slipperorchidblog.com

As some of you may know, I have started a (free) email subscription-only newsletter called “The Orchid Zone Report,” in which I describe what is (or soon will be) available at the Orchid Zone.  For those of you who do not know The Orchid Zone (or have only heard myths, legends, and rumors), I can tell you that OZ is a vast orchid factory/jungle where the world’s finest slipper orchids are produced.  OZ is not open to the public, but the owner, Terry Root, master orchid grower and breeder (and his wife, Sam) have been very gracious in allowing me access to his greenhouses and, just as important, his deep orchid knowledge.

Slipper orchids grow slowly, but OZ is of such a scale that things are always changing.  New crops coming into bloom, forgotten stuff re-discovered, new standards being set — very, very exciting.  There are many other professional growers who have esoteric stuff, or have large facilities, but what strikes me about OZ is how high the standards are in three areas: 1) quality of plant growth; 2) the best genetics; and 3) outstanding growing facilities.

It is well known that pot plants (i.e., lower quality, non-select plants) have been bought in bloom at OZ and brought to judging shortly afterwards and received awards!  I’m not sure whether that underscores the quality of OZ plants, or the lack of quality in judging, especially when clearly superior specimens are brought in along with the pot plants for judging.

In any case, it is always a pleasure to find the latest stuff at OZ, and I’m pleased to make OZ plants available to Paphiness customers.  If you’d like to receive the OZ Report, simply send an email to orchids@paphinessorchids.com with “subscribe OZ Report” in the subject line.

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What do boxing, figure skating, gymnastics, and orchids all have in common?

(Hint: It’s not athleticism.)

Answer: In competition, they’re all judged by people. Sometimes people with divided loyalties.

A friend of mine brought a P. spicerianum in for judging, a truly beautiful specimen.

The judges looked at it. They squinted at it. They snorted and harrumphed. Then they declared it a hybrid, not a species, and would not judge it for an award.

They gave the following reasons:

1) The width of the leaves. They’re too narrow.

I’d suggest that these judges take a refresher course in genetics. Variation happens in all natural things. Leaf width will necessarily vary as a result of genetics. Some people have long earlobes, and some short. Some have long pinkies, and some don’t. If you look at enough of anything biological, you will find outliers. The variation in biology is built-in.

Variation can also result from environment. I have had plants that I acquired with leaves that were quite wide and round, and on subsequent growths, the leaves narrowed. No change in genetics, simply a change in the type of light.

2) The way the dorsal looks. It’s the wrong shape.

3) It has green spots on the staminode, a certain sign of its contaminated hybrid lineage.

Hmm… I would’ve thought they’d give a plant the benefit of the doubt, and judge it as if it were a species plant since it’s plain that not all judges are professional taxonomists (nor does anyone expect them to be). The award could stay provisional until submission of taxonomic verification.

Or do you need to bring verification from a taxonomist prior to the judging? Seems that with some judges, that might annoy them even more.

Well, I looked into the staminodal question. And here’s proof that P. spicerianum species plants — identified and confirmed by a professional taxonomist (it’s in his book!)– can and do have green spots on their staminodal sheilds:

From Braem & Chiron, Paphiopedilum (2003), p. 169.

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I just checked the date of my last posting, and I see now that it has been two and a half months since I last posted here!  On the other hand, those of you who have been emailing me know that I’ve been quite busy getting lots of interesting plants and flasks. So I’ve definitely been thinking about and doing a lot with orchids, but all of those efforts, unfortunately, have not made it to this blog.  Very sorry to keep you from your orchid info fix!  (I know, I know — there are only so many newbie posts one can handle on the various orchid forums.)

To be fair to myself as well as to you, my faithful reader(s), I will add that I’ve got a number of half-written posts or outlines for posts coming.

Here’s a sneak peek on topics I’m working on (i.e., half-baked posts in the blog queue):

- Mysterious mycorrhizzae

- Recovering plants (Part 1 of a many-part series, since I have so much experience doing this)

- The Root Zone (no, this has nothing to do with the Orchid Zone or Terry R., although he certainly has thought deeply about this topic)

-  Apical dominance and nodal submissives

- Re-booting plants

- The importance of stress

Just to get the ball rolling, the next “real” post will follow shortly after this one…

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