Phrag Glen Decker

[MartinL]

Phrag. Glen Decker was registered in 2011 by Alfredo Manrique and is 50% kovachii, 37.5% besseae, and 12.5% sargentianum with all the species diploid. The Phrag. Glen Decker shown in the following Flickr link is from a cross made by Jerry Fischer of Orchids Limited in 2009 as (Jason Fischer ‘Red Hawk’ x kovachii). Jerry’s records don’t show which of Orchids Limited’s kovachii plants was used, but Jerry knows it was one of their best for flower shape.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/457502.../shares/6tBVj6

This is the first blooming of this plant and this first flower has been open a week. The width stopped increasing at about day 4. The petals are flat and there is as yet no reflexing. The horizontal NS of the petals is 11 cm, the vertical petal width is 4 cm, and the pouch at its widest is 4 cm. The longest leaf is 30 cm. The first flower is about 30 cm above the highest leaf. There look to be two flowers with this blooming. There are only about 6 online photos of Phrag. Glen Decker with which to compare but I don’t want to do the comparing.

Every serious Phrag grower must be grateful for the efforts of Alfredo Manirique and Manolo Arias in Peru and Glen Decker and Fritz Schomburg in the US who worked to create the legal spread of kovachii. They also did the first hybrids with kovachii, which had to be made in Peru with species and hybrids available there. Important early efforts regarding culture and further hybridization with kovachii were then made by Jerry Fischer, H. P. Norton, the Eric Young Orchid Foundation, and Chuck Acker. I apologize to the other kovachii pioneers that I don’t know about.

Phrag. Jason Fischer (registered Orchids Limited, 1996) is (Memoria Dick Clements x besseae), so 75% besseae and 25% sargentianum. Here is a link to a post by Robert Jan-Quene (Drorchid) in Slippertalk in which the first image is of the Jason Fischer ‘Red Hawk’ used in this cross.

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17442

By coincidence, I have a Phrag Jason Fischer (besseae ‘Rick Hunter’ x Mem. Dick Clements ‘Red Wing’) from a very good cross that Orchids Limited made a handful of years ago that opened about the same day as the Glen Decker. This is a very good Jason Fischer, but not as round or quite as bright red as the ‘Red Hawk’ shown above. But, it let me make the following comparison photo with the Glen Decker under the same lighting conditions. The Jason Fischer horizontal NS of the petals was 9 cm and the blooms are correctly sized for comparison purposes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/457502.../shares/oQQFRC

There are currently 59 registered hybrids in which kovachii is either the Seed or the Pollen parent. Six of these are now backcrosses of kovachii with first generation kovachii hybrids. There are also a number of second generation crosses in which the first generation kovachii hybrid is crossed back to usually other micropetalum group species like besseae or dalesandroi.