With the kovachii posts ('flames') that are appearing lately, the line
between fact, opinion, and rumor has gotten a bit blurred. Here are
what I consider to be the hard facts about pk commerce:
(i) There are currently 10 legal, mature, wild-collected plants in
cultivation, all of which are in Peru. The first 5 were collected by
Alfredo Manrique of Centro de Jardineria Manrique in late May or June
of 2003 (the permit allowing him to do so is dated May 25, 2003, see
Orchid Digest Oct/Dec 2003). The second 5 were collected by
Peruflora, although I don't know by whom or exactly when. I assume it
was within a few months of CJM.
(ii) Of the 5 Manrique collected, at least 2 (3?) were in bud. I
would guess the Peruflora collector did the same, especially since
both CJM and Peruflora exhibited 2 and 1 kovachii, respectively, in
bloom at an orchid show in Peru in late 2003.
(iii) The first offering of Phrag. kovachii species flasks were by
Peruflora at the 2005 WOC in Dijon, France. When hybrid flasks were
offered, I don't know for sure, but it was either at that same time or
shortly thereafter. When Peruflora sold these and all subsequent
kovachii seedling and hybrid flasks, they made all their buyers sign a
contract as a condition of the sale promising not to 'sell, trade or
donate' the seedlings until February 15, 2007. To be clear, this is a
Peruflora invention and is NOT in any official way connected to
INRENA, the environmental agency of the Peruvian government. Why
Peruflora chose to make this contract mandatory is a matter of
[contentious] debate.
(iv) Piping Rock orchids (partner to CJM and exclusive worldwide
distributor of CJM kovachii, except for Canada, where Peter Croezen of
Green Canyon Orchids is distributor) started selling species flasks
and hybrid seedlings at shows in spring, 2006. As of May, they still
were only selling the flasks to people who could hand-carry them,
since they were not yet ready for deflasking. The first widespread
advertisement by Piping Rock of CJM kovachii species and hybrid
seedlings appeared in August issue of Orchids.
If anyone would like to see a copy of the English version of the
Peruflora kovachii contract, please send me an e-mail and I will
forward it.
Now as to far less objective topics...
(i) Assuming the collected plants in bud were pollinated on their
first flowering, it is completely within the realm of possibility that
the best-growing seedlings from both nurseries have reached 12 inches
in ls. One potential timeline starting in June, 2003: The plants took
one month until the blooms could be pollinated (July, 2003); 6 months
for the capsules to mature (February, 2004); 14 months in flask
(April, 2005); 17 months out of flask (September, 2006).
(ii) Chuck Acker's Phrag growing and breeding abilities are among the
very best. I have dealt with him many times and have always gotten
top quality flasks and plants. To imply/insuate/hint-at otherwise
without providing examples is disingenuous.
(iii) Piping Rock is not selling small, defective CJM kovachii
seedlings. I bought a kovachii half-flask from them at the NYIOS in
May and the plants are doing fine. Glen Decker (owner of PR) told me
outright that they needed more time in the flask and he was only
selling them to people who could hand-carry them. The plants were
about 0.5-2" in ls. Many people have had problems growing species
flasks from both sources. As stated previously, the main problem
seems to lie in keeping the flasks too warm. Here's a pic of my
seedlings from a few weeks ago:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/silence882/kovachiis-1.jpg
(kovachii is one of the rare Phrags that grows over limestone in
nature, so I would recommend adding oyster shell, limestone, or
dolomitic lime to its mix)
(iv) I have heard the rumor that boissierianum seed pods were sold to
Peruflora as kovachii. If someone could cite a source that saw this
happen or who sold the pods or who bought the pods or ANYTHING that
could substantiate the claim, I might take it seriously.
(v) Phrag. kovachii seedlings aren't impossible to grow by any
stretch, but neither are they nearly as easy as besseae seedlings to
grow. Thanks to 3 or 4 generations of line breeding, besseae
seedlings are ridiculously easy, fast-growing plants. Give kovachii
another 10 or 15 years and the same thing will happen.
If I'm incorrect on anything I've said so far, please let me know.
--Stephen
--
Stephen Manza
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.slipperorchids.info
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