Pleiones -- Paul Cumbleton's hybrids

[luis]

Ok, but now is January and some of the flower buds are slowly taking out... it's now the time to give whater or i wait?

[Maggi Young]

Luis, when we grew Pleiones here in NE Scotland, we never gave water until the flowers were almost over and the leaves beginning to emerge. We would not water now.

[luis]

Ok, thank you very much! I will wait.

[Eric Locke]

Ok, but now is January and some of the flower buds are slowly taking out... it's now the time to give whater or i wait?

Hi Lius

I find it best to start watering only if the pans start to get very dry, which usually means around late Feb.
Only give enough water to slightly dampen the pans though and keep like this untill the leaves are well into growth which is around mid Apr.

Eric

[luis]

My pleione bulbs are drying, but the flower buds are very good looking.  I will post my pleione photos... it's a promiss!!!

[luis]

Can anyone tell me how i post photos?

[Maggi Young]

Hi, Luis, all  you need to know about posting photos is written here :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=65.msg132875;topicseen#msg132875  

[Casalima]

Olá Luís!

I hadn't noticed your arrival here - welcome!
Great to see somebody with Pleione in Portugal - I would love to have orchids, but don't really have anywhere appropriate just at the moment. Too much sun! Did you get yours in Portugal or order them from abroad?
If you need any help with English/Portuguese, I would be happy to help!

um abraço

[luis]

Hi Casalima, it's very good to have orchid entusiasts here! I bought all by ebay, specially the pleiones. Yesterday my first pleione of the year give flower... i supose it's very soon, but it's lovely... it's a pleione Zeus Weinstein desert sands 

[anne gibson]

I have some pleione limprichtii seeds from exchange, which I think would be better going to a good home. ie someone who has access to proper growing media/ conditions. if any one interested please send me an e-mail. sorry if posted in wrong area.

[Paul Cumbleton]

At last a few moments to sit and send this to show you some more new hybrids.
First is Bonobo which is P. grandiflora x P. forrestii. As I hoped, some of these have turned out yellow.

I have previously shown Caparro which is P. forrestii x P. Ueli wackernagel. But I also did this cross the other way round (P. Ueli wackernagel x P. forrestii) and show here an example of that.

Next is Pleione Chimpanzee which is P. Zeus weinstein x P. x confusa. These were fairly variable. Some turned out yellow (a pale version of which is shown) and some a bit pinker (also shown). Not surprisingly given the parentage, some turned out looking very much like a yellow Shantung (not shown).

Then comes P. Gorilla which is P. Piton x P. Salek. These were very variable but nearly all were most attractive. A couple of examples are shown.

Finally is P. Muriel, a hybrid bred by my partner Colin Everett. This is P. aurita x P. grandiflora. These make vigorous bulbs with large flowers. Shown is one of the better ones.

Enjoy!

Paul

[Eric Locke]

Hi Paul

Very nice Paul, thanks for showing them.
Very much like that clone of Muriel from Colin"s cross but would be happy to have any of them in my collection.

Eric

[Ragged Robin]

Paul your new Pleione hybrids are wonderful - i particularly like P. Gorilla (1)  - what Pleione attributes are you looking for in particular?

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Eric,
Yes Muriel is a very satisfactory cross - lovely flowers, which are quite large and on vigorous bulbs. The seedlings varied a lot in terms of the amount of yellow in the lip, but the best are very yellow. It is bulking up fairly quickly, so I would hope to be able to release some in a couple of years time.

Hi Robin,
Gorilla is one of my favourites too from all the crosses I have done. I have a "Monkey" theme to most of my names and the names of the three great apes have been given to those crosses I though the most outstanding.
When I first started breeding I just crossed anything with anything that I thought may give an interesting result. I still don't have any major "target" I am aiming for, but perhaps several things. A few of these would be:

Plants with disitinct lines on the petals
Yellow flowers (there are still surprisingly few really good yellow hybrids)
Orange shades
Winter flowering hybrids with tall stems (no luck so far - the short stem of the autumn species seems to be dominant!)
In all hybrids I would like flowers of good substance, which present well on good stems and grow vigorously.
Cheers for now

Paul

[Alex]

Hi Paul,

Muriel is a wonderful colour. It seems to me that P. aurita is a particularly good parent, most of my favourites have this in the parentage. Can I ask, do you publish a list of bulbs for sale at some time in the year?

Thanks,

Alex