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September
12, 2006
Today
a full year has passed since my original breeding plan was documented.
Since that time extensive discussions with other hybridizers and
new advancements have allowed me to refine my breeding program
in some areas while increasing the scope of the program in other
areas.
The
addition of the very staturated Phal. violaceas from the Norton/Ooi
line, also known as the Indigo violacea, has opened the doors
to remake many of the original coerulea primary hybrids with the
hopes of creating an even stronger foundation for coerulea phal
breeding. In July of this year I was lucky enough to bloom my
first violacea from this line and have been attempting to integrate
it into my breeding program. A second plant from one of these
crosses is in spike with several others growing very strongly.
By next year I hope to have 4-5 Indigo violaceas that can be used
for breeding. I'm very pleased that at this time several crosses
appear to have taken using violacea "Sapphire's Navy"
as the pollen parent. IF the pods mature and we get good germination,
I'll announce those crosses at that time.
Line
breeding has and will continue to be a signifigant focus of my
breeding program. One major goal at this time is working towards
a true coerulea Phal. equestris. I
am directly trying to improve the cyanochilus strain through line
breeding and back crossing cyanochilus with other forms of equestris
in the hopes of getting a flower with some blue in the sepals
and petals. It will likely take several generations before a true
coerulea equestris can be
achieved.
The
following equestris crosses are currently in production in the
lab:
- Phal.
equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's Blue" X "ABC"
- available early 07'
- Phal.
equestris var illocos X Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue" - available early 07'
- Phal.
equestris ("Three Times a Lady" X "Blue Too")
X Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's Blue"
- available late 07' or early 08'
Additional
primary equestris var cyanochilus crosses currently in production:
(Please note many of these crosses are extremely
limited quantities and we may not begin releasing them until we
have bloomed out the first batch of seedlings.)
- Phal.
Vesta (Phal. aphrodite X Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue")
- Phal.
Taida Sunshine (Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue" X Phal. tetraspis var alba)
- Dtps.
Summer Rose (Dtps. Kenneth Schubert "Fangtastic"
X Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's Blue")
- Phal.
Equalacea (Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue" x Phal. violacea "Indigo Dragon")
- Phal.
Equalacea (Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue" x Phal. violacea "Sapphire's Navy")
- Dtps.
Purple Gem (Phal. equestris var cyanochilus "Martel's
Blue" x Dts. pulcherrima "Indigo Dragon")
On
a smaller scale I have started some line breeding with coerulea
Dts. pulcherrima. Several other breeders are also focused on improving
the coerulea pulcherrimas, so this is not a huge focus of my own
program.
However
the end goal is to create a good coerulea Dtps. Purple Gem with
the hopes of eventually ending up with a coerulea Phal that is
suitable for the pot plant industry. I'm currently using a standard
equestris var cyanochilus with the coerulea pulcherrimas in the
hopes that the coloration will carry over. In the future if a
true coerulea equestris is created, this cross will be remade
again using the best available equestris and pulcherrima available
at that time.
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