Hello all, I am posting to ask everyone if they have any spiffy tips or know of any useful sites that contain conventional wisdom or current trends in paph and phrag breeding. For instance, I got the tidbit 'The cross of Paph. niveum with Paph. armeniacum is an excellent illustration of Paph. niveum's ability to suppress plastid color expression in all parts of the flower except the staminode.' from a picture caption on the AnTec info site. I am also interested in sites or magazine articles that contain info like Marriot's spectacular piece on its website about complex white breeding. I am currently compiling a list of these things to try and cobble together as complete a guide I can on slipper breeding. Any help, tips, or source pointers would be appreciated.

--Stephen

I know Matt Pederson (Cichlid Recipe) website has some info, and I am sure Nascent Orchids has something of value. Welcome to the forum and good luck!

Yeah, Matt Pederson - where is he anyway - one of the few people we don't have around here....:?

I really enjoy Matt Pederson's web page. He has TONS of useful info.

:welcome:

and without that arrogant attitude that seems to follow certain breeders and would-be hacks around. someone needs to recruit him here.

Matt told me recently that he have had some serious pest problems which severely reduced his stock of motherplants......

I don't "know" Matt - but Pete does and did email him back at the beginning, but I think he was travelling or something. That's quite unfortunate (!!) about his collection - I bet he has some pest advice though! :wink:

When we switch the domain name, we'll be doing a lot of going about and getting links switched and recruiting anew.

However, if someone knows Matt (better than I) and would like to try to get him over here, please do!!

I think Matt is too busy. And he has had that mealy bug problem for some time now! I told him to use Enstar and permethrins, but he doesn't think it would be strong enough... ?

I think Matt is too busy. And he has had that mealy bug problem for some time now! I told him to use Enstar and permethrins, but he doesn't think it would be strong enough... ?

Enstar huh? I thought that was like, the most supreme mealy destroyer available?

designed to kill scale, and for that price, it damn well better. I hear it knocks mealies out too.

mealy is a scale I thought. Well, yeah, it should destroy them, but I doubt he has tried it.

mealybugs are a type of scale
anyone ever tried botanigard? it's a parasitic fungus, pretty effective on other stuff, but i don't know about orchids
plus, it can leave a film

lacewing larvae are great at getting mealies, both citrus and long tailled

Well, a certain manager of this site convinced me that I needed to check it out - HOW COOL! Hi to all the folks here!

About my relative "absence" from the orchid scene...yeah you guys pretty much have it pieced together but I'll give you the full monty ;) Not that you asked, but for once in a blue moon I actually have a bit of time to sit and write.

1. Yeah, the mealy bugs, finally kicked their fuzzy white butts with repeated treatments of ISOTOX as well as some drastic culling of plants beyond salvage AND ongoing maintenance. The big problem that many other growers will never face is that USUALLY when they're moving plants at the volume I was, they're in a greenhouse. Me, I'm still a grower under lights and windowsills. It's pretty hard to BOMB your "greenhouse" when you LIVE in it! Anyway, those mealies..I don't know WHO's plants they came in on, but man, they were NASTY. The final tally - I've lost about 75% of my stud collection (yes, I have to drastically update my online lists), and many that remain, while now mealy free, are set back YEARS. Funny thing, they pretty much NEVER touched some of my best Phrags and my relatively large collection of Paph. praestans cultivars made it through in better shape than most (maybe because those are really the most important plants to me). Folks who've used ISOTOX know what it does to Orchids...if the plant was 50/50 it will take out the plant. It will also really screw up the first bloom or two after a treatment. I would have loved to try Steve's suggestion of Enstar and Permethrins, but by the time I finally got that great advice the orchid-budget just wouldn't cover it. I had to suck it up and finally orchestrate a couple months where I could be away from the orchids while the Isotox did it's thing. In the end, things have turned out all right and in some respects, a more "moderate" version of my hobby will allow me to focus on some of my true passions within the hobby (like Paph. praestans). The other saving grace through all this is that I've been doing my seedling growout off site, away from the mealy fiasco, but that's another story.

2. Now, for me, the Orchids started as a HOBBY when my other HOBBY (Aquariums) became my livelihood (now we're going back years). Selling Orchids for me was NEVER about turning a profit (although, for a while there, I seriously considered going into the Orchids full-time, and who knows, I still might down the line). Nor was selling orchids viewed as an avenue to present myself as an "expert"...there are MANY far more knowledgeable people than myself out there like Bob and Lynn.

Being a "vendor" was more just a great excuse to hit the ranges every week, make more connections nationwide, and share my this passion with other folks. My experiences as a strictly ONLINE vendor also really helped me in my career as a multimedia developer....if there's one thing I've learned it's that online sales require 2 key elements - QUALITY products and TOP NOTCH customer service. As with many orchid enthusiasts, we tend to be rather passionate, and well, I'm a man of many passions. While my orchid passion took it's sour turn, I was introduced to some of the best fly fishing in the country and it's literally within an hour's drive...more on that later but with regards to the travelling, in the last few years I've done a LOT ;). After years of thinking you really had to go out west to find good fly fishing, my life was forever changed. You can read all about it at www.RamblingReports.com

3. Last November I was laid off from a truly sweet job I had for 5 years..heck I worked at the company longer than the OWNER of that place. Bottom line, now that I'm almost a year out, it really was just a financial crunch and the highest paid employee had to go...such is life I guess. The strange part is that we still technically own another software company together yet somehow I don't see a DIME of the money...but the massive web hosting is still free?! Well, the job market stunk when I went looking, so with all that free time I decided to pursue my fly fishing passion (something I've done since I was 10) a bit more "hard core" (now that I was aware of the great opportunities in the area). So now I'm currently a licensed fishing guide in WI and IA, and I've been asked by several individuals to guide them on the November Steelhead Runs in PA. I'm ready to become a Federation of Fly Fishers Casting Instructor but the instructor testing dates are inconvenient to asy the least. I've also become a Rod Builder's Guide Certified Professional Rod Builder (ain't that a mouthfull) and tried my hand at building custom fishing rods professionally as well (the margins aren't so great). So, for around 8 months I had all the time on the world and gave it a go. Now, I'll tell ya, I wish I could have gotten my orchid situation squared away sooner, as monetarily I think that would've been a better use of my time than FISHING, but hey, like I said before, we're passionate people and what better way to learn and grow than to really IMMERSE yourself in it!

4. Well, as things had it I hadn't given up having a "real job" during those 8 months of freedom, and somehow I've now found myself back in the AQUARIUM trade. Yeah, that's where CichlidRecipe.com comes from...my days (years ago) running an African Cichlid hatchery in Bloomingdale, IL. Right now, I'm kinda the aquarium maintenance guy and let me tell you, the pay stinks and the job stinks but it's a JOB and it pays the bills ;) On the upside, after really not following the aquarium industry for a few years there have been a lot of GREAT developments that if I had the time, money and support back then, I would've been a part of. Specifically, the art of mariculture (marine aquaculture) has come a LONG way in the last 5-10 years...they're farming corals up the wazoo now. But lets not go down the path of why I never bothered getting my degree in Aquaculture or Marine Biology. All of this brings me to #5....

5. There is an absolutely wonderful woman who came into my life about a year and a half ago. She's not too keen on the Paphs, but what she's really diggin' is the FISHIN and her new REEF TANK. Unfortunately, I'm newly rehooked too. Since we set up her tank, we haven't watched more than 1 hour of TV in a month. I should now be committed as a thoroughly obsessed "Pulsing Xenia" addict - look it up, that stuff is AMAZING ;) So, maybe we'll have a hybrid orchid-range / coral farm in the future or something...only time will tell ;) There's her whole master's degree thing starting in the fall, and we both would rather live in WI instead of Chicago. First I think I have to simply ask her to stick around for the long haul...but there's time yet for that too.

6. I just figured I should toss into that whole mix that as far as I know, I'm STILL the Flash Instructor at CLC - a 5 hour commitment one night per week when college is in session spring and fall, provided enough students enroll. If only I had the wherewithall to drop everything and go get a masters...I could then teach full time too (if I wanted!).

So where have I been? I guess you could say ALL OVER THE PLACE! So ask me right now where I see my future...who the heck knows! While I may not have much of anything in the way of Orchids to spread around for a few years, I do know that now that things are back in order my breeding priorities have shifted to species with the #1 priority being the "Praestans". I'm gonna say it'll be at least 4-5 years before more praestans flasks show up, but in the meantime, who knows? Of course, I also want to coral farm and continue guiding and pretty much actually have a comfortable income again....all in good time I suppose!

Of course, this could all change tomorrow - I could always quit my job and give the orchids a full-time go (instead of the 2 days per week they were getting back a few years ago)!

So how are all of you?!?!

My best wishes to you all - my email (matt@cichlidrecipe.com) will likely always stay the same, almost always works too, but my responses...they may take some time right now (12 hour + workdays and unlike before, I'm not in front of a computer screen during that time)!


Matt P. - www.SlipperOrchid.com - www.RamblingReports.com - www.CichlidRecipe.com - www.FlashStatistics.com

Hi Matt and welcome, I absolutely love your website and have learned a lot from it. I wish you well in you new endevours and things can only get better.

Hope to see more of you on the forum, I know I can certainly learn a lot from you, and I am sure others feel the same.

Welcome Matt, it's nice to see another OCD victim join our motley crew. Coral and invertebrate tanks were a passion of mine at one time too and I'm still not convinced spiderwire is better than hollow core tapered. :lol:

I'm sure we'll all appreciate your expertise and friendship.

MATT!
HI! and welcome!

Great to hear (so much) from you and to have you join us.
Hmmm, you sound like the rest of us - indeed we are a passionate bunch (I just got my first fish so now I'm apparently on that slippery slope as well!)

FWIW I just listed a praestans seedling on our auction site. Don't know if you have any interest, but it is praestans so...

Anyway, welcome, hope to see you around these parts as your schedule permits and good luck with all your ventures!!

Howdy Matt,
I must say I quite frequently use your galleries as reference for plants. I have yet to purchase plants from your emai, but you definitely need some fairrieanum in there :) Glad you got rid of your bugs, sorry to hear about the losses. Good luck guiding! Tear it up!

Hi, Matt! Nice to see you here and welcome to the slipper forum! I just wanted to let you know that listing plant prices is not permitted here, especially by orchid vendors and dot com names are not allowed as usernames, so I changed your username to slipperorchid, please make a note of it when you log in the next time. Thanks for joining and we hope to hear from you! :D

Welcome Matt. Love your website. I too refer to it often when considering new purchases. Glad to have you around.