Deformed Jade Dragon

[Happypaphy7]

The cross is malipoese x fairrieanum.
It just opened two days ago, so it may open up a bit more, but I don't expect much.
The bud made 180 turn back to normal position, though. It was still upside down until Tuesday, so it was very sudden and unexpected how it corrected itself.
The pouch is only partially formed and badly twisted around. Otherwise, I actually like the flower. Relatively wide dorsal, horizontal petal stance (my last one had downswept petals like fairrieanum) and the dark markings.
I may give it a second chance.

My first Jade Dragon in 2018. These two plants are siblings.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Four weeks ago for comparison.
The bud was upside down and stayed this way until the bud started to open up. How strange!!

 

[Djthomp28]

Hopefully the next blooming will be better/fully formed. I like the colors though.

My malipoese did the same thing this year.

 

[Don I]

I like the colours and markings too.
Don

 

[P.K.Hansen]

It looks how I feel these days

 

[Happypaphy7]

Hopefully the next blooming will be better/fully formed. I like the colors though.

My malipoese did the same thing this year.

I hope so. I might keep it around and see when it will want to bloom again. Fingers crossed!

 

[Happypaphy7]

I like the colours and markings too.
Don

Me, too. What a shame on the shape. haha

 

[Happypaphy7]

It looks how I feel these days

Hahaha that's a good one

 

[Ozpaph]

next time

 

[Happypaphy7]

next time

Yup. If it blooms out like this again, it is so out the door!! lol

 

[setaylien]

This cross is an intersectional, Paphiopedilum + Parvisepalum. New crosses of this kind can be quite risky. Some years ago I bought a P. Jade Dragon that had a gene defect. No matter what care I gave it, it would not grow properly and slowly went down hill. It never did flower but I'm sure if it did, the result would have been worse than yours. If you're extra patient you can give it another chance (it seems to grow well).
Not long ago a Paph. Ho Chi Minh seedling flowered for me the first time: it was a disappointment. The bloom was large but had one defective petal: dog-eared on the dorsal margin and the apex, too. After at least 10 days the first bloom fell off and the second bud opened. It was a little smaller than the first but nearly perfect. It lasted another 10 days, good for the cross. So this plant should not be tossed.
Many plants can be a little unreliable. Cattleya aurea is known for this. You may have bought it in bloom because the lip was almost all yellow. However, when it reblooms the lip may be all red except for gold veining. Or it may have three flowers one of which is dramatically different even though it is on the same stalk. It will be hard for you to believe it is the same plant. Life is unpredictable but that is partly the reason it stays interesting.

 

[Happypaphy7]

This cross is an intersectional, Paphiopedilum + Parvisepalum. New crosses of this kind can be quite risky. Some years ago I bought a P. Jade Dragon that had a gene defect. No matter what care I gave it, it would not grow properly and slowly went down hill. It never did flower but I'm sure if it did, the result would have been worse than yours. If you're extra patient you can give it another chance (it seems to grow well).
Not long ago a Paph. Ho Chi Minh seedling flowered for me the first time: it was a disappointment. The bloom was large but had one defective petal: dog-eared on the dorsal margin and the apex, too. After at least 10 days the first bloom fell off and the second bud opened. It was a little smaller than the first but nearly perfect. It lasted another 10 days, good for the cross. So this plant should not be tossed.
Many plants can be a little unreliable. Cattleya aurea is known for this. You may have bought it in bloom because the lip was almost all yellow. However, when it reblooms the lip may be all red except for gold veining. Or it may have three flowers one of which is dramatically different even though it is on the same stalk. It will be hard for you to believe it is the same plant. Life is unpredictable but that is partly the reason it stays interesting.

True. Intersectional hybrid paphs can turn out quite awful to put it nicely.
Then, there are occasional hickups. With some plants growing at such a slow pace and with limited space vs lots of newer plants to try to fill my curiosity, it isn't easy to keep many plants and rebloom. but this is all part of the game and part of the fun & excitement to me. Well, this particular case isn't too exciting.

I wonder if that is part of the reason why we don't see parvi x fairrieanum hybrids that often, if at all. There must be initial issues with germination, issues with proper growth & development of seedlings & reaching to blooming size & continue on with good health blooming again and again...Some hybrids seem to have lots of issues while others don't.
When I made Norito Hasegawa x fairrieanum, the germination was not too low and I got three flasks each containing about just below 20 seedlings on average. I gave one away and kept two to myself. Seedlings from one flaks have been very good growers thus far, which is great, but seedlings from the other flask although from the same parents, have been very weak and have been affected by damping off and the ones that survived have been slow to grow and the leaf colors are not right...So, good thing that I have a few good ones. I only hope that some of them will bloom within the next couple of years and without major defects in the flowers. Fingers crossed!

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Poor JD. Looked like somebody stepped on him at the show. I am sure it will correct next blooming. Take comfort that it actually flowered at all.

Intersectional breeding brings much trouble due to differences in genome counts. Some have 26, and other may have up to 32. Then you have the differences in pollen motility and stigmatic chemical differences, making sterile seeds or empty green pods.

When plants do actually germinate and grow, some may never bloom, some will bloom strange and others will slowly wither away. Many parvi intersectional crosses do not pass the F1 stage, and of those that do, the F2 were disappointing.

The secret? Study other people's mistakes or just take the plunge and see.