2017 Project Preliminary Poll
 

So here is the preliminary poll I made. I have made it so that you can vote for however many you want to see proceed. I figured this would be the best and most fair way to whittle the potential plant down. Once we reach a top 5 or so, we can then start checking for availability. Also, if we find that the two top candidates are just too different from each other, we can then make the decision to split the project as best seen fit.

FYI - Euchile citrina is nearly impossible to find...I've been looking for a decent one for at least 2 years. Might not be a good choice for the project but if someone finds it in the US, please let me know.:)

Looking like we might have some good plants to choose between!

It looks like the clear leaders are the Brassavola, the rupiculous Laelia, and Tolumnia. Is it too early still to cut the vote down and make a final selection?

Due to the forum fixing and such, I think it'd be fair to give it a few more days. After, I can always set up a second poll to narrow it down. There we can discuss availability of the plants.

Not only is the citrina hard to find, it's notoriously infamous for being challenging... as is ionopsis (usually dies pretty quickly), and quite frankly tolumnia... heard much griping about those over the years although they seem to be readily available... mine do ok I guess. just got another one from a friend who said "they do ok for you? all they do is die with me..."

I should also add rupiculous laelias are also known to be challenging, and from my own experience very slow growing and hard to get going in a new environment... some species easier than others...

The brassavola would be a great choice, readily available and very rewarding! but I and many probably have one already?

Just thinking aloud, something that grows well, adaptable, relatively easy to flower would be good for a group thing in my view...

I completely agree about the plant chosen being something relatively easy to grow and flower! I think it's helpful for people to know these things (as I certainly didn't know this before I cast my votes). Any other thoughts as to some additional unique plants that would fit this bill?

First, I agree we should pick something that isn't too hard to grow. The last project was Amsiella monticola. Reading that thread is painful. A lot of the people who participated in that haven't commented in this thread.

Brassavola grandiflora is not a large plant. It is much smaller than B. / Rhyncholaelia digbyana. It is perhaps smaller in scale than B. nodosa. B. glauca is a larger plant.

Brassavola and Tolumnia have a reputation as hard to grow. I know some people do grow them in pots with bark, but I can't imagine doing this. They are plants that like to get wet every day and dry quickly. On a mount, or in a tiny basket or clay pot with no medium, this is very easy. But you do have to water them just about every day. The only one I killed this way was a plant I put in a bucket to water and forgot about for 36 hours.

In the past, people have also selected particular hybrids that were readily available. An example from not long ago was Lc. Miss Wonderful. That project went well. It was an easy-to-grow and readily-available hybrid. There are lots of Cattleya alliance hybrids readily available. Many are on the small end, since breeders have been working to supply windowsill growers.

Two of the top choices in the poll are B. grandiflora and any rupicolous Laelia. There are sometimes hybrids available involving rupicolous Laelias, and they are a lot easier to grow than the species. For example, Bl. Richard Mueller (B. nodosa x L. milleri) This is sometimes called a Bc. because L. milleri has been transferred into Cattleya. Also Bl. Yellow Bird (Bl. Richard Mueller x B. nodosa, again sometimes called a Bc.). B. nodosa is a very similar plant to B. grandiflora. There is also a hybrid of L. briegerii x L. tenebrosa called Ipanema Beach which is very easy to grow.

I recall when people post photos of these Bl. or Bc. hybrids everybody replies Wow and I want one! Go look up Bl. Richard Mueller here on Orchid Board and see what you think. They are very easy plants to grow and flower. There have been a number of different hybrids made involving Bl. Richard Mueller. Maybe if we can't find enough of a single hybrid for everybody we could settle on any hybrid with Bl. Richard Mueller ancestry? Or a rupicolous Laelia x Cattleya hybrid?

Indeed, B. grandiflora is a smaller plant than B. nodosa. In my experience, Brassavolas are plants which grow and divide like weeds. No, faster than weeds. I had a B. nodosa which went from two leads to being a true specimen in under two years, going from a 2.5 inch pot to a 6.5 inch pot in that time. I know of the "hard to grow" reputation of the genus but I've surely never encountered it.

We could do a Brassavola primary. Cloud's Orchids in Canada doesn't have grandiflora, but it has quite a lot of other primaries and such. They also have a couple of Tolumnia hybrids. I've personally never had problems with Tolumnia, and they're fairly easy to keep happy as long as they dry very quickly.