Paphiopedilum hangianum ‘First Class’

[DrLeslieEe]

That looks amazing Lori! We might have started a new trend lol. Keep me posted.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

So today I harvested pollen and pollinated the largest flower at back which opened first. There were ten attempts as pollen did not stick. Every time I thought I had succeeded, it fell off when I took my eyes off it. (I can’t keep pollen on by staring at it all night lol).

Tried to wet the toothpick with saliva but not much success. Eventually it stuck with several smaller pieces.

Luckily I could break the pollen of both flowers into smaller chunks to send to various breeders, while keeping backups for myself.

Here are pics of the flower after sex lol. I added measurements and a peek at the pollen on stigma from side (R-rated lol).




I’ll check tomorrow to see if pollen stuck. If not I’ll attempt again.

 

[musa]

Good luck!
Is there a reason why you cut the dorsal, too?

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Good luck!
Is there a reason why you cut the dorsal, too?

That dorsal was where the dark bruising spread from the a tiny dot to 1/3 of the petal. I didn’t want it to affect the ovary section so I cut it off. Better to be safe.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Also with the kind permission of John M. who I bought this plant from, I have decided to rename this cultivar ‘Mammoth’.

The name reflects the humongous size as well as the fullness (and girth) of the flowers.

Since I now own the only plant, and no divisions were ever made, it was a benefit bestowed on any new owner of a single unique plant to rename it.

I must acknowledge and thank John and Charlie for holding the title until now.

 

[Rockbend]

Parvi pollen is a PITA! I refer to Parvi pollen as 'chunks of candle wax' as opposed to the gooey jelly of most other pollen.

Things I have done to get the Parvi pollen to stick to a stigma:
- Cattleya, Den, or even Phal stigmatic fluid. I understand there might be plant hormones in the fluid and might give you a 'false pregnancy', but it seems to work. I'll even cut off a Catt flower I don't care about and dunk the Parvi pollen directly into the Catt stigma to goo it up
- Honey - my buddy loves to use it but I think it's too watery and problematic
- Put the non-Parvi pollen onto the Parvi stigma.

 

[Hien]

So I got good news. The first attempt did result in germination but transplanting failed. So I will self the plant. And send the rest of pollens to other breeders.

Will you attempt the cross again for phrag/paph? What species did you use?

I really hope I kept the record some where because actually I just did it for fun at the time, like crossing oncidium with phalaenopsis & dendrobium . The photos below show the only one paph/phrag result seedling from the cross, and I killed it !

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Interesting... you know what parents you used?

Are those aerial roots?

 

[Ozpaph]

I've heard a tiny dot of honey works as glue

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I've heard a tiny dot of honey works as glue

I will keep honey handy for next time !!

Since I have never had problems before with pollinating other Paph species, it surprised me. I guess hangianums are different this way?

What are other people’s experiences with this species?

 

[Happypaphy7]

Did you self it?
Using a fluid from other orchids/plants might risk virus infection potentially?
What I do with pollen sac that won't stick is to simply squash it gently with toothpick on the clean plastic surface. Then, the gooey yellow stuff comes out. I would then use part of it to spread over the stigma surface. Save the rest if I intend to use it in the future.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Regarding the potting method, I see possible headache in the near future.
What would you do when all the roots start growing out through side slits of the mesh pot? It would be a painful job to have to carefully cut the pot without hurting the roots to relieve them to repot.
If this was my plant, I would just use a regular pot with much smaller side slits or without any holes on the side. Just some drainage holes at the bottom.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Did you self it?
Using a fluid from other orchids/plants might risk virus infection potentially?
What I do with pollen sac that won't stick is to simply squash it gently with toothpick on the clean plastic surface. Then, the gooey yellow stuff comes out. I would then use part of it to spread over the stigma surface. Save the rest if I intend to use it in the future.

Yes I selfed it... tried crushing the pollen into mush too... the stigma just isn’t sticky. Luckily the pollen is still on 3 days later. Not moving plant or spraying flowers.

Good news is that the flower is senescing and ovary looks more swollen than other flower.



The other flower is still fresh even though I extracted the pollen. Wonder how long it will stay like this? Still the menthos candy smell coming out from it. The sweetest in any paphs I’ve encountered. And very distinctive. Strongest in the morning.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Regarding the potting method, I see possible headache in the near future.
What would you do when all the roots start growing out through side slits of the mesh pot? It would be a painful job to have to carefully cut the pot without hurting the roots to relieve them to repot.
If this was my plant, I would just use a regular pot with much smaller side slits or without any holes on the side. Just some drainage holes at the bottom.

Agreed. It’s not ideal and I did wanted to repot it swc, but I can’t disturb roots now as I’m asking it to hold a pod. So I’ll repot after the pod is harvested and new growths present.

I’ll have to drill air holes at the bottom of the outside plastic container.

 

[Hien]

Interesting... you know what parents you used?

Are those aerial roots?

I really have to dig back if I still keep the cross' parentage (I think perhaps, I did 3 crosses between paph x phrag and vice versa, this is the only one that produced , and just one plantlet from flask) I was even less experience then , that was why It couldn't survive (just because inexperience, I didn't know better about differences between species & genera , chromosome numbers , therefore all the weird crosses, a more learned orchidist may not do it), the roots did seem to grow out of the medium like you said (maybe the chemical substrate , or because of the strange hybrid nature made it grew crazily)

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I really have to dig back if I still keep the cross' parentage (I think perhaps, I did 3 crosses between paph x phrag and vice versa, this is the only one that produced , and just one plantlet from flask) I was even less experience then , that was why It couldn't survive (just because inexperience, I didn't know better about differences between species & genera , chromosome numbers , therefore all the weird crosses, a more learned orchidist may not do it), the roots did seem to grow out of the medium like you said (maybe the chemical substrate , or because of the strange hybrid nature made it grew crazily)

If you can find those notes, it will be interesting to check compatibility.

From my research on OrchidWiz, 14 of these intergenerics were made (using henryanum, dayanum, micranthum with Grande, schmilii and longifolium, plus others).

Only one Phragmipaphium (Phrphm) was awarded as Hanes Magic ‘Bion’ AD/AOS in 1982 described as ‘an unusual flower, intermediate in several ways between parents’. It used Paph stoneii x Phrag Albopurpureum.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

So something peculiar is happening with this hangianum. Might be a trait of the species.

You see, fourteen days after pollen was taken out, the unpollinated flower is still fresh and firm, even sending fragrance in the morning. Great potential cut flower.

Today at dusk:

 

[DrLeslieEe]

So a week has passed and the flower is still in good shape (6 weeks since opening). I’m amazed at this longevity.

I wonder how much longer it would last if I didn’t have to do my backup plan, and that is to self pollinate it as the first pod is showing a black tip (might be infected?).

Flower Today:


Black tip first pod:


Pollen on stigma by magic of saliva :

 

[lori.b]

So a week has passed and the flower is still in good shape (6 weeks since opening). I’m amazed at this longevity.

I wonder how much longer it would last if I didn’t have to do my backup plan, and that is to self pollinate it as the first pod is showing a black tip (might be infected?).

Flower Today:
View attachment 27657

Black tip first pod:
View attachment 27659View attachment 27658

Pollen on stigma by magic of saliva :
View attachment 27660

Mine stayed in bloom for a full two months.

 

[Guldal]

Glorious luminousity! A plant and flowers to die for! I'm already in extremis!!!