A little change of direction.....

[MrCym]

It's no secret we're moving strongly into WT (warmth-tolerant) Cymbidiums. Maybe even a few Grammatocymbidiums too if we can get their flowering adjusted to the very even El Retiro climate.

I've never been a huge fan of Cym. canaliculatum but our hybrid, Canal Parish 'New Horizon' 2n is rapidly teaching me new tricks! The plant is almost continuously in bloom in a 12" pot, the flowers last for many weeks and of course it has bred Cym Llewellyn Kouba 3n/6n amongst other fine WT crosses.
It does have one small fault that I have only just figured out, its pollen is very short-lived. I chanced upon a newly opening spike recently and amazingly, the just opening flowers had bright yellow pollen! Early days but if the swelling pods go the distance, it opens up some very useful possibilities with 6n pod parents. I cannot underestimate the role of Cym. parishii 'Sanderae' 2n in the equation either. Unlike the natural hybrid known as Cym sanderae, the real parishii has a spike twice as long, is WT and is a perfect complement to Cym. canaliculatum.

Now, I'm no global warming zealot but should the hot parts of the world get a little hotter, we may have just the right product for them! One thing you can be sure of... there's always something NEW at New Horizon!

[cricketerry]

I can hear Gary saying something like "I told you so" with ref to cym canaliculatum.

[Gary S]

Well Terry, your response has spurred me into writing this controversial post - well I assume it might be controversial, probably depends on who is reading it.

I am lucky that I live in the country where Cym canaliculatum grows. When you look at it, this species has the widest range of distribution of any Cym species. I live within its southern border on the NSW mid coast and it extends inland right up to the Gulf of Carpentaria in FNQ and right over to the Kimberley's in northern WA. So when you look at the map - that is a massive area.

I have over 30 plants of the species and everyone of them is totally different. The difference being: color of flowers, markings on the flower, number of flowers on the spike, size of the flower and difference in the vegetative growth.

Now to the controversial part. I believe this Cym species being so diverse can stand on its own and does not need to have hybrids made with it.
Many of the hybrids made using the species are a retrograde step and do not compare with the parent canaliculatum plant.

I am speaking totally as a hobbyist, and have no commercial constraints to impair my view - so I say: leave the species alone and admire the beauty of all its forms as a species alone.

More controversy - over the last few years I have been disappointed with the Cym hybrid seedlings that have reached flowering size - and many have ended up in the bin or been given away. I believe to get a top class flowering plant out of any hybrid these days would require the grower to grow on maybe 100 seedlings of each cross to get maybe 1 or 2 good award quality plants - not that I chase awards either.

So when you do the maths, for the typical hobbyist, buying and growing on that many seedlings of all the Cym hybrids that are appearing each year, is totally beyond the budget of the average grower and well exceeds the space the grower might have .

So, I am quite happy to grow on and admire the great Cym canaliculatum as a species, and ignore hybrids made with it. I would also be quite happy to just grow Cym species in general and not have one Cym hybrid in the greenhouse.

I am only talking about that species in my post here and acknowledge that other Cym species do improve with their hybrid offspring.

[MrCym]

Appreciating all Cymbidium orchid species is a big tent Gary. I can never settle on my favorite Cym species but Cym. parishii 'Sanderae' must be close.

[Gary S]

Cym canaliculatum is my favorite species, and I appreciate it as a species. I am also growing some Cym devonianum on out of flask and they are progressing well, so with a bit more care and proper watering, that species is gaining on me.

To emphasize my point - the primary cross of these 2 species (Cym Cricket) does nothing for me and takes away all the good traits of both parent species. I have had several clones of that hybrid - but have given them all away.

[MrCym]

We made one hybrid with Cricket and it was horrible and I was stumped as to how I might move forward so I gave it away and have never thought about Cym Cricket since.

[Gary S]

Might be a different prospect using one of the yellow or green alba canaliculatum's.

[MrCym]

But to add to the confusion, I've been told it's never bred an alba yet when crossed to any other genetic alba. I might have been given misinformation but three alba groups in the genus Cymbidium is a bit of a stretch!

[Gary S]

I was talking about crossing the Cym canaliculatum alba onto a good devonianum to improve on the usual drab Cricket.

[MrCym]

Gary, genetically, it wouldn't make any difference! Because albas are recessive, they take the color from the devonianum exactly the same if the Cym. canaliculatum is regular or an alba form. But if I was involved in that line, I would then go to something where an alba had been crossed with Cym. devonianum and use that plant to go forward to get an alba %. We are working on these lines tracing back to Cym. madidum currently. I would love to use Cym. suave in similar alba work but it is so finicky with fertility that I am restricted to the very few Cym. suave lines that are fertile. Cym Ray Davies 4n which is Game of Love X Scallywag has NEVER given us one seedling either as a pod or pollen parent in over 20 attempts! I've pretty much written that line off.