Fdk. After Dark - Orchid Board

isurus79 · #1 12-13-2010, 03:27 AM

Fdk. After Dark 12/1/2010 by Isurus79, on Flickr

Fdk. After Dark 12/1/2010 by Isurus79, on Flickr

This is not one of the clones that are being sold right now of the FCC plants shown by Fred Clarke, but rather this is a sib cross I bought as a large seedling a few years ago. Its not black so its a bit disappointing, but it's still nice. I've got another sib cross that is still too small to bloom, so my fingers are crossed that it will be black! This plant is unusual for Catasetinae because the flowers are supposed to last 4-6 weeks and not the usual week to 10 days. It also inherited the scent from its Clowesia parent, which is very nice!

Edit- These flowers are totally open now, but were not totally open when I took the pictures. This one took 4 or 5 days to fully open which is also unusual for Catasetinae.

CTB · #2 12-13-2010, 08:52 AM

Beautiful flower,I have an After Dark, it is a remake using the orginal parents. It hasn't bloomed yet. I'm too much of a newbie to understand that, but maybe you can explain that to me. Thanks for sharing

camille1585 · #3 12-13-2010, 08:58 AM

Very nice blooms.

A shame it's not black, but the spotting is quite nice.

Hawaiian Sunshine · #4 12-14-2010, 02:44 AM

Great job of blooming this hybrid Steve. I have a couple of clones of the "SVO Black Pearl" which I can't get to bloom. I understand they are difficult bloomers.

isurus79 · #5 12-14-2010, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTB

Beautiful flower,I have an After Dark, it is a remake using the orginal parents. It hasn't bloom yet. I'm too much of a newbie to understand that, but maybe you can explain that to me. Thanks for sharing

You probably just have to wait until it gets bigger, though I would have to see a picture to know for sure!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawaiian Sunshine

Great job of blooming this hybrid Steve. I have a couple of clones of the "SVO Black Pearl" which I can't get to bloom. I understand they are difficult bloomers.

Mel,
This plant and its sibling was grown in a bunch of rotten wood in an upside down, clear water bottle (like they do in Brazil). However, the plant that bloomed got whole wine corks in the bottom of the bottle for added air, while the other one did not have the wine corks. Both plants got watered everyday this summer and received pretty high light conditions (high Cattleya light) and both received a liberal sprinkling of Osmocote and regular fertilizing. Both plants were the same size and the same age (I'm assuming). One plant grew like gangbusters (with wine corks) and bloomed, while the other did not not. The one that did not bloom had a spoiled rotten media at the end of the summer, while the one that bloomed still had good, "fresh" media that did not turn muddy. Basically, you need a really moisture retentive media that has good air and does not get rotten.

This can be achieved with rotting wood mixed with wine corks (risky and experimental!! lol) or with wine corks stood on end with a fat layer of spag on top that gets changed every year (the spag). The spag method is how I grow most of my Catasetinae with REALLY good results. I also cut slits in the side of the pot with the spag method. You can also try the rotten wood method if you are feeling adventurous!! lol

Ask Ramon about his PET method too. His plants are truly stunning and are probably the best Catasetinae shown on orchidboard grown outside of their home countries. I think he owes a lot of it his PET style of potting and he is very generous with the information. FYI, The problem with the PET style is that it would not work on plants grown outside, which is how I grow my plants and therefore never tried it.

CTB · #6 12-14-2010, 05:29 AM

What does remake from orginal parents mean?

RosieC · #7 12-14-2010, 06:46 AM

Hi Carol,

This is my understanding, maybe someone will correct me.

Sometimes once a hybrid is made the various plants in that batch of seed are cloned and it is the clones which are sold and no-one actually does the cross again, just keep selling the clones of the original batch of plants. Or once a batch of the hybrid have been made, later plants grown from seed are from the hybrid crossed with it's self rather than going back to the parents.

Sometimes a plant will then be listed as a re-make. This means the a new batch of seed made from the parent species has been done. Sometimes these can be completly different looking to the original hybrid. The parents could be different varieties of the those parents, or could be just be individuals with very different characteristics to the originals... which come through in the new batch of seed and cause the new batch of the hybrid to be noticably different to the original.

I believe a 'remake from original parents' means that a new batch of seed has been made, but using the exact individuals of the parents which were used when the hybrid was originally done. This will still have variations from the individual which was registered, just as much as there are variations within a single batch of seed, but the differences are likely to be less than when different individuals of the parents are used.

It really suprised me when I first heard about remakes, because I assumed that a hybrid was constantly being remade, it seems it's true with some hybrids but I've got the impression it happens a lot less than I first assumed.

CTB · #8 12-14-2010, 09:22 AM

Thanks Rosie, You explained it very well, I printed it out and added to my orchid info folder. Thanks again

Bruno De Toni · #9 12-20-2010, 02:21 PM

Congratulation Steve, nice blooming spike and the spots in the flowers makes them really attractive. By the way the use of rotten woods are ideal medium for catasetinaes in tropical environments. The disadvantage is that you have to change it every year to make sure your plant will keep healthy.

isurus79 · #10 12-20-2010, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruno De Toni

By the way the use of rotten woods are ideal medium for catasetinaes in tropical environments. The disadvantage is that you have to change it every year to make sure your plant will keep healthy.

Yes, I got the idea from articles I had read about growing them in South America with rotten wood and by talking to Ramon about his PET method. I will have to find a new media to plant them in now that I am moving to the American mainland!