# Brachy x Poly crosses



## Sue (Jul 21, 2006)

So, Jane's Mark Hasegawa, along with my recent purchasing trend, has made me think I should ask you all some questions I've had.

I recently had the chance at local auctions to pick up a few Brachy x Poly crosses, which I am quite excited about. Tom Ott's comment when I got one of them (Rolfei, if I remember correctly) was something like "You're young; maybe it'll bloom before you die."

So, before I pick up any more of these (I was just looking at a Psyche x kolopakingii var. topperi), please advise:

1. Do any of you have any of these that _do_ bloom regularly?

2. Which of the Brachys do you think is easiest/hardest to bloom?

3. Which of the Polys do you think is easiest/hardest to bloom?

4. Can we expect ease-of-bloom traits to transfer over to these hybrids?

5. And, as long as I'm asking questions, who's got these, which do you have, how often have they bloomed, how many growths did they need before blooming, and do you have pics around?

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To provide what little I know, I'll say that none of mine have bloomed yet, but I haven't had any of them for too long, I know nothing about comparative ease of bloom among Brachys, and among Polys, well, I know roths is quite reluctant, and I have the impression (perhaps quite mistaken) that haynald. and lowii are rather easy to bloom, among the Polys. But I have no idea where to put, e.g. kolopakingii along that spectrum.

So far, in this group of hybrids, I've got:

Paph. Conkoloco (concolor x kolopakingii) 3 growths, unbloomed
Paph. Rolfei (bellatulum x rothschildianum) 4 growths, unbloomed
Paph. Summer Snow (niveum x haynaldianum var. album) 1 growth, unbloomed
Paph. Woluwense (niveum x rothschildianum) 6 growths, unbloomed


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## Marco (Jul 21, 2006)

Sue said:


> "You're young; maybe it'll bloom before you die."



That's classic


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## Sue (Jul 21, 2006)

Yeah, I was pretty happy with that line. Thank goodness they're at least relatively small and very compact growers, at least the ones I've got.


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## Bob in Albany N.Y. (Jul 21, 2006)

I grow lots of brachy's. They will bloom on one or two growths with only a 5" or 6" leaf span. These guys bloom quite easy for me. 

I also own a Rolfie and a Psyche x kolopakingii var. topperi, both of which are multigrowth and neither of which have bloomed. That's about all I can tell you.

Hope this helps.


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## Bob Wellenstein (Jul 21, 2006)

Paph. Conkoloco (concolor x kolopakingii) 3 growths, unbloomed - very free blooming - figure out what you are doing wrong!

Paph. Rolfei (bellatulum x rothschildianum) 4 growths, unbloomed - probably the most reluctant of the four - we have a couple of cultivars and see flowers maybe every 3 years

Paph. Summer Snow (niveum x haynaldianum var. album) 1 growth, unbloomed
- again pretty free blooming, but probably will wait til it gets a start

Paph. Woluwense (niveum x rothschildianum) 6 growths, unbloomed - less demanding than rolfei, but somewhat reluctant bloomer.

There really is no correlation between how easy the species are to bloom and the crosses, all of the species above are easy to bloom. Brachys x rothschildianum seem to be the problem bloomers, look for crosses with Saint Swithin or Susan Booth for good substitutes that bloom more freely.


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## Sue (Jul 21, 2006)

Bob Wellenstein said:


> There really is no correlation between how easy the species are to bloom and the crosses, all of the species above are easy to bloom. Brachys x rothschildianum seem to be the problem bloomers, look for crosses with Saint Swithin or Susan Booth for good substitutes that bloom more freely.



Interesting. And not quite what I expected! I'll have to keep an eye out for those next-gen crosses. ( . . . and I'll think more seriously about the Psyche x kolo)

(Oh, and the Conkoloco I've only had for a few weeks)

Hmm. I'll make a note of this for myself to remember (I have an auction to go to in a couple weeks), but I'll make the note publicly, here, in case this is useful info for anyone else:

Saint Swithin
x niveum =Naive Saint
x concolor = Kokomo
x bellatulum = Buddy Mark
x godefroyae = God's Saint


Susan Booth
x niveum = Naive Susan
x concolor = Lawless Rheingold
x bellatulum = In-Charm Firebird
x godefroyae = Hiro Zeppelin


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## Bob Wellenstein (Jul 21, 2006)

If you like this general look, and want a nice compact plant with a flower that is larger than expected proportionately and generally more heavily marked, also look for brachy x wilhelminiae crosses. These have always been easy to bloom for us.


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## Sue (Jul 21, 2006)

I will keep an eye out for those as well, but won't they top out at two flowers per inflorescence? The flower count issue inclines me towards kolo x brachy crosses, although it seems (just based on pictures I've seen around) like they tend to be deformed more often. Am I right about this?

Sorry Bob, I don't mean to burden you with so many questions. I just don't have a good feel for how things work out with these intersectionals, and I haven't found a good discussion of them anywhere.

I'd love to hear if anybody else has advice/experience with them. Bueller?


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## Bob Wellenstein (Jul 22, 2006)

It is going to depend to a great deal on the particular parents used. Yes, any kolopakingii is going to have more flowers than any wilhelminiae, but wilhelminiae can easily produce 4 flowers. Some clones of concolor are programmed for one flower, and no matter what you do that is what you get, others will give you four flowers. Kolopakingii gives somes very nice hybrid progeny, but even crossed with the brachys the plant size is substantial. The foliage is attractive, on the plus side.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jul 22, 2006)

There is definitely no correlation between ease of bloom of a species and ease of bloom of its hybrids. Brachy's are very easy to bloom...they will spike even as they are dying...I have always extolled the virtues of haynaldianum as being perhaps the easiest of all paphs to grow and bloom....but my only cross of the 2, bellatulum x haynaldianum, went for well over a decade before it finally bloomed...and then it wasn't worth the wait...I felt no regrets when it kicked a few years later. Also, with hybrid crosses, it is always possible to get a dud or cranky bloomer even out of an easy cross...Take care, Eric


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## Stephan (Jul 23, 2006)

Hey Sue

I've got

P Woluwense - 5 mature growths - unflowered
niveum X laevigatum - 4 small growths
Rolfei - 2 growths - unflowered
bellatulum x phillipinense - 4 growths - hints it may be soon ( I may be dreamin')
P Wössner Bellsand - 2 growths - I've been told not to hold my breath 
and a few others

None flowered but all still growing (happily for me)

There's a plant at Gordon's which is currently in flower and has another spike growing which looks for all the world like a Rolfei - but the plant tag was lost a while back so I couldn't say one way of the other.

There's always the chance one of us will find that "special" way to flower these suckers.

Cheers
Stephan


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## paphreek (Jul 23, 2006)

My Mark Hasegawa bloomed for me and the flowers were pretty nice. I decided to wait for the second or third blooming before bringing it in for judging. That was over two years ago. No blooms since. 

I got a couple of Conkoloco's from Bob a few year's back and the first one bloomed this summer. Here's a reposting of the pictures. It had four good blooms. The first one tried to open as the spike was just emerging.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 23, 2006)

That's beautiful. I really like it!


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