Cloning Slippers

[The_Plant_Piper]

Many orchids are easily cloned via tissue culture, just not slippers.

PaphMadMan (Kirk)

Absolutely. Thanks. I should have said slipper orchids.


...
I am familiar with commercial "orchid mix". I will start there, if it works well for Paphs.

How much sun?

Any roundabout guesses as to what type of paph I have here? I mean what kind of paphs have long strappy leaves, spotted bases and sell with this kind of price tag?
Does this dried bloom mean anything to anyone?

I don't really expect it will be so easy, but sometimes people who know a group of plants really well can be surprising. Just trying to glean all that I can.

 

[The_Plant_Piper]

Here are two more photos. One just showing the variegation from beneath with backlighting. And the other designed to show how the stripes are raised.

Okay, I'll stop flooding this post with pictures now. It's just that I'm slghtly in love. (Can't wait to see the blooms). :crazy:

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Hard to tell from the dried bloom, but it looks like it could be a complex hybrid. There was...maybe still is...a clone of insigne with the same kind of striped foliage. It was an old clone, last saw it mentioned about 15 years ago in the Orchid Digest. Take care, Eric

 

[PaphMadMan]

I am familiar with commercial "orchid mix". I will start there, if it works well for Paphs.

How much sun?

Any roundabout guesses as to what type of paph I have here? I mean what kind of paphs have long strappy leaves, spotted bases and sell with this kind of price tag?
Does this dried bloom mean anything to anyone?

I don't really expect it will be so easy, but sometimes people who know a group of plants really well can be surprising. Just trying to glean all that I can.

Yes, a typical commercial orchid mix should be a big improvement.

Your plant is probably a hybrid derived mostly from Paph. insigne, spicerianum, charlesworthii and/or similar species, along with the classic 'complex' 'bulldog' paph hybrids. This puts it toward the cool and bright end of the paph cultural spectrum.

Even if you had a fresh flower to show you probably wouldn't get a precise ID unless it is a species.

Some great pictures for comparison and lots of cultural information can be found at www.ladyslipper.com. Any paph beginner can learn a lot there.

PaphMadMan (Kirk)

 

[paphiness]

mutants

In genetics research, we are always looking for the mutants, as opposed to the "normal" "wild-types". The ones that don't behave as you expect give you a clue as to how things might be working (or not) at the genetic level. In other words, if you came across a "mutant" car that was missing some part of the engine, you might be able to determine via a number of tests what part was missing. For example, if the engine didn't turn over, or if you couldn't accelerate, or you heard pinging noises, etc... Each "phenotype" of the mutant car would give you a clue as to what might be screwed up under the hood.

Research genetics works in much the same way.

I've got a small collection of oddities which I quite enjoy. You can check some out at my blog, www.slipperorchidblog.com, and clicking on the "mutants" category. I will be adding more as I dig up photos or acquire new plants.

 

[fundulopanchax]

With Cypripedium seedlings in flask the same phenomenon sometimes occurs and we have divided these up the same way and gotten lots of presumably identical seedlings. Fast reported this in the mid-1970's and commonly sliced protocorms and seedlings in half and kept doing that until she had the numbers she wanted.

My experimental plants are not old enough to bloom yet which is why I said "presumably identical."

Ron

 

[The_Plant_Piper]

Well, I repotted today and that almost went as planned.
The pot I chose- a ceramic pot with holes designed for orchids- was probably a bit large for my plant. Then, as I was brushing away the old soil, the sport fell away from the clump. The roots were disintegrating on the whole plant and didn't look that great to me (hope I'm wrong). Then, I realized once I had it all together that the holes in the pot are large enough to allow the media to come through. Screening would have been a good idea. Anyway, its done. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I just put the sport a little off to the corner to give it expansion room as I didn't have another orchid pot lined up.

Hope I didn't make things worse.

Now, I just need to figure out exactly where to place this baby in my home.

 

[smartie2000]

nice leaves....I still don't have a variegated paph yet

if the pot is one of those with holes on the sides then I don't think the pot size is too big. It will dry faster than the plastic pot too.

 

[@n@iwod]

How about this hybrid phalaenopsis found somewhere on a French forum. What do u think abt ?
http://www.orchidees.fr/forums/gallery/1206731341/gallery_6051_295_28483.jpg

 

[The_Plant_Piper]

That's a beautiful phael!

 

[goldenrose]

Cool!!!