irina, I was hoping to mostly stick with the minis and micro minis, I have the room for standards and large and have leaves from all the sizes put down but did want to stay away from the standards and larges for hybridizing. I just find the minis so adorable. I was thinking of getting some of the Little Jewels and the Indian named minis from selective gardener (yes they are expensive, I got a touch of sticker shock when I first priced them!). I've looked at Streps in one of the plant shops out here, they were very nice (but unnamed, I've turned into a "plant snob"), I decided to stay away from them till I do some mad scientist experimenting on the AVs. But you're right the Streps and Chimeras do move fast on ebay! I also looked into Chiritas, very pretty and up and coming me thinks! Just a random thought...do you think you could cross a mini AV with a mini Sinningia (like White Sprite)? Or maybe a small Chirita with a mini sinningia....oh, the mad scientist is going wacko! Becky :o)

Hi Pierre, There was a good article by Hoshi etc in an issue of Lindleyana 1994 that detailed nodal microprop of Cyp montanum, as well as germination of various asian Cyps. Despite the article's age, MS is still the Tissue Culture medium of choice for most & the hormones used are still the standard, though I'm certain that testing could yield better results now. (Applicable) "Abstract: Nodes of axenically cultured C. montanum transplanted onto MS agar medium supplemented with 0.2mg/L NAA and 2.0mg BAP grew readily forming thick well-branched rhizomes and 20 or more shoots in flasks within a month. By cutting and removing the meristems of multiple shoot tips, nodal culture may be a promising method for in vitro micropropagation of Cypripedium montanum and similar taxa." Please note that this procedure requires real lab stuff, not just the goofy stuff I do. A friend of mine followed this procedure on Cyp reginae and had excellent results. If one had a mind to do so (and a lab), one could easily out produce standard seedling based enterprizes with this method. Eventually I'd love to try this stuff... when I have more time & $$ to devote to my "hobbies". All the best, Ross

"I think most of you missed the point of the original question..." Yeah, I misread the original post before I made my first response. I guess I was reading too quickly or something. "A taproot will not form on a stem cutting of a plant that normally grows one when propagated from seed." Well, that's partly true, but not completely, depending on definitions. Some cutting grown plants, from species that typical grow taproots, can form some pretty notable vertical roots, somewhat like natural taproots. "And just to be clear, a taproot is for anchoring primarily." That's an over generalization, without the proper caveats. "Take a look at any literature out there concerning bonsai plants. Do they have a tap root? No. Do they need one? No. It is the other finer type of horizontal, vertical and surface roots that are responsible for the uptake of water/ nutrients etc." Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent of your comment, but I sure hope you aren't trying to imply anything about non-bonsai plant from that example.

In general to get rights to do propagation, you'll have to be doing more than a couple for a company to consider granting a license to you. Most companies turn their patent administering over to a Royalty administration company and they send inspectors out to your facility on a fairly frequent basis to check for infringements and that you are complying with their requirements. That is also who you pay our royalties to. It's not going to be very cost effective to do this for onsie-twosies. It is for onsie-twosie thousand plants. I used to hold a license for one breeder and after a few years let it drop, because my production was so low on that item I felt guilty making them make the effort. If you deal regularly with some brokers and place an order on patented material, they used to ask you at time of order placement if you intended to do any cuttings from them. Otherwise your license was for finishing off cuttings only and your patent fees were added on to the cost of the plant order. I haven't had that question broached to me in years, so assume it's not as common as it used to be. I suspect it's because the breeders are going to rooting stations and granting very limited propagating rights to 'tie-up' availability and keep profits up. You'd have to have a pretty exotic specimen to get a breeder to bother with very small amounts, and in those cases the breeding fees can be steep. I know I did some grafting this winter, and instead of the five/seven cent royalty fee, it was more like five dollars a cut, whether it lived or not.