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Dendrobium phalaenopsis x Dendrobium moschatum?

Discussion in 'Everything Else Orchid' started by epiphyte, Aug 26, 2014.

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  1. Aug 26, 2014 #1
    epiphyte

    epiphyte Member

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    Right now I have three fat pods and one small pod on a random Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid. The first fat pod was pollinated with pollen from D. 'Gatton Sunray' (D. pulchellum x (D. chrysotoxum x D. pulchellum)) and the other two fat pods were pollinated with pollen from D. moschatum. Can't exactly remember where the small pod's pollen came from. It was probably D. hercoglossum.

    In all cases I tried the cross the other way as well but no pods even started to develop. Is anybody else surprised that these phalaenopsis pods developed and haven't aborted? I sure was.

    But then I recently looked on the RHS website and found that D. moschatum (pollen) x D. phalaenopsis (pod) had been registered in 1958....Dendrobium Kukui. How about that. Couldn't find any pictures of Kukui...I wonder if its flower has a pouch like moschatum does. It would be nice if Kukui inherited its flower duration from phalaenopsis rather than from moschatum. Moschatum's flowers are ridiculously short lived.

    More research revealed that Gatton Sunray's pollen hasn't been used for any registered hybrids...but D. chrysotoxum (pollen) x D. phalaenopsis (pod) had been registered in 1973... Dendrobium Korat. Didn't find D. pulchellum (pollen) x D. phalaenopsis (pod) but did find Dendrobium Klong Rai ... pulchellum (pollen) x discolor (pod)...which had been registered in 1956.

    Personally, I would have bet that these species were too distantly related for crosses to be possible. Good thing my skepticism didn't stop me from trying anyways!

    Let me know if anybody's interested in flasking any of these seeds. I still haven't quite perfected my symbiotic germination technique :D

    I should probably mention that the phalaenopsis's flowers are...homely...at best. They are green with a red lip. I got it as a NOID out of bloom special...and was disappointed when it bloomed for the first time for me. But...I've been impressed with how well its done. Even though it's in Southern California rather than Florida...it blooms every year and its flowers last a really long time. It would have done a lot better but I mistakenly mounted it too low on my tree...so slugs had easy access to its roots. I recently decided that it deserved better...so I mounted it to a hanging wooden slab that slugs can't get to.