Pleione hybrid

[Kevin]

Morning everyone,

I tried crossing a couple of my Pleione with a Coelogyne a month or so ago just to see what would happen. It seems to have worked! Obviously I'm not counting my chickens yet as anything could happen.... but the bit that forms the seed pod is changing colour and slightly swelling up in both cases. I'm very excited as this would be my first attempt at making a hybrid.

I can't find any info on any other cross like this - nothing in the RHS database- so does anyone know of such a cross being carried out before and what the results were?

Regards, Kevin

[LarsB]

I've tried but didn't get any seeds.

[Kevin]

Hi LarsB,

Interesting, thanks. I'm thinking that it's a possibility for me to.

Which cross did you try and which way round did you try the cross?

Kevin

[LarsB]

It's been a while since i tried, but it was Coelogyne nitida as pollen parent. I can't remember which Pleione i used and seed parent. 

[Kevin]

Happy new year to everyone.

I thought that I'd just update those of you that are interested in my attempt in hybridising Pleione and Coelogyne.
I tried two crosses.

Coelogyne cristata x Pleione formosana - didn't take

Pleione formosana x Ceologyne cristata - produced seed capsule but no embryos in seeds
Pleione Captain Hook x c. cristata -as above

So it would seem that this and info from others suggest that this cross is not possible.

Wishing you a happy and healthy growing season and beyond.

[pseudobulb]

hi kevin   crosses between pleiones and coelogynes  have been made in the past，seedlings have been reared， and flowered but results were inconclusive， as to weather or not they were true hybrids  i know that ian butterfield flowered a number of such crosses，results  were disapointing
i also made a few such crosses many  years ago， one cross grew and flowered  like a nice white pleione。  the  parentage being       pleione  formosana  semi alba cairngorm x   coelogyne granulosa 。 seedling produced had both green and purple bulbed。
one green bulbed seedling grew to flowering。 i rember takeing  a flower to show ian at an rhs flower show where he was exhibiting pleiones。 eventualy  all seedlings died out， so i am non the wiser as to the status of this purported cross。    it is worth persivering you may stike lucky      happy new year    pseudobulb             

[Paul Cumbleton]

As said below, several attempts have been made to do inter-generic crosses between Pleione and other orchid genera (including by myself) but as far as I am aware, none of these has been convincingly successful. On the few occasions that seed has been set and plants raised, they always appeared to be exactly like one of the parents rather than a cross of the two. This suggests that these plants were either accidental selfings or maybe haploid versions of one of the parents (which may expalin the subsequent weak growth and eventual death of most plants.) Also, it would seem that although Coelogyne look rather like Pleione morphologically, they are not in fact closely related genetically, so it is not surprising that crosses have failed.

As well as Coelogyne, some have attempted crosses with Bletilla. There are plants in the USA I believe that are said to be a Pleione x Bletilla hybrid. However, I have seen photos and the plants look exactly like a Bletilla with no visual suggestion of any Pleione content.

So, I have yet to see a convincing inter-generic cross between Pleiones and other genera. But as others have said, it is worth persevering as maybe one day someone will get lucky.

Paul

[Kevin]

Hi Paul and pseudobulb,

Thanks for the replies which i read with interest. I doubt I'll bother trying again this year as ill probably try something else. Its a shame it didn't work as id liked to have seen what would have come from such a cross but there you go.

Regards, Kevin

[LarsB]

A pity it didn't work. I'd been looking forward to some fabulous plants 

[Kevin]

Hi all,

I was thinking about dabbling in Pleione hybridizing since my attempt to cross Pleione and Coelogyne failed.

I have noticed that there are very few (in fact only 2) hybrids made with P.Captain Hook. Does anyone have any thoughts / suggestions as to why that might be? Should I avoid this as a seed/pollen parent for some reason or another?

looking forward t hearing your thoughs.

Happy weekend!
Regards, Kevin

[Danshi]

Hi Kevin,

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't use Captain Hook as a parent plant if you like it. The reason it wasn't used much in hybridising might just be that other plants looked more promising to the breeder, but don't let that hold you back if you have two plants you think are worth crossing and raising the offspring.

Regards, Daniel