New Life For The New Year!!

[gixrj18]

I replate with "Phytotech Orchid Replate Medium (P785)", 1 jar of banana baby food #2 (per liter of medium), and about half that amount of coconut milk.

[Orchidaholic]

How did the "Orchids Gone Wild" experiment go? I found that they will survive but grow much slower out of flask at a very young age.

[gixrj18]

I think they went a little too wild, they didn't make it.

[Royal]

In the #2 update, it looks like the roots aren't penetrating the media. It doesn't look like they are rejecting it, but it may be a little stiff. Have you ever varied the agar content? Just curious.

[gixrj18]

The mix I used already had the agar in it. Some of them are starting to penetrate the media, in some of the other flasks.

[Royal]

I've been given some advice to mix the replate media at about 80% strength for a softer media. It will also cut the other stuff, but you could always add back glucose. Still, at 80% or so, it would be richer that mother flask media. I guess this applies more to the thinner rooted species. It looks like you have things growing very nicely - I was just curious.

[gixrj18]

Well, the "New Year Babies" have been de-flasked, and it is official, their name is Blc. Mem. Gerald Miller 'Bumpa'. I received approval from the RHS this morning. This is my first cross, so I decided to name it after my late grandfather, whom I think I got my greenthumb from. When I was a baby, I couldn't say grandpa....so I called him 'Bumpa', hence the name. Today, I had the honor of giving my grandmother a copy of the registration....she thought that was pretty neat, and I think she might have the orchid bug, now! I'm going to take her some divisions of various orchids...a "starter kit", if you will. Then, I'll give her some of the babies, after they get a little bigger! So far, they yielded upwards of 600-700 plants....we'll see what happens!

[calvin_orchidL]

That is truly amazing - congratulations!! I'm sure your grandma is delighted. Thank you for sharing your story!

[Royal]

Lookin good, Jasen! Congrats! That sounds like a big deal to have your first registered cross! Bumpa would be proud.

So now that the cat's out of the bag, what were the parents of this cross? What will it look like? Really happy for you!

[gixrj18]

I believe I posted pics of the parents at the beginning of this thread: Blc. Ablaze Medal 'U-Emporer' x L. purpurata var carnea. The purpurata usually has pretty prominent genes, from what I've seen, so hopefully the babies will follow suit. Thanks for the congrats!