Breeding for Red Phalaenopsis  Part 1 - Phal. George Vasquez

Recent years have seen many notable advancements in phal. breeding. Particular  progress has been made in yellows with certain breeding lines reliably producing  good yellow progeny. While not as reliable or well defined as yellows, red breeding  lines have also been making progress. In the not too distant future, we can expect  some breakthroughs in breeding that will produce reliable, larger, more floriferous  reds.

One of the toughest parts of analyzing red phalaenopsis breeding is determining  what colors you will consider to be "red". Within the Cattleya alliance good true  red pigmentation exists, providing a clear point of reference for both breeders and  consumers. Unfortunately, phal. hybridizers are not so fortunate and red is  typically used as a general term referring to a broad array of red, violet and purple  flowers. 

The purpose of this series of articles is to examine contributions made to red  breeding by particular parentage. This will neither be an all inclusive list of parents  that have contributed to red breeding, nor a technical discussion of genetics or  color pigmentation, but rather one that examines four parents that have produced  important progeny as measured by the American Orchid Society (AOS) judging  system. Hopefully this discussion will be useful to anyone interested in breeding or  collecting red phals.

It is difficult to discuss red breeding without some mention of the species phal.  violacea. There are two basic forms of the species, the Malayan form which is  itself a "red" flower and the Borneo form which is basically a light yellow-green  flower with vibrant red-purple on the inner portions of the lateral sepals. The  intriguing thing about violacea is that the Borneo form of the species has  contributed more to red breeding than its red cousin from the Malayan peninsula.

Nearly a century ago phal. violacea and phal. lueddemanniana were cross bred and  the resultant hybrid was registered as phal. Luedde-violacea. This cross has been  remade a number of times and has produced some good red clones with nineteen  AOS awards to its credit. Luedde-violacea itself has proven to be a fine parent of  reds and has provided a very firm foundation for many of today's red breeding  lines.
 
Two hybrids of Luedde-violacea have left a legacy of awarded red progeny. When  crossed with phal. amboinensis, phal. Luedde-violacea produced phal. Malibu Imp  which is the subject of the next article in this series. Back crossing Luedde- violacea to violacea produced phal. George Vasquez which was registered by Arthur  Freed Orchids Inc. in 1974. Over the past twenty years, phal. George Vasquez has  received eight AOS awards and has produced many fine red progeny.

One particularly fine cultivar has been used quite successfully as a parent of reds. Phal. George Vasquez 'Eureka' received an Award of Merit in 1978 and, by later scoring 92 points, was upgraded to a First Class Certificate in 1981. Of its many outstanding characteristics, the rich dark purple coloration of phal. George Vasquez 'Eureka' is perhaps its most outstanding attribute (at least as far a red breeding is concerned).

The table below speaks for itself and it is certainly clear that phal. George  Vasquez has been a fine parent of reds. What the table does not show is that some of the progeny of phal. George Vasquez have themselves continued to produce fine reds. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine where red phal. breeding would be today without phal. George Vasquez.

Figure 1
Awarded Red Progeny of Phal. George Vasquez

© Copyright 1995
Eric Goo
2807 W. Villa Rita Dr.
Phoenix AZ 85023