What a Difference a Year Makes

[jerrymeola]

What a Difference a Year Makes is a regular topic on my email distribution every year.

I like to emphasize how much an orchid will improve between its first flowering and its second. The orchids keep improving each year but the first to second flower is so dramatic.

His Light opened tulip shaped on about 6 orchids and few were sold. The following year, they had the beautiful orange trim and flat shape. This was the exact change on all three I had left.





Den Yellow Song 'Canary' was a big seller last year and the first photo shows the typical appearance. The second photo was one of the worst no one wanted and - well a year later. Notice the complete absence of leaves on this Nobile Den, which is typical of the plants growing characteristics. Please ignor the mislabel on the second photo.





Finally Chan Sin. This is am orchid that was raised in price from the grower after the first year so I only have about a half dozen left. The first two photos show the color range the first flowering and the third was its second flowering. There are 4 more buds behind the flowers not open yet.

[exasperatus2002]

Thank you for this informative post. I remember someone mentioning to be that when I have my new hybrid Im working on that When I get it registered, I might want to wait until its 2nd flowering before doing so. Now I know why. What a difference a year truely makes. Here I thought that it was for a better flower count or larger sized plant. Id not have bought your chan sin if that first photo was all I had to see but seeing the 2nd year pic of it makes me want to add it to my wish list.

[jerrymeola]

Interesting what you said about the Chan Sin, because several dealers had it for sale in bloom at the Sarasota show this past January and no one sold any. Mine was already past bloom by then and I did not even have it in my display

[kellyincville]

This is a really interesting photographic explanation of the how much a plant's flowers can change as it matures. Thank you so much Jerry!

[kmarch]

Here's a cattleya of mine that bloomed out quite differently a year later. This plant is in sheath now and I can't wait to see how it blooms out this year.

It's Lc Tokyo Magic X Love Sound.

You know how I'm always harping on about pics not being very reliable to ID hybrids? This is another reason they can be unreliable, because a hybrid doesn't necessarily bloom the same from year to year.

[Vivienne]

Very cool and interesting how different they have bloomed. Thanks for sharing these pics!

[evagentry]

Very interesting information, thank you for posting this Jerry, I have done alot of reading but I never came across this before.

[articuno75]

Questions. The blooms on hybrids. Are they not consistant? Saying that one parental heritage will be dominant one bloom and then the other the next? So how can you know for sure that a plant will bloom consistant say to register? I guess what I'm trying to say is if you were to make a hybrid let it bloom for a couple of years and it does so consistantly and then out of know where you get a totally different looking flower say at the 4th or even 5th bloom time. Would you have to send that picture in as well as a second reference for that hybrid?


I find this fascinating.

[kmarch]

Consistent blooming isn't a requirement for hybrid registration and you need not update a registration once it is made. Hybrid registration isn't interested in which parent dominates the look of a flower, it's interested in what the parents are and what name the breeder wants to give it. In hybrids some off spring will show more of one parent, some the other parent, and some half-and-half. You can then see what chaos the registration system would be thrown into if registry were based on the look of the flower.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Thanks Jerry for this display of changes. I have been buying seedling Catt species of good parents, and have been thrilled with the results on first bloomings. Now I have a second and even greater thrill to look forward to. A double whammy from my efforts.

Have to remember to wait a second year before sending off less than thrilling first bloomers to the Silent Auction. Oh dear, no room in the GH for this extra years residency for plants that are starting to take up a lot of room.

[jerrymeola]

I do find that the flowers seem to be consistent in color after the second flowering. Seed crosses can vary tremendously from plant to plant but color on a single plant stays pretty consistent.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

I do find that the flowers seem to be consistent in color after the second flowering.

Is it the second flowering, then, that is more representative of what the plant will flower like from that point on?

[patticake]

Thank you Jerry- Very informative, and beautiful pictures as well! (I love your photos elsewhere in the forum, too!)

[jerrymeola]

kmarch

I treat the second flowering as typical of the orchid for at least that plant.

With different plants from the same seed pod, I find a lot of variety.

I am sorry I did not mark the plants that caused these three color varieties of a single seed cross. I expected the color to remain constant on each of the varieties, but should have kept a record. I will have to try again with the next tray I grow that varies so much.

An interesting aside is that this orchid went from plug tray to 4" flowering pots in 3-6 months. It is possible the age affected the color but I can not be sure. These were damaged in our last freeze and I am re-potting most back into 2 inch pots.