Laelia angereri 'Peter' x kautskyana 'SVO' AM/AOS
Laelia milleri 'Dr. Koopowitz Red' HCC/AOS x kautskyana
Laelia NOID
Auctioning these three orchids in VGT.
And here's a random picture of Aloe africana, one of my fav tree Aloes...
Showing posts with label orchids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orchids. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Auction: Three Rupicolous Laelias
Laelia angereri 'Peter' x kautskyana 'SVO' AM/AOS
Laelia milleri 'Dr. Koopowitz Red' HCC/AOS x kautskyana
Laelia NOID
Auctioning these three orchids in VGT.
And here's a random picture of Aloe africana, one of my fav tree Aloes...
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Growing Succulents Epiphytically
For Agaveville Forum
Plectranthus spicatus has succulent leaves and does quite well on the tree. You can see another Plectranthus that's thriving... but it isn't nearly as succulent... I don't know the name of it.
***********************************
Ever wonder why humans are exceptionally intelligent? My theory is that it's because walking upright gave us the ability to simultaneously carry many things, and deciding what to carry is cognitively challenging. Correctly discerning what to keep, and what to discard, depends on using more brainpower to process more information. I collect relevant passages... jettison... here's one that I found on this forum...
Also, I recall reading a post somewhere a few years back written by someone who said he knew DW, and went on to describe how DW had thousands of hybrids, and saved the best, and discarded (believe it or not!) MANY of his "rejects" into a canyon off his property. The story goes, he did this until he caught wind that others were scrounging his castoffs in that canyon, after which he started destroying them instead. - Spination, A couple more new to me hybrids
Recently I separated a bunch of Echeveria rosea seedlings...
I'm pretty sure that most of the larger seedlings have Echeveria gibbiflora as their father. It was blooming at the same time in the same area as rosea. Am I going to destroy any of these seedlings? Nooooooo. Echeveria rosea is my very favorite Echeveria, so I really want everybody to grow it and/or its hybrids. I'm going to give all the seedlings away next month at the Village Green Thumbs plant trade. My friend Scadoxus and I recently created that Facebook group for plant enthusiasts in her area (Culver City) to trade/share/sell plants. One person's trash is another person's treasure.
Echeveria rosea is primarily an epiphyte, but I've found that it isn't a drier grower. It slowly declined on my tree when I reduced watering from 3x to 2x a week at night during summer. Echeveria gibbiflora, on the other hand, is not an epiphyte but it is a drier grower, so the seedlings on my tree had no problem with less frequent watering. Unfortunately they tended to slowly break their own necks. Here are a couple exceptions that are starting to spike...
These are more compact than the typical form, all of which broke their necks. In the photo you can also see an orchid blooming and a dragon fruit blooming. The dragon fruit is actually growing on the fence. Here's a pic of the orchid...
Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket (Brassavola nodosa × Rhyncholaelia digbyana) is a strong grower that blooms more often as it gets more pseudobulbs. The flowers are pretty big, but they aren't very long-lived... and the color white really doesn't stand out on the tree. Ideally when an orchid blooms on a tree every hummingbird in the neighborhood should be drawn to it.
This orchid is definitely a relatively succulent orchid. But I'd prefer if this thread was primarily about growing non-epiphytic succulents epiphytically. For example...
Plectranthus spicatus has succulent leaves and does quite well on the tree. You can see another Plectranthus that's thriving... but it isn't nearly as succulent... I don't know the name of it.
In Feb 2016 I sowed a bunch of Golden Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) seeds together with seeds from Reed Stem Epidendrums. It turned out that birds really like to eat the cactus seeds. Fortunately I didn't keep all my eggs in the same basket. I put a few pots in buckets covered in clear plastic, here's one of them...
If you look closely you can see one reed-stem seedling... it's the only green thing in the pic. The cactus won this round, maybe because the medium was too big for the tiny orchid seeds.
I also sowed some of both seeds behind a mounted Platycerium, here's a recent pic...
There are actually quite a few seedlings competing for very limited resources. Here's another mount that I sowed some of the seeds on....
In this case I think most of the cactus seeds, or seedlings, fell off. Neither of these mounts were watered frequently enough for the reed-stem seeds to germinate and/or grow.
Some of the cactus seedlings in pots are much bigger than the mounted seedlings. But it's not like I really have the space for a mature Golden Barrel cactus. The mounted seedlings won't get very large.... they will essentially be bonsai'd. Well, in theory!
On Flickr I created a gallery of accidentally epiphytic cactus and here's a gallery of accidentally epiphytic succulents. Anybody recognize this Aloe? I'd love to know what it is because it's sure thriving on that tree. Some of the stems of this Aloe are much longer and thicker than I realized when I first saw the pic. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I only just recently mounted my first Aloe... Aloe bakeri.
For some reason you can't add your own photos to your own galleries, so I created an album for my photos of accidentally epiphytic plants. There are a few succulents in it.
Three years ago at the Huntington I took this pic of an Aloe accidentally growing on a big cactus...
Anybody recognize the Aloe?
Daniel Gledhill, who is very knowledgeable about tree Aloes and runs the Tree Aloe group on Facebook, said that he's seen Aloe thraskii growing epiphytically before. He also informed me that Thomas Cole's Aloes of Uganda mentions that Aloe lukeana can be found growing on trees.
Why aren't there already the Aloe equivalents of epiphytic cactus? Maybe it's because Aloe seeds are less likely to end up on trees than cactus seeds.
Why aren't there already the Aloe equivalents of epiphytic cactus? Maybe it's because Aloe seeds are less likely to end up on trees than cactus seeds.
Thanks to the Pinoy Epiphyte Addicts group on Facebook, I indirectly learned about a thread created in this forum for Agaves growing epiphytically. Not sure how I managed to overlook that thread. I didn't overlook the 2009 thread that Stone Jaguar created in the Growing on the Edge forum for Yucca lacandonica. A Google search revealed a somewhat blurry picture of Agave mitis growing epiphytically in a cloud forest (Tamaulipas). All these pics have got me really curious how a nondescript miniature Agave I have would do epiphytically.
A few years back, in the XericWorld forum, I created a thread for the same topic of growing succulents epiphytically. I, and others, added quite a few pictures and links to the thread... it was really great! But then one day the entire website was gone. Evidently the owner decided that it was no longer worth carrying. It was obviously his prerogative to make that decision, but his decision certainly wasn't informed by my valuation of my threads and other people's threads. He knew the cost and benefit of the website for himself, but he didn't know the benefit of the website to others. As a result, his cost/benefit analysis wasn't correct.
Whether we're talking about a plant forum or an Aloe hybrid, correctly determining the actual worth of something depends on giving everybody the opportunity to share their valuations of it.
A few years back, in the XericWorld forum, I created a thread for the same topic of growing succulents epiphytically. I, and others, added quite a few pictures and links to the thread... it was really great! But then one day the entire website was gone. Evidently the owner decided that it was no longer worth carrying. It was obviously his prerogative to make that decision, but his decision certainly wasn't informed by my valuation of my threads and other people's threads. He knew the cost and benefit of the website for himself, but he didn't know the benefit of the website to others. As a result, his cost/benefit analysis wasn't correct.
Whether we're talking about a plant forum or an Aloe hybrid, correctly determining the actual worth of something depends on giving everybody the opportunity to share their valuations of it.
Monday, September 3, 2018
Let's Have An Online Plant Show!
In this recent PalmTalk thread I shared a link to my previous entry as well as a couple ideas for plant societies...
1. create outdoor grow lists (ie Hoyas, Anthuriums)
2. have on online plant show
Tracy responded to the thread with some thoughts and this pic...
Wow!!! I replied to Tracy that this Staghorn fern on a tree in SoCal is a perfect example of why we really need to have an online plant show. Here's another perfect example...
Wow!!! Phil shared this pic with me when he came over for a tour last week. It was taken at the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, which I've visited many times, but somehow never when this specimen was in bloom. I was fortunate though that I was able to see another specimen in bloom at the SBOE...
How many trees in Southern California should have orchids, ferns and other epiphytes growing on them... but do not? Too many!!! So let's have an online plant show!
1. create outdoor grow lists (ie Hoyas, Anthuriums)
2. have on online plant show
Tracy responded to the thread with some thoughts and this pic...
Platycerium superbum and Fernando
Wow!!! I replied to Tracy that this Staghorn fern on a tree in SoCal is a perfect example of why we really need to have an online plant show. Here's another perfect example...
Schomburgkia superbiens and Phil
Wow!!! Phil shared this pic with me when he came over for a tour last week. It was taken at the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, which I've visited many times, but somehow never when this specimen was in bloom. I was fortunate though that I was able to see another specimen in bloom at the SBOE...
Laelia gouldiana
How many trees in Southern California should have orchids, ferns and other epiphytes growing on them... but do not? Too many!!! So let's have an online plant show!
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Update On Orchid Seeds That Germinated On My Tree
On the OrchidBoard, Camille1585 requested an update on the orchid seeds that germinated on my tree.
************************
In 2011 I sowed a bunch of different orchid seeds on my Cedar tree and much to my very pleasant surprise some of them actually germinated...
All the seedlings turned out to be Laelia anceps. Over the years I've documented the growth of the largest seedling...
December 2012
June 2013
Dec 2013
Aug 2014
Nov 2014
April 2016
June 2018
There's a really big disparity between the seedlings in terms of size. Here's one of the smallest seedlings...
What explains the remarkable size disparity? Is it because of the difference in the seeds and/or the difference in the microhabitats and/or the difference in the helper fungus?
The largest seedling germinated right next to the roots of a slow growing variety of Dendrobium teretifolium. Evidently the Dendrobium harbored a fungus in its roots that the Laelia seed was able to put to good use. Is this fungus from Australia like the Dendrobium, or from Mexico like the Laelia, or is it pantropical? In any case, given that the Laelia is in the process of outgrowing and overgrowing the Dendrobium, clearly it isn't always advantageous for an orchid to harbor fungus that can help germinate the seeds of unrelated orchids. I wonder whether the seeds of this Dendrobium would be able to germinate near the roots of this Laelia.
Right now the largest seedling has five new pseudobulbs starting to grow. In many, if not most, years its pseudobulbs mature around August and new ones would start to grow. They would mature late winter or early spring. Part of the reason for this is because this individual hasn't yet allocated any energy to blooming! It is definitely not precocious. The trade-off between growing and blooming is quite interesting.
Last year I removed two keikis from my very wonderful Dendrobium Gloucester Sands (discolor x canaliculatum) and attached them to boards...
The smaller keiki decided to put out roots and a new pseudobulb while the larger keiki decided to bloom. Blooming is very costly in terms of energy so, for a plant this size, I'd normally nip the spike in the bud, so to speak. In this case I decided to leave it for illustrative purposes. Some animal decided to mostly override my decision by eating all of the buds except for one.
The "pockets" made of shade cloth are filled with slow-release fertilizer granules. This effectively fertilizes all the mounted plants beneath it, but I really shouldn't have attached the pockets to the boards. Bundling the pockets and the boards discourages me from moving the boards. Instead, I should have made completely "independent" pockets. Another thing, seedlings and small newly mounted divisions don't respond well to lots of fertilizer.
Getting back to the Den Gloucester Sands, here are its roots growing on my Pachypodium lamerei...
Here's a video of it...
Diversity is the best. Last September I excitedly purchased a flask of Bc Beulah Bradeen (Cattleya walkeriana x Brassavola nodosa) from eBay. Both parents have done quite well for me so I was very curious to see whether their offspring might do even better. As per my standard operating procedure, I carefully mounted the largest seedlings on sections of trellis wood...
I distributed all the mounts throughout the garden. So far only around five seedlings survived the winter. And it was a pretty reasonable winter... it didn't even freeze.
Why did so many seedlings die? Was it primarily from a lack of heat? Or was it primarily from a lack of water? During winter, for most of my plants I drastically cut back on watering. In any case, given that a few seedlings survived, there's certainly variation in terms of the seedlings and/or the microhabitats.
One issue with flasks is that there's usually no selection in terms of drought tolerance. Last fall I had a relevant e-mail discussion with an orchid hybridizer in Australia who specializes in tea tree orchids. He had recently registered Dendrobium Ultraviolet, which is a cross between a less succulent orchid, Den Berry, and a more succulent orchid, Den canaliculatum. Even though the cross is 62.5% canaliculatum, it looks more like kingianum.
My theory is that, in a flask with adequate moisture, storing water is a disadvantage. Seedlings that are more succulent are going to lose the competition for limited space to the seedlings that are less succulent. So when a more succulent orchid is crossed with a less succulent orchid, if the seeds are flasked, then the seedlings will be less succulent.
I think the same concept must be true for temperature. If a cooler growing orchid (ie Den Berry) is crossed with a warmer growing orchid (ie Den canaliculatum), and the flasked seeds are kept cooler, then the seedlings will predominantly be cooler growers. I doubt that any professional flasking laboratories expose their flasks to temps as high as the temps that Den canaliculatum experiences in its native habitat. Basically, the deck is stacked against Den canaliculatum's warmer growing and drought tolerating traits.
Orchids populations, like all populations, conform/adapt to their conditions/environment. Here's the most relevant passage that I've found on the general topic...
What's very interesting to consider is what happens when an orchid is pollinated during the spring or fall here in Southern California. A few days ago the high temps were in the low 90s. Now the highs are in the low 70s. That's a pretty big range of high temps. Imagine how much impact this fluctuation would have on the race for the ovule. In theory the most hercuthermal genotypes should win the race.
Laelia anceps generally blooms from fall to spring... depending on the plant and its conditions. Honestly I don't even remember pollinating my Laelia anceps. For all I know the seeds that germinated on my tree were from a Laelia anceps owned by unknown neighbors. But in terms of adapting to SoCal's climate, it is advantageous for Laelia anceps to bloom when it does. Unfortunately, its blooming also coincides with my break from my plants. I think that, after the seeds germinated on my tree, I only once tried to pollinate my anceps, but no pods developed. Evidently the pollen that I used (ie Brassavola) was too different.
There have been a few other times when I sowed other orchid seeds on my tree. Only one of these other sowings was somewhat successful...
I noticed this NOID seedling in 2016. It germinated right next to the roots of a Vanda tricolor. I looked around and managed to spot a few other similar seedlings in the vicinity. It is definitely a sympodial orchid and its pseudobulbs and the undersides of its leaves are burgundy. When Camille1585 asked for an update on the Laelia anceps seedlings, I climbed the tree and noticed that one of these NOID seedlings was about to fall off because somebody, probably a squirrel, had dislodged the piece of bark that it was attached to. I carefully removed the seedling and attached it to a board...
If you zoom in you can see a bunch of reed-stem Epidendrum seeds germinating near the NOID seedling. My hope is that the helper fungus in the roots of the NOID seedling will inoculate the reed seeds. It's my best guess that, unlike other orchid seeds, reed seeds already have enough nutrients to germinate on their own. Even if this is the case I still want to help to spread the fungus that helped the NOID seedling germinate.
The board is sitting on my coffee table without any sort of covering and its right under a bendy octopus type lamp that stays on during the day. Right now the reed seeds are completely dry. Hopefully this is giving an advantage to the marginally more drought tolerant individuals.
Next to the NOID seedling's mount is another mossy mount that has a reed seedling on it...
Also on the board are some Echeveria gibbiflora seedlings and a Schlumbergera microsphaerica that I received last fall. The Schlumbergera grew quite well over the winter. I'm really happy with how well it has done even though the house was coldish during the winter. If anybody is interested, this species is currently for sale on eBay. The vendor also has some other interesting plants for sale.
Getting back to orchids, one of my very favorites is Dendrobium trilamellatum...
Last month mine bloomed for the first time. There were only two flowers. I really wasn't quite in my plant "mood" yet, but because I love this orchid so much, I knew that I'd be really disgruntled with myself if I didn't endeavor to put the pollen to good use. So I used the pollen to try and pollinate two closely related Dendrobiums...
Dendrobium canaliculatum x (parnatanum x trilamellatum)
Dendrobium canaliculatum x antennatum
Both these orchids now have a seed pod developing on them, but the first orchid's seed pod is twice as large. When the pods ripen should I sow the seeds on my tree? I'd like to, in order to select for the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, but I'm not confident that any seeds would germinate. Right now I'm leaning towards offering the seeds to the curator of the Huntington's succulent collection.... John Trager. A while back he had an Oncidium cebolleta cross flasked and the seedlings were included as part of the 2012 International Succulent Introductions (ISI). It was really great to see an orchid offered alongside the other succulent plants. Since that year no other orchid has been offered in the ISI so naturally I think it's time for another orchid, or two, to crash the succulent party.
If I was going to summarize all of this entry with one word... I'd go with "Californication". It's a show staring David Duchovny as a writer. Unfortunately the show isn't about plants but the word "Californication" strikes me as really relevant to the incredible and amazing and fascinating process of the millions and millions of non-native plants growing here in California being selected for, and adapting to, California's climate. Any Californian who grows non-native plants outdoors helps to facilitate this process, especially when they grow these plants from seed. In theory, since orchids produce so many seeds, they should adapt the fastest. But then there's the tricky issue that virtually all orchid seeds require fungus or flasking to germinate. Well, this issue is only tricky if we assume, or decide, that Californication is truly desirable.
Anybody else a fan of Blade Runner? The setting is Los Angeles in 2019. There's an abundance of flying cars, but a scarcity of plants. Personally, if we are going to err, then we should err on the side of too many plants. If we're going to give future people something to complain about, then let them complain about an abundance of plants. Let them complain that California has too many different varieties of tree Aloes that host too many different varieties of orchids that nourish too many different varieties of hummingbirds and harbor too many different varieties of lizards.
Maybe the one movie that best depicts how we should err is Annihilation. This passage comes to mind...
Here's a photo of orchids growing on leaves, here are some photos of an orchid blooming on a leaf, and here's a video of an orchid blooming on a leaf. Unfortunately I haven't seen a photo of an orchid growing on a spider's web, but I've seen plenty of spider webs on orchids. Maybe Sanford is correct that leaves and webs won't become important orchid habitats but, given that ants live inside the pseudobulbs of certain orchid species, and virtually all orchid seeds need a fungus in order to germinate, and there are many different orchids that are happy to grow on cactus, I personally wouldn't underestimate potential associations between orchids and other organisms.
[UPDATE]
The largest Laelia anceps bloomed on Jan 2019....
************************
In 2011 I sowed a bunch of different orchid seeds on my Cedar tree and much to my very pleasant surprise some of them actually germinated...
All the seedlings turned out to be Laelia anceps. Over the years I've documented the growth of the largest seedling...
December 2012
June 2013
Dec 2013
Aug 2014
Nov 2014
April 2016
June 2018
There's a really big disparity between the seedlings in terms of size. Here's one of the smallest seedlings...
What explains the remarkable size disparity? Is it because of the difference in the seeds and/or the difference in the microhabitats and/or the difference in the helper fungus?
The largest seedling germinated right next to the roots of a slow growing variety of Dendrobium teretifolium. Evidently the Dendrobium harbored a fungus in its roots that the Laelia seed was able to put to good use. Is this fungus from Australia like the Dendrobium, or from Mexico like the Laelia, or is it pantropical? In any case, given that the Laelia is in the process of outgrowing and overgrowing the Dendrobium, clearly it isn't always advantageous for an orchid to harbor fungus that can help germinate the seeds of unrelated orchids. I wonder whether the seeds of this Dendrobium would be able to germinate near the roots of this Laelia.
Right now the largest seedling has five new pseudobulbs starting to grow. In many, if not most, years its pseudobulbs mature around August and new ones would start to grow. They would mature late winter or early spring. Part of the reason for this is because this individual hasn't yet allocated any energy to blooming! It is definitely not precocious. The trade-off between growing and blooming is quite interesting.
Last year I removed two keikis from my very wonderful Dendrobium Gloucester Sands (discolor x canaliculatum) and attached them to boards...
The smaller keiki decided to put out roots and a new pseudobulb while the larger keiki decided to bloom. Blooming is very costly in terms of energy so, for a plant this size, I'd normally nip the spike in the bud, so to speak. In this case I decided to leave it for illustrative purposes. Some animal decided to mostly override my decision by eating all of the buds except for one.
The "pockets" made of shade cloth are filled with slow-release fertilizer granules. This effectively fertilizes all the mounted plants beneath it, but I really shouldn't have attached the pockets to the boards. Bundling the pockets and the boards discourages me from moving the boards. Instead, I should have made completely "independent" pockets. Another thing, seedlings and small newly mounted divisions don't respond well to lots of fertilizer.
Getting back to the Den Gloucester Sands, here are its roots growing on my Pachypodium lamerei...
Here's a video of it...
Diversity is the best. Last September I excitedly purchased a flask of Bc Beulah Bradeen (Cattleya walkeriana x Brassavola nodosa) from eBay. Both parents have done quite well for me so I was very curious to see whether their offspring might do even better. As per my standard operating procedure, I carefully mounted the largest seedlings on sections of trellis wood...
I distributed all the mounts throughout the garden. So far only around five seedlings survived the winter. And it was a pretty reasonable winter... it didn't even freeze.
Why did so many seedlings die? Was it primarily from a lack of heat? Or was it primarily from a lack of water? During winter, for most of my plants I drastically cut back on watering. In any case, given that a few seedlings survived, there's certainly variation in terms of the seedlings and/or the microhabitats.
One issue with flasks is that there's usually no selection in terms of drought tolerance. Last fall I had a relevant e-mail discussion with an orchid hybridizer in Australia who specializes in tea tree orchids. He had recently registered Dendrobium Ultraviolet, which is a cross between a less succulent orchid, Den Berry, and a more succulent orchid, Den canaliculatum. Even though the cross is 62.5% canaliculatum, it looks more like kingianum.
My theory is that, in a flask with adequate moisture, storing water is a disadvantage. Seedlings that are more succulent are going to lose the competition for limited space to the seedlings that are less succulent. So when a more succulent orchid is crossed with a less succulent orchid, if the seeds are flasked, then the seedlings will be less succulent.
I think the same concept must be true for temperature. If a cooler growing orchid (ie Den Berry) is crossed with a warmer growing orchid (ie Den canaliculatum), and the flasked seeds are kept cooler, then the seedlings will predominantly be cooler growers. I doubt that any professional flasking laboratories expose their flasks to temps as high as the temps that Den canaliculatum experiences in its native habitat. Basically, the deck is stacked against Den canaliculatum's warmer growing and drought tolerating traits.
Orchids populations, like all populations, conform/adapt to their conditions/environment. Here's the most relevant passage that I've found on the general topic...
An ovule is successfully fertilized by only one pollen grain out of (potentially) many thousands. If fertilization is performed at a sufficiently low temperature, the growth of chilling-resistant genotypes of pollen will be favored over others. These will reach the ovule first so that their genes will appear in the resulting seed. At no other stage of development can selection be made on such large numbers of genotypes. - Brad D. Patterson and Michael S. Reid, Genetic and Environmental Inlfuences on the Expression of Chilling Injury
What's very interesting to consider is what happens when an orchid is pollinated during the spring or fall here in Southern California. A few days ago the high temps were in the low 90s. Now the highs are in the low 70s. That's a pretty big range of high temps. Imagine how much impact this fluctuation would have on the race for the ovule. In theory the most hercuthermal genotypes should win the race.
Laelia anceps generally blooms from fall to spring... depending on the plant and its conditions. Honestly I don't even remember pollinating my Laelia anceps. For all I know the seeds that germinated on my tree were from a Laelia anceps owned by unknown neighbors. But in terms of adapting to SoCal's climate, it is advantageous for Laelia anceps to bloom when it does. Unfortunately, its blooming also coincides with my break from my plants. I think that, after the seeds germinated on my tree, I only once tried to pollinate my anceps, but no pods developed. Evidently the pollen that I used (ie Brassavola) was too different.
There have been a few other times when I sowed other orchid seeds on my tree. Only one of these other sowings was somewhat successful...
I noticed this NOID seedling in 2016. It germinated right next to the roots of a Vanda tricolor. I looked around and managed to spot a few other similar seedlings in the vicinity. It is definitely a sympodial orchid and its pseudobulbs and the undersides of its leaves are burgundy. When Camille1585 asked for an update on the Laelia anceps seedlings, I climbed the tree and noticed that one of these NOID seedlings was about to fall off because somebody, probably a squirrel, had dislodged the piece of bark that it was attached to. I carefully removed the seedling and attached it to a board...
If you zoom in you can see a bunch of reed-stem Epidendrum seeds germinating near the NOID seedling. My hope is that the helper fungus in the roots of the NOID seedling will inoculate the reed seeds. It's my best guess that, unlike other orchid seeds, reed seeds already have enough nutrients to germinate on their own. Even if this is the case I still want to help to spread the fungus that helped the NOID seedling germinate.
The board is sitting on my coffee table without any sort of covering and its right under a bendy octopus type lamp that stays on during the day. Right now the reed seeds are completely dry. Hopefully this is giving an advantage to the marginally more drought tolerant individuals.
Next to the NOID seedling's mount is another mossy mount that has a reed seedling on it...
Also on the board are some Echeveria gibbiflora seedlings and a Schlumbergera microsphaerica that I received last fall. The Schlumbergera grew quite well over the winter. I'm really happy with how well it has done even though the house was coldish during the winter. If anybody is interested, this species is currently for sale on eBay. The vendor also has some other interesting plants for sale.
Getting back to orchids, one of my very favorites is Dendrobium trilamellatum...
This robust epiphyte thrives in habitats in which few other orchids can survive. It occurs from a little south of Cooktown to the islands of Torres Strait, southern New Guinea and the Top End of the Northern Territory. It is a species of the very seasonal and hot open melaleuca woodlands where the wet season usually starts in December with occasional storms building to heavy rain in January to March, followed by a dry season in which virtually no rain falls from June to November. The Yellow Antelope Orchid flowers in spring (July to November) and the flowers are attractive, long lasting and pleasantly scented. They are about three to four centimetres across. In cultivation this species does moderately well, but must be given a dry season and the medium must be well drained. - Bill Lavarack, Bruce Gray, Australian Tropical Orchids
Last month mine bloomed for the first time. There were only two flowers. I really wasn't quite in my plant "mood" yet, but because I love this orchid so much, I knew that I'd be really disgruntled with myself if I didn't endeavor to put the pollen to good use. So I used the pollen to try and pollinate two closely related Dendrobiums...
Dendrobium canaliculatum x (parnatanum x trilamellatum)
Dendrobium canaliculatum x antennatum
Both these orchids now have a seed pod developing on them, but the first orchid's seed pod is twice as large. When the pods ripen should I sow the seeds on my tree? I'd like to, in order to select for the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, but I'm not confident that any seeds would germinate. Right now I'm leaning towards offering the seeds to the curator of the Huntington's succulent collection.... John Trager. A while back he had an Oncidium cebolleta cross flasked and the seedlings were included as part of the 2012 International Succulent Introductions (ISI). It was really great to see an orchid offered alongside the other succulent plants. Since that year no other orchid has been offered in the ISI so naturally I think it's time for another orchid, or two, to crash the succulent party.
If I was going to summarize all of this entry with one word... I'd go with "Californication". It's a show staring David Duchovny as a writer. Unfortunately the show isn't about plants but the word "Californication" strikes me as really relevant to the incredible and amazing and fascinating process of the millions and millions of non-native plants growing here in California being selected for, and adapting to, California's climate. Any Californian who grows non-native plants outdoors helps to facilitate this process, especially when they grow these plants from seed. In theory, since orchids produce so many seeds, they should adapt the fastest. But then there's the tricky issue that virtually all orchid seeds require fungus or flasking to germinate. Well, this issue is only tricky if we assume, or decide, that Californication is truly desirable.
Anybody else a fan of Blade Runner? The setting is Los Angeles in 2019. There's an abundance of flying cars, but a scarcity of plants. Personally, if we are going to err, then we should err on the side of too many plants. If we're going to give future people something to complain about, then let them complain about an abundance of plants. Let them complain that California has too many different varieties of tree Aloes that host too many different varieties of orchids that nourish too many different varieties of hummingbirds and harbor too many different varieties of lizards.
Maybe the one movie that best depicts how we should err is Annihilation. This passage comes to mind...
A few species of orchids are occasionally able to become established in very odd microhabitats. Withner (personal communication) reports seeing small orchids - probably Comparettia Poep. And Endl. - growing on mango leaves. Since the leaves last about three years, this suggests that the orchid may complete a life cycle within this relatively short time. Even more bizarre, Bowling (orchid propagator, Kew; personal communication) told me that he had once seen a tiny Microcoelia Lind. Growing on a spider's web in Ghana! I very much doubt, however, that either leaves or webs will ever become very important orchid habitats. - William W. Sanford, The Orchids, Scientific Studies
Here's a photo of orchids growing on leaves, here are some photos of an orchid blooming on a leaf, and here's a video of an orchid blooming on a leaf. Unfortunately I haven't seen a photo of an orchid growing on a spider's web, but I've seen plenty of spider webs on orchids. Maybe Sanford is correct that leaves and webs won't become important orchid habitats but, given that ants live inside the pseudobulbs of certain orchid species, and virtually all orchid seeds need a fungus in order to germinate, and there are many different orchids that are happy to grow on cactus, I personally wouldn't underestimate potential associations between orchids and other organisms.
[UPDATE]
The largest Laelia anceps bloomed on Jan 2019....
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/
Garden Tour... Orchids And Aloes
There are at least a gazillion varieties of awesome orchids that can easily grow outside year around here in Southern California. But there are certainly a few varieties that do appreciate a greenhouse.
My friend has a couple really nice greenhouses packed with lots of neat plants...
He also has a nice collection of Aloes...
My friend has a couple really nice greenhouses packed with lots of neat plants...
He also has a nice collection of Aloes...
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.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Nature Abhors A Vacuum
Reply to: Most Northern Florida location of tampensis?
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Here's a distribution map of Encyclia tampensis. It doesn't appear that there are any records for Alachua county. For comparison, here's the distribution map of Epidendrum conopseum.
If I was in your shoes, I'd definitely try and grow Encyclia tampensis. You're right on the border of its natural limit. But you'd have to expect that, every once in a while, a particularly bad freeze might wipe out your tampensis. But if you spend $10 dollars for a tampensis, and get 5 years of enjoyment from it, then that's not the worst investment. In comparison, you only get 15 minutes of enjoyment from a $10 dollar meal.
I definitely wouldn't buy very many tampensis though. Instead, I'd buy a lot of conopseum crosses. Eplc Butterfly Kisses (Lc Trick or Treat x Epi. conopseum) isn't too shabby (photo). There's actually one available on eBay. I think it looks better than tampensis. Another cross available on eBay is Epi. conopseum x C. purpurata.
You're super fortunate that there's a vendor on eBay, bluemossguy, who regularly offers crosses with conopseum. Right now he's selling a flask of Epidendrum conopseum x Brassavola nodosa for only $15 dollars. What a great cross! I bought 3 seedlings of this cross from him a couple years ago and am really happy with them. I wish that I had gotten an entire flask. I could still do so, but it's hard to justify the purchase when I already have three plants of this cross.
Getting a flask is a good idea because you can expect some drought/temperature tolerance variation among the seedlings. The larger the pool of seedlings, the more closely suited some of them will be to your conditions. With this logic in mind, it would be optimal to sow as many seeds on your trees, and the street trees, and your neighbors' trees, as possible. I've had some success with this technique here in dry, parched and thirsty Southern California. So you should have a lot more success in rainy, wet and humid Florida.
There's a limit though to how many flowers you can personally cross-pollinate. You'd end up with a lot more seed pods if you recruited the natural pollinators. Bees are cool, but hummingbirds are the coolest. I've witnessed my hummingbirds trying to make all sorts of crazy crosses (ie Echeveria x Aloe). I've seen them visiting orchid flowers as different as Dendrobium bigibbum and Dockrillia teretifolia. Both orchids have ended up with pods.
Hummingbirds like to pollinate reed-stem orchids. Sunset Valley Orchids (SVO) sold a cross between a reed-stem and conopseum...
(Epi. Pacific Eclipse x Epi. Pacific Canary) 'SVO Yellow Sun' x Epi. conopseum 'SVO'
Not sure if there are any still available. My friend bought one and let me borrow it to try and cross it. There are two pods on it but they kinda stalled out. It does have a really nice keiki on it. The plant itself is a lot more like a typical reed-stem. But it's more stout and succulent. I think it might actually make a pretty great epiphyte.
Another orchid that hummingbirds love to pollinate is Broughtonia sanguinea. It's a really awesome orchid. Coincidentally, today I just harvested a pod that was made by a hummingbird. The plant had finished blooming a while back but when I went to harvest the pod, I noticed that the spike was just starting to produce more flowers. So you don't want to cut off a spike that's still green. This species is relatively drought tolerant, but it isn't very cold tolerant.
Sophronitis cernua is another great orchid that the hummingbirds love to pollinate. Not sure if I remember correctly, but I thought that bluemossguy sold crosses of it with conopseum.
There are lots of really fun and exciting possibilities! You can choose from numerous really different orchids. When you make your choices and attach them to trees, then nature (conditions/pollinators) can choose among them. You can then choose among nature's choices. This virtuous cycle is a cross between artificial selection and natural selection. It's so much teamwork that we can think of it as collaborative selection. Or holistic selection. Or some better term.
Way back when I used to be a species guy, but then I decided that I cared more about results. For me whether an orchid was a species or hybrid was less important than whether it thrived on a tree. Then I realized that slugs sure don't care whether an orchid is a species or hybrid! Neither do hummingbirds. Or the weather.
Nature definitely doesn't care whether an orchid is a species or hybrid. What she cares about is the conquest of space. Nature abhors a vacuum. She wants to fill Canada with epiphytes sooner rather than later. We can, and should, give her a hand.
I'm guessing that your society's input might be a little different? Heh. Variety is the spice of life. Let me know what your society says. And please share updates on your project.
If I was in your shoes, I'd definitely try and grow Encyclia tampensis. You're right on the border of its natural limit. But you'd have to expect that, every once in a while, a particularly bad freeze might wipe out your tampensis. But if you spend $10 dollars for a tampensis, and get 5 years of enjoyment from it, then that's not the worst investment. In comparison, you only get 15 minutes of enjoyment from a $10 dollar meal.
I definitely wouldn't buy very many tampensis though. Instead, I'd buy a lot of conopseum crosses. Eplc Butterfly Kisses (Lc Trick or Treat x Epi. conopseum) isn't too shabby (photo). There's actually one available on eBay. I think it looks better than tampensis. Another cross available on eBay is Epi. conopseum x C. purpurata.
You're super fortunate that there's a vendor on eBay, bluemossguy, who regularly offers crosses with conopseum. Right now he's selling a flask of Epidendrum conopseum x Brassavola nodosa for only $15 dollars. What a great cross! I bought 3 seedlings of this cross from him a couple years ago and am really happy with them. I wish that I had gotten an entire flask. I could still do so, but it's hard to justify the purchase when I already have three plants of this cross.
Getting a flask is a good idea because you can expect some drought/temperature tolerance variation among the seedlings. The larger the pool of seedlings, the more closely suited some of them will be to your conditions. With this logic in mind, it would be optimal to sow as many seeds on your trees, and the street trees, and your neighbors' trees, as possible. I've had some success with this technique here in dry, parched and thirsty Southern California. So you should have a lot more success in rainy, wet and humid Florida.
There's a limit though to how many flowers you can personally cross-pollinate. You'd end up with a lot more seed pods if you recruited the natural pollinators. Bees are cool, but hummingbirds are the coolest. I've witnessed my hummingbirds trying to make all sorts of crazy crosses (ie Echeveria x Aloe). I've seen them visiting orchid flowers as different as Dendrobium bigibbum and Dockrillia teretifolia. Both orchids have ended up with pods.
Hummingbirds like to pollinate reed-stem orchids. Sunset Valley Orchids (SVO) sold a cross between a reed-stem and conopseum...
(Epi. Pacific Eclipse x Epi. Pacific Canary) 'SVO Yellow Sun' x Epi. conopseum 'SVO'
Not sure if there are any still available. My friend bought one and let me borrow it to try and cross it. There are two pods on it but they kinda stalled out. It does have a really nice keiki on it. The plant itself is a lot more like a typical reed-stem. But it's more stout and succulent. I think it might actually make a pretty great epiphyte.
Another orchid that hummingbirds love to pollinate is Broughtonia sanguinea. It's a really awesome orchid. Coincidentally, today I just harvested a pod that was made by a hummingbird. The plant had finished blooming a while back but when I went to harvest the pod, I noticed that the spike was just starting to produce more flowers. So you don't want to cut off a spike that's still green. This species is relatively drought tolerant, but it isn't very cold tolerant.
Sophronitis cernua is another great orchid that the hummingbirds love to pollinate. Not sure if I remember correctly, but I thought that bluemossguy sold crosses of it with conopseum.
There are lots of really fun and exciting possibilities! You can choose from numerous really different orchids. When you make your choices and attach them to trees, then nature (conditions/pollinators) can choose among them. You can then choose among nature's choices. This virtuous cycle is a cross between artificial selection and natural selection. It's so much teamwork that we can think of it as collaborative selection. Or holistic selection. Or some better term.
Way back when I used to be a species guy, but then I decided that I cared more about results. For me whether an orchid was a species or hybrid was less important than whether it thrived on a tree. Then I realized that slugs sure don't care whether an orchid is a species or hybrid! Neither do hummingbirds. Or the weather.
Nature definitely doesn't care whether an orchid is a species or hybrid. What she cares about is the conquest of space. Nature abhors a vacuum. She wants to fill Canada with epiphytes sooner rather than later. We can, and should, give her a hand.
I'm guessing that your society's input might be a little different? Heh. Variety is the spice of life. Let me know what your society says. And please share updates on your project.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Better Treasure Maps
I really love plants. The first thing that I did when I moved into my house was replace the front lawn with a wide variety of super interesting drought tolerant plants. Why should that space only have one plant when it can have many plants?! In economic terms, the opportunity cost of the lawn was way too high.
The awesomeness of having more interesting plants in any given space is the basic premise of "phorobana". A phorobana is any potted plant (ie bonsai) that has epiphytes growing on it. For the sake of facilitating communication I took the liberty of creating the word "phorobana" (phorophyte + ikebana). Plus, having a unique word for the idea makes it easier to search for and find relevant material.
It's a basic fact of life that space is always limited. A larger house means a smaller garden. More lawn means less biodiversity. The beauty of phorobanas is that they facilitate biodiversity. They put more treasure on a map.
There's usually quite a bit of treasure at plant shows. However, just like gardens, shows have a limited amount of space. Check out this photo that I took at a plant show...
Is this an Uncarina? If you look closely to the right of it you can see a Dockrillia orchid mounted on a piece of cork. Coincidentally, my friend recently shared a photo of his specimen Dockrillia linguiforme...
As you can see, the orchid is suspended in mid-air. Taking advantage of vertical space frees up horizontal space for more treasure.
The Uncarina has vertical space that could be occupied by the Dockrillia. If the same person already owned both plants, then adorning the Uncarina with the orchid would create room on the map for more treasure. If, on the other hand, the orchid was purchased for this purpose, then more treasure would be added to the map without sacrificing any horizontal space.
The Uncarina and the Dockrillia are both great ideas. Would combining these two great ideas result in an even greater idea?
Peanut butter is a great idea... so is jelly... and so is bread. Most people would agree that the combination of these three ideas is greater than any of these ideas on their own. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
With all the different ingredients in the world... the possibilities are endless. This is just as true for phorobanas as it is for dishes. The orchid family alone has more than 20,000 really diverse epiphytic species. Not to mention all the hybrids.
How long will it take to find the phorobana equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It's a numbers game. Finding the lovely outliers in less time depends on more people creating more combinations of epiphytes and potted plants. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Right now plant shows are the equivalent of eating peanut butter, jelly and bread separately. These ingredients are good... but they are so much better together! Yes, at ikebana shows there are arrangements that people can "taste". Even though the arrangements can be aesthetically pleasing, they aren't sustainable or informative. But imagine that you are at a phorobana show and you see a Dockrillia happily growing on an Uncarina. If you're familiar with the orchid but unfamiliar with its host, then you can reasonably guess that their requirements are somewhat similar. In this case the association would be informative.
Phorobana shows will be far more informative and interesting than regular plant shows. To help support this conclusion I'll show you some of my epiphytically enhanced potted plants...
Phorobanas should be on everybody's treasure map! Nobody should overlook this valuable idea! The question is... just how valuable is it? Does it matter?
In this video a street vendor is selling artwork by Banksy. The artwork is priced far below market value... but the vendor doesn't inform anybody that it's original art by Banksy. It's the closest thing you'll see to people walking past $100 dollars bills just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.
Imagine the equivalent scenario with some hunters and gatherers. Of course they are hungry... yet they simply walk past some plants that are loaded with perfectly ripe squash.
In some of the older orchid articles there are accounts of workers in tropical orchards regularly removing the "parasites" growing on the trees. They would rake the precious plants into huge piles and burn them.
Our behavior is far less beneficial when we don't know how valuable things are to other people. In order to maximize beneficial behavior it's necessary to share and learn the value of things.
When we go to a plant show/sale we might find numerous plants that we'd be really happy to have. We can tell a vendor... "I really love that plant!" But usually the vendor doesn't just give it to us. This is because talk is cheap. It doesn't cost us anything to simply say that we really love something. In order to prove that we truly love something, we have to be willing to spend our money on it. If we are willing to pay the price for the plant then the vendor will be happy to give it to us.
Spending our money helps to improve the treasure maps of vendors. The accuracy of their maps determines our benefit! We sure don't benefit if vendors overlook plants that we value. So we use our money to inform vendors which plants are more valuable/needed/wanted/important/relevant. Plant sales give us the immensely wonderful opportunity to superficially ("I love that plant!") and substantially ("I'll buy that plant") participate in the prioritization process. Because everyone is allowed to participate in this process, it makes it far more likely that any given shopper will be as happy as a kid in a candy store.
Perhaps this might seem pretty obvious... yet plant shows don't give everyone the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. And neither do plant forums! This forum is packed with products but we really don't substantially participate in the prioritization process. Same thing on Flickr... and Youtube... and Netflix. We're allowed to superficially participate in the prioritization process by commenting on and/or rating the different products... but we don't substantially participate. In the absence of substantial participation... the true value of the products is unknown... which means...
1. we overlook valuable products
2. less valuable products are supplied
3. we're less happy in the candy store than we should be
For Netflix the solution is simple. Subscribers should be given the option to earmark their fees to their favorite content. They'd still have complete access to all the content but they'd also have the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process.
A while back on Netflix I watched BBC's documentary "Wild Arabia". In one episode I was quite surprised to see a branch that was covered in epiphytes...
The tree is in the Dhofar mountains in the country of Oman. I really didn't know that Oman has epiphytes! Did you?
Unfortunately, the scene was way too short. I wanted to see and learn so much more about these epiphytes. If Netflix had given me the opportunity to earmark my subscription dollars to specific scenes, then I definitely would have earmarked quite a few to this one. I'm guessing that there wouldn't be too many other people in the same boat as me. But how many subscription dollars would subscribers earmark to shows about plants? I don't know. Neither does Netflix. It's easy enough to find out though.
This system of substantial and specific feedback is applicable to all organizations that have subscribers. But the same system can also work with donors.
When the students in my friend's 4th grade class donate their pennies to their Book Dept, they can use them to help determine the order (relative importance) of their favorite books. When they donate their pennies to their Communication Dept, they can use them to determine the order of their favorite blog entries. This same system could be used for forum threads.
We'd all have the option to donate money to the forum in order to help determine the order of our favorite threads. Not only would our donations support the forum, but they'd also bring the most valuable threads to each other's attention... "Hey! Here's some treasure! Please don't overlook it!"
For all intents and purposes... each member of this forum is in the same tribe! :) We probably don't have to worry about any of our members overlooking squash... but how many new books, articles, blog entries, threads, videos and events are there every day? None of us has the time to read, watch and attend everything. So it's way too easy to miss many valuable things. This is why it's so important to appreciate that our tribe, as a group, can read, watch and attend far more things than any single member of the tribe can. Our tribe, as a group, has far more eyeballs, ears, hands and feet than any single member of the tribe has. Most importantly... our tribe, as a group, has far more brains than any single member of the tribe has. As a group, our tribe can cover far more ground and gather/process far more information than any single member of the tribe can. But in order to realize the incredible potential of our collective body and brain... we need to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps. When each member of our tribe has a far better treasure map, then every single one of us will make far more informed decisions which will improve our treasure maps even more. Our tribe will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential tribe on the internet. We will win the internet. At least until other tribes figure out the secret to our success.
Think about it though... if it's beneficial for each and every member of our tribe to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps... then imagine how beneficial it will be when each and every member of the human race uses their money to improve each other's treasure maps. Then we will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential species in the universe. We will win the universe.
Admittedly, for all I know, some other species has already won the universe. But I do know that phorobanas wonderfully illustrate the idea of a map having more treasure (epiphytic enrichment).
Here's a photo that I took earlier in the year of my very first phorobana...
The Dendrobium x delicatum was blooming.
Does my phorobana look crowded? Well yeah, it's crowded with coolness! This relatively small Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is carrying way more than its fair share of precious biodiversity. One very tiny passenger is Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium...
Epiphytic enrichment is nicely described in this passage about an aquarium...
Every little corner of the world should be packed with treasure. Every space on every person's map should be packed with treasure. Everybody should be surrounded by valuable opportunities. Everybody should clearly recognize all the valuable opportunities that are available to them. Therefore, everybody should use their money to help each other clearly see all the valuable opportunities.
Ok, so we've covered quite a bit of conceptual ground. Next we can consider some of the practical aspects... such as sources for epiphytes/hosts and matching them.
My favorite sources for epiphytes here in Southern California are Andy's Orchids, Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, Sunset Valley Orchids and Kartuz Greenhouses. Kartuz is also a great source for different potential hosts. Zooming out... by far the single best source for epiphytes/hosts is eBay.
The endlessly fascinating challenge is matching epiphytes and hosts! Logically they should have similar cultural requirements. You probably don't want to attach a Dracula orchid to a Golden Barrel Cactus. Maybe the easiest way to culturally match hosts and epiphytes is to learn which hosts epiphytes naturally grow on in nature.
Here's a photo of a Cabbage tree (Cussonia spicata) in nature with an orchid (Polystachya ottoniana) growing on it...
Here's my Polystachya ottoniana....
Here's Denise's Cussonia spicata...
Her C. spicata is missing a P. ottoniana and my P. ottoniana is missing a C. spicata! Should she give me her Cussonia or should I give her my Polystachya? :D Perhaps the rule is that ornaments are gifted to the owner of the Christmas tree. :)
There are a few relevant cultural details to point out. The bark on a relatively young Cussonia clearly doesn't have nearly as much texture as a mature tree. Also, when the Polystachya grows on the Cussonia in nature, even though they get roughly the same amount of water... I'm guessing that it's a lot more humid there in South Africa than here in Southern California. These two differences (texture, humidity) can be balanced out by giving the orchid some moss and/or more water. If watering frequency is increased then the Cussonia's drainage also needs to be increased (ie more gravel/pumice).
What's rather fascinating about Polystachya ottoniana is its distribution...
This is a map of South Africa. The blue area represents the Mediterranean climate and the black squares represent documented occurrences of Polystachya ottoniana. As far as I know this is the closest that any epiphytic orchid species comes to being Mediterranean. So maybe here in California it might actually take advantage of our winter rain and not be so bothered by somewhat less frequent watering in summer?
It's pretty easy to match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural associations. But you can also match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural habitats. Since California is so dry I'm especially interested in epiphytes that occur in seasonally dry tropical forests. On Flickr I created a gallery of orchids growing on cactus and other succulent plants.
A couple of those photos are of Zelenkoa onusta growing on a cactus in the US Botanic Garden conservatory. How cool is that?! This small orchid naturally grows on cactus in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Not only does it have nice yellow flowers but it also has really neat pseudobulbs...
Another really nice smaller orchid from a drier habitat is Laelia sincorana...
In bright light this orchid will have roundish pseudobulbs and short succulent leaves. I refer to these type of orchids as teapot orchids (short and stout). In its native country of Brazil, Laelia sincorana naturally grows on Vellozia species. Vellozias are so very awesome! Quite a few different epiphytes grow on arborescent Vellozias in nature because their fibrous branches are especially good at holding moisture. It's a real shame that they are so scarce here in Southern California!
Encyclia pyriformis is another of my favorite teapot orchids...
Nature makes the best ornaments! Here are some pictures of potential hosts...
Not sure which plant this is... Dracaena draco or arborea?
Dracaena marginata is fairly common and can be grown from relatively large cuttings. Here's a relevant passage about growing hosts from substantial cuttings...
Aloes
Aralias
Bougainvilleas
Cordylines
Cup of Gold
Ficus
Grapes
Moringa
Pachiras
Plumerias
Pomegranate
Yuccas
My friend sent me a photo of this Ficus rubiginosa growing epiphytically...
Most likely this Ficus is going to be chopped off and thrown away. A much better use for it would be for a phorobana. So I told my friend that he should ask the owner for it.
From my perspective, the one group of plants with the greatest phorobana potential are the Aloes...
This is Aloe Hercules (barberae x dichotoma) in a SoCal nursery. I have no idea how this one ended up with so many low branches. But it would be awesome if all the branches were adorned with teapot orchids.
Hercules doesn't usually branch so frequently at a low height. So it doesn't strike me as a particularly good candidate for phorobanas. A cross with far more potential was made by Karen Zimmerman...
This is a cross between Aloe ramosissima and tongaensis. Aloe ramosissima tends to have numerous low branches that are substantial enough for teapot orchids. Unfortunately... it has a few issues. It's a really slow grower, it doesn't grow so easily from cuttings and is fairly prone to rot. Aloe tongaensis is somewhere in between barberae and ramosissima in terms of branch quantity and height. It doesn't have the same issues as ramosissima and might be one of the best Aloe species for phorobanas.
The question is... is Karen's cross even better for phorobanas than tongaensis? I'd sure love to find out.
One Aloe species that is rather interesting is Aloe tenuior. It's a relatively fast grower that produces several upright stems that are around 2-3' tall. It doesn't seem to have an issue with rot. Plus, it grows easily from cuttings and when a stem is beheaded, it will produce one or more new heads. The only real drawback is that the stems aren't substantial enough for teapot orchids.
A few years ago I pollinated my tenuior with pollen from a bunch of different tree Aloes. I didn't keep track of which pollen went into which flower. But now I have four Aloes from the cross. They aren't quite blooming size but I'm pretty sure that at least three of them are hybrids. At first I guessed that they all had the same father but now I'm guessing otherwise.
Here's a photo that I took in November 2015 of one of the largest seedlings next to Aloe tenuior...
At this stage I started suspecting that this seedling and a few others might be hybrids rather than selfings. Six months later I took this photo...
Aloe tenuior is in the back. The seedlings all got taller and heftier... and then slowly flopped over. It was like watching a slow motion trainwreck! Earlier this year I potted three of them up and staked them...
The Aloe on the far right might be a cross between ramosissima and dichotoma. It's substantial enough for teapot orchids but super slow. Aloe tenuior is on the bottom right.
Here's a recent photo...
I should have used taller stakes! The plant on the left is one of my hybrids. It has a stem that is 2x as thick as tenuior's stem. To the right of it is tenuior. On its right is one of my hybrids that has a stem that is 4x as thick. On the far right is my hybrid with a stem that is 3x as thick. The tops of the stems are thicker than the bases. I'm hoping that the bases will thicken with age and then they'll be able to support the weight of the stems. In any case, the tops of the stems can be cut off and potted. Hopefully the headless stems will produce new heads like tenuior does.
The hybrid on the left is by far the slowest. The hybrid in the middle is by far the largest, which is interesting because it was the runt of the litter. It was so small that I didn't even bother including it in the first two photos. The hybrid on the right is by far the fastest.
What's fascinating is that the middle hybrid only has one basal shoot, the hybrid on the right has a gazillion and the hybrid on the left has several. My tenuior produces a few basal shoots. Here are all the potential fathers...
Aloe africana
Aloe arborescens
Aloe dichotoma
Aloe Hercules
Aloe tongaensis
Aloe thraskii
Aloe vaombe
The only potential father that produces numerous basal shoots is arborescens. I've read, and heard, that it tends to be dominant in its hybrids. None of my hybrids resemble arborescens. Honestly I was somewhat surprised that any of the fathers were compatible with tenuior. They are superficially quite different. Aloe tenuior and similar species have recently been moved into their own genus... Aloiampelos. So all my crosses are intergeneric.
The other day I gave my friend Fernando cuttings of my two most prolific tenuior hybrids. It was the first time that I've shared cuttings. The offshoots are only now getting large enough to share. It's interesting to participate in the very first dissemination of a new plant. So far the hybrid with the least offshoots is spreading slower than the hybrids with more offshoots. I'm guessing that this will continue to be the case. It stands to reason that the shareability of a plant will significantly influence its proliferation. Here in Southern California, Aloe arborescens is a contender for the most common Aloe. It's probably not a coincidence that it produces abundant offshoots that can be easily cut and rooted. Aloe vera might be more common and it does produce offshoots, but they have to be dug up. Its prevalence is most likely the result of its medicinal properties.
I'm not sure how long it will take my hybrids to reach blooming size. I'd definitely like to see their flowers... but I'm far more curious to see their mature form. How much phorobana potential will they have? There's always room for improvement. It would be really cool to try and cross my hybrids with Karen's hybrids.
Hopefully more people will hybridize Aloes with the goal of creating varieties that make awesome phorobanas. Kinda like people trying to build better birdhouses.
I'd sure love to see lots of Aloe phorobanas! Wouldn't you? Or would you love to see other things? In all cases it's unfortunate when we overlook valuable things. This is why it's so important for us to easily improve each other's treasure maps.
The awesomeness of having more interesting plants in any given space is the basic premise of "phorobana". A phorobana is any potted plant (ie bonsai) that has epiphytes growing on it. For the sake of facilitating communication I took the liberty of creating the word "phorobana" (phorophyte + ikebana). Plus, having a unique word for the idea makes it easier to search for and find relevant material.
It's a basic fact of life that space is always limited. A larger house means a smaller garden. More lawn means less biodiversity. The beauty of phorobanas is that they facilitate biodiversity. They put more treasure on a map.
There's usually quite a bit of treasure at plant shows. However, just like gardens, shows have a limited amount of space. Check out this photo that I took at a plant show...
Is this an Uncarina? If you look closely to the right of it you can see a Dockrillia orchid mounted on a piece of cork. Coincidentally, my friend recently shared a photo of his specimen Dockrillia linguiforme...
As you can see, the orchid is suspended in mid-air. Taking advantage of vertical space frees up horizontal space for more treasure.
The Uncarina has vertical space that could be occupied by the Dockrillia. If the same person already owned both plants, then adorning the Uncarina with the orchid would create room on the map for more treasure. If, on the other hand, the orchid was purchased for this purpose, then more treasure would be added to the map without sacrificing any horizontal space.
The Uncarina and the Dockrillia are both great ideas. Would combining these two great ideas result in an even greater idea?
Peanut butter is a great idea... so is jelly... and so is bread. Most people would agree that the combination of these three ideas is greater than any of these ideas on their own. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
With all the different ingredients in the world... the possibilities are endless. This is just as true for phorobanas as it is for dishes. The orchid family alone has more than 20,000 really diverse epiphytic species. Not to mention all the hybrids.
How long will it take to find the phorobana equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It's a numbers game. Finding the lovely outliers in less time depends on more people creating more combinations of epiphytes and potted plants. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Right now plant shows are the equivalent of eating peanut butter, jelly and bread separately. These ingredients are good... but they are so much better together! Yes, at ikebana shows there are arrangements that people can "taste". Even though the arrangements can be aesthetically pleasing, they aren't sustainable or informative. But imagine that you are at a phorobana show and you see a Dockrillia happily growing on an Uncarina. If you're familiar with the orchid but unfamiliar with its host, then you can reasonably guess that their requirements are somewhat similar. In this case the association would be informative.
Phorobana shows will be far more informative and interesting than regular plant shows. To help support this conclusion I'll show you some of my epiphytically enhanced potted plants...
Phorobanas should be on everybody's treasure map! Nobody should overlook this valuable idea! The question is... just how valuable is it? Does it matter?
In this video a street vendor is selling artwork by Banksy. The artwork is priced far below market value... but the vendor doesn't inform anybody that it's original art by Banksy. It's the closest thing you'll see to people walking past $100 dollars bills just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.
Imagine the equivalent scenario with some hunters and gatherers. Of course they are hungry... yet they simply walk past some plants that are loaded with perfectly ripe squash.
In some of the older orchid articles there are accounts of workers in tropical orchards regularly removing the "parasites" growing on the trees. They would rake the precious plants into huge piles and burn them.
Our behavior is far less beneficial when we don't know how valuable things are to other people. In order to maximize beneficial behavior it's necessary to share and learn the value of things.
When we go to a plant show/sale we might find numerous plants that we'd be really happy to have. We can tell a vendor... "I really love that plant!" But usually the vendor doesn't just give it to us. This is because talk is cheap. It doesn't cost us anything to simply say that we really love something. In order to prove that we truly love something, we have to be willing to spend our money on it. If we are willing to pay the price for the plant then the vendor will be happy to give it to us.
Spending our money helps to improve the treasure maps of vendors. The accuracy of their maps determines our benefit! We sure don't benefit if vendors overlook plants that we value. So we use our money to inform vendors which plants are more valuable/needed/wanted/important/relevant. Plant sales give us the immensely wonderful opportunity to superficially ("I love that plant!") and substantially ("I'll buy that plant") participate in the prioritization process. Because everyone is allowed to participate in this process, it makes it far more likely that any given shopper will be as happy as a kid in a candy store.
Perhaps this might seem pretty obvious... yet plant shows don't give everyone the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. And neither do plant forums! This forum is packed with products but we really don't substantially participate in the prioritization process. Same thing on Flickr... and Youtube... and Netflix. We're allowed to superficially participate in the prioritization process by commenting on and/or rating the different products... but we don't substantially participate. In the absence of substantial participation... the true value of the products is unknown... which means...
1. we overlook valuable products
2. less valuable products are supplied
3. we're less happy in the candy store than we should be
For Netflix the solution is simple. Subscribers should be given the option to earmark their fees to their favorite content. They'd still have complete access to all the content but they'd also have the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process.
A while back on Netflix I watched BBC's documentary "Wild Arabia". In one episode I was quite surprised to see a branch that was covered in epiphytes...
The tree is in the Dhofar mountains in the country of Oman. I really didn't know that Oman has epiphytes! Did you?
Unfortunately, the scene was way too short. I wanted to see and learn so much more about these epiphytes. If Netflix had given me the opportunity to earmark my subscription dollars to specific scenes, then I definitely would have earmarked quite a few to this one. I'm guessing that there wouldn't be too many other people in the same boat as me. But how many subscription dollars would subscribers earmark to shows about plants? I don't know. Neither does Netflix. It's easy enough to find out though.
This system of substantial and specific feedback is applicable to all organizations that have subscribers. But the same system can also work with donors.
When the students in my friend's 4th grade class donate their pennies to their Book Dept, they can use them to help determine the order (relative importance) of their favorite books. When they donate their pennies to their Communication Dept, they can use them to determine the order of their favorite blog entries. This same system could be used for forum threads.
We'd all have the option to donate money to the forum in order to help determine the order of our favorite threads. Not only would our donations support the forum, but they'd also bring the most valuable threads to each other's attention... "Hey! Here's some treasure! Please don't overlook it!"
For all intents and purposes... each member of this forum is in the same tribe! :) We probably don't have to worry about any of our members overlooking squash... but how many new books, articles, blog entries, threads, videos and events are there every day? None of us has the time to read, watch and attend everything. So it's way too easy to miss many valuable things. This is why it's so important to appreciate that our tribe, as a group, can read, watch and attend far more things than any single member of the tribe can. Our tribe, as a group, has far more eyeballs, ears, hands and feet than any single member of the tribe has. Most importantly... our tribe, as a group, has far more brains than any single member of the tribe has. As a group, our tribe can cover far more ground and gather/process far more information than any single member of the tribe can. But in order to realize the incredible potential of our collective body and brain... we need to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps. When each member of our tribe has a far better treasure map, then every single one of us will make far more informed decisions which will improve our treasure maps even more. Our tribe will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential tribe on the internet. We will win the internet. At least until other tribes figure out the secret to our success.
Think about it though... if it's beneficial for each and every member of our tribe to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps... then imagine how beneficial it will be when each and every member of the human race uses their money to improve each other's treasure maps. Then we will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential species in the universe. We will win the universe.
Admittedly, for all I know, some other species has already won the universe. But I do know that phorobanas wonderfully illustrate the idea of a map having more treasure (epiphytic enrichment).
Here's a photo that I took earlier in the year of my very first phorobana...
The Dendrobium x delicatum was blooming.
Does my phorobana look crowded? Well yeah, it's crowded with coolness! This relatively small Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is carrying way more than its fair share of precious biodiversity. One very tiny passenger is Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium...
Epiphytic enrichment is nicely described in this passage about an aquarium...
The condensed reef's extraordinary hues and alien life forms cast a New Age vibe. To stand in front of this rectangular bottle is to stand on a harmonic node. Here are more varieties of living creatures crammed into a square meter than anywhere else on the planet. Life does not get any denser. The remarkable natural richness of the coral reef has been squeezed further into the hyper-natural richness of a synthetic reef. - Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
Every little corner of the world should be packed with treasure. Every space on every person's map should be packed with treasure. Everybody should be surrounded by valuable opportunities. Everybody should clearly recognize all the valuable opportunities that are available to them. Therefore, everybody should use their money to help each other clearly see all the valuable opportunities.
Ok, so we've covered quite a bit of conceptual ground. Next we can consider some of the practical aspects... such as sources for epiphytes/hosts and matching them.
My favorite sources for epiphytes here in Southern California are Andy's Orchids, Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, Sunset Valley Orchids and Kartuz Greenhouses. Kartuz is also a great source for different potential hosts. Zooming out... by far the single best source for epiphytes/hosts is eBay.
The endlessly fascinating challenge is matching epiphytes and hosts! Logically they should have similar cultural requirements. You probably don't want to attach a Dracula orchid to a Golden Barrel Cactus. Maybe the easiest way to culturally match hosts and epiphytes is to learn which hosts epiphytes naturally grow on in nature.
Here's a photo of a Cabbage tree (Cussonia spicata) in nature with an orchid (Polystachya ottoniana) growing on it...
Here's my Polystachya ottoniana....
Here's Denise's Cussonia spicata...
Her C. spicata is missing a P. ottoniana and my P. ottoniana is missing a C. spicata! Should she give me her Cussonia or should I give her my Polystachya? :D Perhaps the rule is that ornaments are gifted to the owner of the Christmas tree. :)
There are a few relevant cultural details to point out. The bark on a relatively young Cussonia clearly doesn't have nearly as much texture as a mature tree. Also, when the Polystachya grows on the Cussonia in nature, even though they get roughly the same amount of water... I'm guessing that it's a lot more humid there in South Africa than here in Southern California. These two differences (texture, humidity) can be balanced out by giving the orchid some moss and/or more water. If watering frequency is increased then the Cussonia's drainage also needs to be increased (ie more gravel/pumice).
What's rather fascinating about Polystachya ottoniana is its distribution...
This is a map of South Africa. The blue area represents the Mediterranean climate and the black squares represent documented occurrences of Polystachya ottoniana. As far as I know this is the closest that any epiphytic orchid species comes to being Mediterranean. So maybe here in California it might actually take advantage of our winter rain and not be so bothered by somewhat less frequent watering in summer?
It's pretty easy to match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural associations. But you can also match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural habitats. Since California is so dry I'm especially interested in epiphytes that occur in seasonally dry tropical forests. On Flickr I created a gallery of orchids growing on cactus and other succulent plants.
A couple of those photos are of Zelenkoa onusta growing on a cactus in the US Botanic Garden conservatory. How cool is that?! This small orchid naturally grows on cactus in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Not only does it have nice yellow flowers but it also has really neat pseudobulbs...
Another really nice smaller orchid from a drier habitat is Laelia sincorana...
In bright light this orchid will have roundish pseudobulbs and short succulent leaves. I refer to these type of orchids as teapot orchids (short and stout). In its native country of Brazil, Laelia sincorana naturally grows on Vellozia species. Vellozias are so very awesome! Quite a few different epiphytes grow on arborescent Vellozias in nature because their fibrous branches are especially good at holding moisture. It's a real shame that they are so scarce here in Southern California!
Encyclia pyriformis is another of my favorite teapot orchids...
Nature makes the best ornaments! Here are some pictures of potential hosts...
Not sure which plant this is... Dracaena draco or arborea?
Dracaena marginata is fairly common and can be grown from relatively large cuttings. Here's a relevant passage about growing hosts from substantial cuttings...
In completely tropical climates, where the temperature never falls below 55F., the trees could be placed anywhere in the garden or patio. This assumes that severe winds or very dry desert air are not a factor. In such tropical settings, larger trees could also be used. In temperate climates both the trees and the orchids will require a greenhouse or its equivalent. Anyone with a large greenhouse could plant one or more trees directly in the ground. This can be seen, in a well-done fashion, at The Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota, Florida. There are several good-sized Crescentia trees covered with orchids in their display house. Most people will probably prefer to maintain semi-dwarf trees in large pots. These might be mounted on dollies for mobility, if desired. It may be necessary from time to time to air layer new trees as the old ones become too root-bound and lanky. Probably all of the trees listed will air layer rather easily. Most will also root easily as cuttings under mist. Some, such as Calliandra, Erythrina, Codiaeum, Acnistus, Tabebuia and Crescentia, will root without mist from large cuttings, even up to fence post size. Many of the trees have showy or fragrant flowers, some have attractive edible fruit and several have unusual foliage colors. Any can be grown from seed if it is available and you have the patience. - John Beckner, Host Trees for Cultivated OrchidsHere are some other plants that can be grown from substantial cuttings...
Aloes
Aralias
Bougainvilleas
Cordylines
Cup of Gold
Ficus
Grapes
Moringa
Pachiras
Plumerias
Pomegranate
Yuccas
My friend sent me a photo of this Ficus rubiginosa growing epiphytically...
Most likely this Ficus is going to be chopped off and thrown away. A much better use for it would be for a phorobana. So I told my friend that he should ask the owner for it.
From my perspective, the one group of plants with the greatest phorobana potential are the Aloes...
This is Aloe Hercules (barberae x dichotoma) in a SoCal nursery. I have no idea how this one ended up with so many low branches. But it would be awesome if all the branches were adorned with teapot orchids.
Hercules doesn't usually branch so frequently at a low height. So it doesn't strike me as a particularly good candidate for phorobanas. A cross with far more potential was made by Karen Zimmerman...
This is a cross between Aloe ramosissima and tongaensis. Aloe ramosissima tends to have numerous low branches that are substantial enough for teapot orchids. Unfortunately... it has a few issues. It's a really slow grower, it doesn't grow so easily from cuttings and is fairly prone to rot. Aloe tongaensis is somewhere in between barberae and ramosissima in terms of branch quantity and height. It doesn't have the same issues as ramosissima and might be one of the best Aloe species for phorobanas.
The question is... is Karen's cross even better for phorobanas than tongaensis? I'd sure love to find out.
One Aloe species that is rather interesting is Aloe tenuior. It's a relatively fast grower that produces several upright stems that are around 2-3' tall. It doesn't seem to have an issue with rot. Plus, it grows easily from cuttings and when a stem is beheaded, it will produce one or more new heads. The only real drawback is that the stems aren't substantial enough for teapot orchids.
A few years ago I pollinated my tenuior with pollen from a bunch of different tree Aloes. I didn't keep track of which pollen went into which flower. But now I have four Aloes from the cross. They aren't quite blooming size but I'm pretty sure that at least three of them are hybrids. At first I guessed that they all had the same father but now I'm guessing otherwise.
Here's a photo that I took in November 2015 of one of the largest seedlings next to Aloe tenuior...
At this stage I started suspecting that this seedling and a few others might be hybrids rather than selfings. Six months later I took this photo...
Aloe tenuior is in the back. The seedlings all got taller and heftier... and then slowly flopped over. It was like watching a slow motion trainwreck! Earlier this year I potted three of them up and staked them...
The Aloe on the far right might be a cross between ramosissima and dichotoma. It's substantial enough for teapot orchids but super slow. Aloe tenuior is on the bottom right.
Here's a recent photo...
I should have used taller stakes! The plant on the left is one of my hybrids. It has a stem that is 2x as thick as tenuior's stem. To the right of it is tenuior. On its right is one of my hybrids that has a stem that is 4x as thick. On the far right is my hybrid with a stem that is 3x as thick. The tops of the stems are thicker than the bases. I'm hoping that the bases will thicken with age and then they'll be able to support the weight of the stems. In any case, the tops of the stems can be cut off and potted. Hopefully the headless stems will produce new heads like tenuior does.
The hybrid on the left is by far the slowest. The hybrid in the middle is by far the largest, which is interesting because it was the runt of the litter. It was so small that I didn't even bother including it in the first two photos. The hybrid on the right is by far the fastest.
What's fascinating is that the middle hybrid only has one basal shoot, the hybrid on the right has a gazillion and the hybrid on the left has several. My tenuior produces a few basal shoots. Here are all the potential fathers...
Aloe africana
Aloe arborescens
Aloe dichotoma
Aloe Hercules
Aloe tongaensis
Aloe thraskii
Aloe vaombe
The only potential father that produces numerous basal shoots is arborescens. I've read, and heard, that it tends to be dominant in its hybrids. None of my hybrids resemble arborescens. Honestly I was somewhat surprised that any of the fathers were compatible with tenuior. They are superficially quite different. Aloe tenuior and similar species have recently been moved into their own genus... Aloiampelos. So all my crosses are intergeneric.
The other day I gave my friend Fernando cuttings of my two most prolific tenuior hybrids. It was the first time that I've shared cuttings. The offshoots are only now getting large enough to share. It's interesting to participate in the very first dissemination of a new plant. So far the hybrid with the least offshoots is spreading slower than the hybrids with more offshoots. I'm guessing that this will continue to be the case. It stands to reason that the shareability of a plant will significantly influence its proliferation. Here in Southern California, Aloe arborescens is a contender for the most common Aloe. It's probably not a coincidence that it produces abundant offshoots that can be easily cut and rooted. Aloe vera might be more common and it does produce offshoots, but they have to be dug up. Its prevalence is most likely the result of its medicinal properties.
I'm not sure how long it will take my hybrids to reach blooming size. I'd definitely like to see their flowers... but I'm far more curious to see their mature form. How much phorobana potential will they have? There's always room for improvement. It would be really cool to try and cross my hybrids with Karen's hybrids.
Hopefully more people will hybridize Aloes with the goal of creating varieties that make awesome phorobanas. Kinda like people trying to build better birdhouses.
I'd sure love to see lots of Aloe phorobanas! Wouldn't you? Or would you love to see other things? In all cases it's unfortunate when we overlook valuable things. This is why it's so important for us to easily improve each other's treasure maps.
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