the chances of it making the future a more awesome place.
I put quite a bit of effort, skill and knowledge to work trying to ensure that my Sobennikoffia robustas thrive. So that hopefully someday I can pass some hardy crosses on to Stan and plenty of other people.
I'd definitely do the same thing with the Yemen orchid...Angraecum dives. But I'd try even harder.
It's really weird to think though that just because Angraecum dives occurs naturally in Yemen...that this is the best location for it. It's like those people who marry their high school sweethearts. Chances are extremely good that there are more efficient allocations...
It is one thing to postulate universal rationality in human decision-making; it is another thing (and, in our view quite unjustified) simply to assume as an empirical matter that all human decisions are at all times universally arranged in equilibrium patterns. (To assume that no married person could change mates and become better off thus appears as a totally unjustified and unrealistic assumption... - Israel M KirznerTo assume that no plant could change locations and become better off thus appears as a totally unjustified and unrealistic assumption.
Refute that. Good luck.
I can't say it's selfish or arrogant to desire to keep plants more or less in their current locations...but I'm pretty sure it's ignorant. It's like believing that randomly determining the location of Angraecum dives in my yard would produce the most desirable outcome. One location is not as good as any. Some locations are better than others. We all know this.
It's like being really drunk in a bar, closing your eyes, spinning 20 times and throwing a dart. Chances are really good that it's not going to hit the bull's eye. The allocation probably won't be very efficient. In other words...its placement probably won't create any value. It would be a mistake...like marrying the wrong person.
Check out this mistake graph I created...
Every single allocation of your resources will create/destroy value for you (x axis horizontal) and others (y axis vertical). Every single allocation of Angraecum dives in my yard will create/destroy value for myself/others. The closer to 10,10...the more efficient the allocation. The closer to -10,-10 the less efficient the allocation.
The current allocation of Angraecum dives falls somewhere on this graph. Its allocation creates/destroys x value for itself and y value for others. Can its allocation be improved? Can it be made more efficient? Yes, it could definitely create more value for itself and myself if its current allocation included my garden.
As you might be able to guess...on flickr nearly all my contacts upload photos of neat and interesting plants...which is why I follow them on flickr. So it's kinda rare and surprising to see people where plants usually are! Just recently there wasn't just one person...there were two! Both posing with round objects of interest...
This image I captured is found art for sure.
The guy is in New Zealand and the girl is in Central America. Chances are good that they weren't high school sweethearts. Chances are good that they'll never meet. As such, they'll never know how much value their friendship would have created/destroyed for themselves and others.
Unfortunately we can't be in multiple places at the same time...but plants can be. And they should be...if we want to maximize their chances of survival.
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