Over the years, we have attempted well over 15,000 hybrids. From that, we've obtained about 3,000 pods. That means that 20% of the pods did take. Of those 3,000 pods, the majority of them did not produce viable seeds. I believe we have named 504 hybrids out of those 3,000 pods. With this type of hybridizing within the Oncidiinae, you run into sterility barriers due to the different groups and genera. Sometimes they simply won't match up - and then if you do get something, it's often a mule - you can't go any further with it. So you have to make a lot of hybrids to find a few that are successful -- those that will give you a good plant and allow further hybridization. We have been asked why we didn't just move to California if we wanted to grow Cymbidiums and Odontoglossums.
We are still a couple of
generations away from the ideal Odontoglossum standard -
Cymbidiums however, are another story.
All the
species are diploids and have the same chromosome count.
So in theory, it should be a fairly easy matter. Of
course, it's not so, especially when you start
hybridizing with Cym. ensifolium, which has been the
species which gives us the characteristics that we want
1) heat tolerance since it blooms in the summer, in fact
the hotter, the better; 2) smaller plant size; and 3)
fragrance. It is certainly the #1 species in our
hybridization program. The downside is that Cym.
ensifolium and the members of the ensifolium alliance, do
not give a lot of progeny when they are crossed with the
standard Cymbidiums, which come from 6 or 7 species from
the Himalayas, Sikkim and Nepal. When you make these
crosses, you either get no seed or, in the best of cases,
only 50 to 200 plants out of the cross. The plus side of
using Cym. ensifolium in our breeding program is the
frequency of bloom. Ensifolium, which wants to bloom in
the summer, when combined with modern standard Cymbidium
hybrids that normally want
At Everglades Orchids we strive to produce hybrids that are easy to bloom and easy to grow under diverse cultural conditions. Many bloom several times each year with long-lasting flowers in a rainbow of brilliant colors. The majority of our Cymbidium collection was purchased by Carter & Holmes of Newberry, North Carolina www.carterandholmes.com. in the future, new Cymbidium hybrid seed will be sent to Carter and Holmes. |
I'm a proud native of the Everglades and I don't plan to
ever leave! I love it out here. Moving to California
would be the easy way. I want to take the road less
traveled. I want to do the things that maybe no one else
has been foolish enough to attempt. And maybe in the
process, be lucky enough to find a stepping stone that
somebody else can build upon after I'm gone. Of course,
commercially, it's not economically viable like
Phalaenopsis. You can make Phal crosses and have
thousands of them in bloom within two years. Many times
when we are successful in getting viable seed, we will
still get only 25 or 30 plants out of the entire cross,
sometimes only a few clones. 
to bloom
in the winter, will produce progeny that will bloom at
any time of the year. An example is Cym. Golden Elf,
which blooms in both summer and winter. In fact, I have a
plant in a seven inch pot, which has been continuously in
bloom for over 18 months! That's what can happen,
everblooming Cymbidiums from ensifolium crossed with a
standard hybrid. Cym. Tender Love is a cross which we
made between Cym. parishii and ensifolium, which are two
of our best species, and it blooms not all of the time
but at least three or four times a year. 
