Glenn told me about this before and I was shocked and amazed. I have no plans of removing excessively variegated fans.

KINKUJAKU-金孔雀
 

I had the same reaction when I saw Dr. Glenn pull seed pods off Neofinetia. I even bought a couple of those plants before he snapped them off! A Kinroukaku and a Yubae Sangetsu.

I think I know what made them do this... For Glenn, as an orchid vendor it's crucial to grow his orchids to the maximum of their potential to grow better, more beautiful plants so they are more precious. In the same way the man in Japan tossed the yellow growth, was it for optimal looks in the shows or for selling as well... This is because both cases, an entirely yellow growth (which btw can't have enough chloroplasts to survive on its own, the chloroplasts give the green color to the leaves so if the leaves are yellow that means there aren't enough there to capture and reflect the light (capture all light except for the green light) for the production of sugars for the plant) and a seedpod both take up a lot of energy away from the growing potential of the plant. So if they left the growth/seedpod, the plant might have grown less for the next season.

I hope I cleared up some thought about the seemingly strange actions :p ... but either way the plants probably wouldn't have died from not doing this, so it's each growers decision to act this way on their plant for beneficial growth or to enjoy some nice extra features on the plant...

greetz,
Dries

Excellent analysis Dries. I agree with your assertion. I asked Dr. Glenn, Why he would pull seed pods off plants, Dr. Glenn, replied, "Growing Neofinetia from seed is a long process. As a vendor, I can import/acquire plants from nurseries that are ready to bloom in less than a month...it would take several years to have a plant large enough to sell if I grew them from seed."

Welcome to hybridizing. At least it isn't 7-10 years as it is for Paphs...

As far as growths that are all white (called Ghost Leaves) I've read somewhere (maybe in the article from Jason Fischer) that Ghost leaves are undesirable. Maybe because they don't have chloroplasts, maybe just because they look weird, I don't know.

In Japan, these growths are not desirable because they add stress to the mother plant because it sucks the nutrition away from the entire plant since they do not produce energy from lack of chlorophyll ... Eventually most of these growths die off by themselves after 2-3 years. Their reasoning is that if taken off they will offshoot stronger growths with some greens that will contribute to strength of plant. The ghost growths will not produce new fans usually. However in my opinion, these ghost leaves add an aesthetic to the overall plant and I keep them for a visual feast ... They look stunning among the green leaves. Most of them will die off a natural death anyways so enjoy them while they last. If the plant is weak, it is best to remove them.


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