i cant see the picture...

very nice devo..I think i posted De Rolf under my Christmas post

Have tried again...just new at this photobucket thing...

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Here she is.

I like correia-araujoi too, and have worked with it quite a bit (just haven't named or registered most of them yet), as has Sharon Petersen, and I know Hatsumi Maertz has done at least one. I don't know if anyone outside of Hawaii has done much with it, probably because of its size, but the clones I have (which look a bit different than yours, devo) have a number of desirable traits, including a wide leaf, large spots (marmoration), and red tips.

It's actually a natural hybrid-- a cross of Neo. marmorata and johannis, so it's not surprising it shares some characteristics with johannis 'De Rolf'.

Here are a few of mine:

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What kind of markings are you going for, devo?

Wow lisa.....! Just love those...! I recognise the first, as your 'Ring of Fire'. Would guess the second has some olens, and the forth perhaps Barbarian (light form)...? But what about the other 2...like the deep colour, and clear markings of the fifth...mouth watering stuff...how did the size carry over...?

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Well, as my little straw markers show, so far I have hybridised a number of flowers. The pollen parents have been; N. Gold Fever, aiming for the intense crimson, with gold spotting to carry over. And N. Manoa Beauty which has bright reflective red leaves and attractive markings. Also done a little self pollination to obtain a batch of seed for our society seed bank. But the question is where to from here. I have a little N. 'Break of Day' just coming into flower, so that could be interesting if the flowering periods overlap. Maybe this could give some defined banding thru the leaves. Then perhaps, something to give some nice defined, dark spotting...

Hi Devo, your use of straws as markers is a great idea. As a newbee i don't know if it is common or not. I do know that I will be trying it myself. Thanks, for showing it on the forum.

I've never seen straws used, but it's an interesting way of doing it. Do you write the name of the pollen parent on the straw? I don't see any writing, or is it a color code? And how far down does the straw go? Does it surround the ovary, and if so, does it keep it from enlarging beyond a certain point? I've always used the little triangular wedges stuck right down the throat, which are then grabbed tight by the sepals when the flower closes. It works fine on Neos, but not so fine on some of the other genera, particularly Billbergias. I have to do a different system with those.

As to the hybrids, yes, #1 is Ring of Fire, which is crossed with Lambert's Pride, and #2 is Kiko, which has olens as its other parent. The rest haven't been named yet but I'm working on that at the moment. #3 is crossed with Oesser #100, #4 with burlemarxii, and #5 is (correia-araujoi x concentrica) x Midnight.

It can't remember if I tried a Gold Fever cross or not-- I certainly thought about it. If I did, I didn't get anything good, but don't let that stop you. Gold Fever has some really nice qualities, but if you're going for strong color I have a feeling you might have better luck with something a little darker to offset c-a's comparatively washed-out coloration. Hatsumi made 'Justin's Song' using Charm, and that's very nice. I did one with Treasure Chest, and it's just okay. The color is just not as strong as I'd like, and it's not glossy. I think Royal Burgundy would be a good one, and I'm really curious to see what would happen if you crossed it with Barbarian, since that has such a distinctive signiture. I'm not sure which would dominate. I tried Nana, but didn't like the results, and Marble Throat was just plain worthless.

One of my "works in progress" is c-a x Red Flush. It has super form-- really wide leaves and a perfectly rounded rosette, but the spots are tiny and the color is vague and weak. I've been trying to cross that with something that will offset those weaknesses. Similarly c-a x concentrica 'De Leon's Best' is kind of a muddle, but crossed with Midnight it gave a nice big dark plant.

Most of these are big plants. Kiko is kind of medium-sized, but for an olens cross it's on the large side. The Red Flush cross is more compact than some of the others, but comparable in size to Royal Cordovan or something like that.

I forgot to mention that if you're trying to self it the seeds won't all come true, since it's not a true species. Some will be unmarmorated, like johannis. Read what Uncle Derek has to say about it:

Here is a link that might be useful: Neo. correia-araujoi

The straw markers work well for me...I cannot claim the idea, it was shown to me by a local hybridiser. In our climate, seed can take over 9 mths to ripen, so the markers have to last thru' the winter on plants that would usually be left to handle outdoor conditions.

The markers are standard drinking straws. I will just select a few different colours to represent the cross. e.g red straws represent X N. 'Gold Fever', blue stripe straws represent X N. 'Manoa Beauty' etc. These are then recorded in my diary for future reference. The straws are just cut into 10mm - 15mm lenghts, I usually cut the base at a 45 degree angle, as this makes it a little easier to slide over the whole flower. The straw just seems to fit snugly over the flower, but above the ovary. Allowing ovary to swell as seed develops. The system seems to work well on most Neo's...but the little ampullacea types are just too small...

Here are some photos to show the process.

Day 1: Flower is pollinated, and marked with a tooth pick.

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Day 2: Flower closes.

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Day 3: Straw in place.

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Ripe seed pods ready to go.

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Thanks for the hybrid info Lisa. Your plants are inspiring, and #5 is just stunning, strong colour, well defined spotting, red tips, glossy leaves and good size...a great combination. I have a couple of forms of N. Barbarian coming into flower, so may try those...plus a couple of others...(would like to get some dark spotting) I will carry on, see what seed develops, and grow on small batches to see how they turn out. Why does lack of space always have to be an issue ! Will have to write out 100 times..."I must cull early...I must cull early..."

Also, thanks for the Uncle Derek link. I had read the article some time ago, but had forgotten about the self set seed thing. I may be able to get some pollen from another N.xcorreia-araujoi, so that could give a better result for our seed bank. By the way, I have heard it said that there is no way N. xcorreia-araujoi could be a natural hybrid between johannis and mamorata, as the wild populations do not occur in the same areas...but that is a whole other issue...

Great photos, devo! I was trying to take one earlier that would show what the flower looks like once it's been emasculated, but I couldn't get a clear close-up. Yours shows it beautifully. The drinking straw method does have some advantages, but I'd have to have a full rainbow of them because I'm often using so many different pollinators!

That's interesting about johannis and marmorata not sharing a range, but it does seem to act like a hybrid as far as seed propagation is concerned. I wonder who else the parents could be? The johannis connection seems pretty strong, down to the distinctive red ovaries that you show in your picture. The other parent would have to be something marmorated.

There seem to be a lot of forms of marmorata in the trade, though, and I've never been too sure what a "true" marmorata looks like. Sharon gave me a smallish glossy-textured one that is supposed to be marmorata, but she said that whenever she crosses to it a percentage of the seedlings come out with red striations like (farinosa) rosea-striata, so that seems to indicate that it may in fact be a hybrid. 'Marcon' was originally thought to be marmorata x concentrica (hence the name-- although I think now they're ascribing some other parentage to it), but I seem to recall reading that it's really just a form of straight marmorata, which is supported by the fact that the plant being sold as variegated marmorata looks just like it, except, of course, for the variegation. The markings, texture and inflorescence on Marcon are fairly close to corriea-araujoi, the main difference being the form and width of the leaves, and the johannis-like red tips and concentric bands, so a combination of that and johannis makes perfect sense to me, but if they don't occur in the same area then that kind of throws a monkey wrench into the natural hybrid theory, unless it was pollinated by some migratory bird or something! Hmmmm.......

Unfortunately that #5 hybrid is still just a single specimen that has never bloomed or pupped. It has a sibling that has given me several generations already, and it's a decent plant, but not as nice as this one. Isn't that always the way? ;-)

On the straw thing...colours can be a bit of an issue...reds often fade to pink, blues to green, green to yellow etc. So be careful not to use, say, red & pink on same plant, as after a few months they can all look the same....! I often only do one or two crosses over a season, so has not really been an issue for me.

I think, so long as the pollinated flowers are marked, and the pollen parent recorded, then whatever system works in the situation is good to use. I plan to give the plastic wedge method a try on a couple of nice ampullacea.

where does the pollen come from? How do you know you actually have some pollen? I have never seen anything that looks like pollen on mine

pollen was covered in several posts by Lisa

Bihai, check out this previous thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: pollination discussion