Colchicine effects on Phal. stuartiana hybrid

[awakedude985]

Does anyone have experience with colchicined (is that the correct term?) phals? I have a Phal. stuartiana 'Lizz' x Phal. stuartiana 'Larkin Valley' that I was told was colchicined when I bought it. I got it from a reputable grower who I'm sure would know what he was talking about. I didn't know if there were any specific things to watch out for or if I will need to play more of a wait and see what happens game. He warned me that the flowers could be mutated (I bought it while it was only in bud). The first flowers have opened now, but don't appear different/odd to me.

Can't post pics yet, but as soon as I get 5 posts down I will upload photos of the plant and the flowers.

[james mickelso]

just say hi to two more people here.

[Ray]

Colchicine and oryzalin are chemical that can be toxic to the plants if overdosed. If applied correctly to protocorms in falsk, and if their effects "take", they MAY result in tetraploid offspring, displaying bewtter size, sturdiness, and often better color.

[awakedude985]

Here are some images of the plants and flowers currently. I say plants because I thought it was a mother plant with a basal keiki, but when I repotted I realized it was actually two plants. I had to repot because the larger plant was really starting to look bad and the leaves were getting soft.




You can see that one of the leaves is really looking bad now. I'm concerned it might be fungal. Thoughts?




And finally here's the flower.

[orchidsarefun]

I have never heard of colchicine impacting flower form negatively as it is used to change ploidy, supposedly for the better, at seed/protocorm stage. Maybe because the "bad" ones are tossed ?
It is also strange that the vendor mentioned this to you as they would normally say ( for example) its a 4N and charge you more.
That flower does look deformed to me BTW, but if you are happy with it......

[Guido]

Colchicine is an enhancer that will convert a diploid to tetraploid. Tetraploid= 2 sets of DNA. A plant with 2 sets of DNA will be more robust, disease resistant, bigger flowers, better color. A mutation is not the same as a deformation. A plant's first bloom usually is a trial run for your Phal. 2nd or 3rd bloom will be what you paid for taking into consideration that cultivation has a lot of input with the bloom. A successfully Colchicine treated plant will have bigger flowers than its same peers. Not all Colchicine treated plants turn tetraploid. A 4N plant usually is very expensive because Colchicine is expensive, very dangerous and difficult procedure and done on a plant that already has above substance/quality. Regarding your reputable source, I suggest to always take any info from 3r parties with a grain of salt unless you are talking with the person who did the deed.