catt schomb hybrids.?

[Optimist]

What size do Schomburgkia or myrmecophillia crosses with cattaly or Blc, Lc and others get? I've seen some unusual crosses but do not fancy an 8 foot spike. Has any one tried these crosses? I guess the are near blooming size but they have not bloomed yet so no one has any data or pictures.

[PaphMadMan]

I think it is pretty hard to generalize. Schomburgkia as a group (now Myrmecophila or Laelia) is variable in spike length. The spike length of the other parent plays a part too, and is quite variable among Cattleya hybrids, and any hybrid with both short and long spike ancestors would be unpredictable as a parent. Schombo hybrid spikes do tend to reach for the sky though.

One quick way to estimate any quantitative trait to expect from a hybrid is the geometric mean. If the Schombo parent has an 8 foot spike and the other parent has a 2 foot spike, multiply 8 x 2 (= 16) and take the square root of 16 (= 4). Expect that the average hybrid of those 2 parents will have a 4 foot spike.

As another example, the Schombo has a 9 foot spike and the other parent has a 1 foot spike. 9 x 1 (= 9) and the square root of 9 (= 3).

Both examples were chosen for easy math, but it works the same for any numbers. Most calculators have a square root function.