Is this the Tolumnia breakthrough we need?

Tolumnia can flower for months

Flower Power!

 

The more, the better!

 

Tolumnia, with the marketing name – ‘Tiny Dancer’ – need more flower power.

 

I found a few plants that have 2 flower spikes per fan.  No one knows if this is culture or genetic.

 

            Then I found one with three spikes per fan.  So, it must be genetic, in that, it can have multiple spikes on a single growth.

 

Now, the miracle Tolumnia has been found.  This yellow flowered miniature flowering houseplant that happens to be an Orchid, has four spikes on a single fan.

 

If it can be cloned through tissue culture; and the multi-flowering continues, it will flower for four to six months.

 

This is the breakthrough that changes everything.

The Venture Capital Method of Growing Plants

Begonia serratipetala

 

The Venture Capital Method of Growing Plants.

 

            Venture capital dominates the business news because the unicorn stories are so spectacular.  The ventures that lost capital are not discussed.  One winner, 100 losers.  The one successful idea takes the money – non-refundable- and becomes the category king.  All other ventures cease to exist.

 

            Can we find new plants to introduce to the gardening public with the venture capital model?

 

            We look for new plants, continually, in the hopes of finding the next big sparkling plant that blows up on the internet.

 

            New houseplants are hard to find, but the Etsy, eBay, Facebook system has allowed plant collectors who are experts with a few plants to sell their new ones for high prices.  The speed of the internet has revolutionized the distribution of rare plants. Yeh.

 

            So, what does venture capital have to do with this?

           

            Since I never know which new plant will catch on to be the ‘Hot’ plant of the month, I must buy a lot and hope one rises to the top.  The remainders can ride along as average.  Sometime later, one or two may zoom to the top.  Or fade away.

 

            Where do these plants come from?

 

New species are being found all the time.  There are described species that are put into cultivation and determined to be commercially sought after.  Hybridizers introduce great new clones all the time.  Some are better.

 

            So, if new clones are for sale on the internet for hundreds of dollars, how much venture capital should be risked looking for the one plant that will pay off all the other losers?

What to know about the Trump Tariff Tax, REVISED

Tolumnia imported from Thailand

 

                    The current threat of the Trump Tariff Tax for Thailand is 36%.

                    I was too conservative suggesting that 25% would be crippling.  If the Trump Tariff Tax on Thailand plants becomes 36%, it will end trade and make an enemy of Thailand, a friend during the Vietnam War.

                    My hypothetical order of $6,000 would have to pay $2,160 for the Trump Tariff Tax.

                    No more Orchids.

What to know about Trump Tariff Tax, Part II

Tolumnia imported from Thailand

             If Trump demands a Trump Tariff Tax of 25% on items imported from Thailand, then the buyer must pay that unnecessary fee. 

              A shipment of $6,000 must pay $1,500 import charge for the Trump Tariff Tax.

              If the Trump goal is to force me to buy these Orchids in the United States, that idea will fail.

    

              These Orchids will never be grown here because the high cost will prevent them from ever being sold.

            Tariffs always work.  They raise prices unnecessarily and reduce the growth rate of the economy and my small business.

            Tariffs stifle free enterprise and cripple my small business.  Very Un-American. 

What to know about the plant tariff

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight'

 

                    The plants imported from Thailand must pay the Trump Tariff Tax of 10%.

                    If I buy plants valued at $6,500, I must pay $650.00 at the port of entry for the Trump Tariff Tax

                    Where do I recover that $650.00?

                    The only place I get money is from the sale of plants.

We need to know the answer

Tolumnia - one fan - two spikes - high bud count

         No one knows how to get two flower spikes on one fan with Tolumnia Orchids.

         Flowering is the only thing that matters with houseplants.  The more flowers the better.  For commercial production, the most flowers for the least cost is ideal.

        I've found 10 Tolumnia that have two spikes on one fan out of a population of 10,000.  That is one tenth of one percent.  You could say that it is rare.

        What causes double spikes to occur?  It is genetic or culture?  These double spike plants are seedlings, meaning that all characteristics segregate undependably. If I find one, should it be cloned, so we get superior plants?

        Or is it culture meaning it is capable of double spikes but only if it grows with good culture?

        If you know, tell me.  Thanks

 

Google ranking

Crown of Thorns 'Golden Gem'

 

     If you search for Gary's Blog, you will find that Gary's Specialty Plants ranks one position higher than Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary V --- The wine guy.

     How is that possible?  He is world famous.

     I am world famous, too, just nobody knows it.

Thai Resort

Thai Resort

 

         This picture could be on the front of a travel brochure for some exotic place.

          Fortunately for me I took this picture, and I stayed in one of these villas in Southwest Thailand.

Why write?

                                                                     Cactus arms

                "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say"

Flannery O'Connor -- Writer

                         "If you can't write it down, you don't know what you're talking about"

Gary  ---  Blog writer for 13 years.

Sunset

Sunset in Thailand

                             Why must we go halfway around the World to see the sunset?

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' are everywhere.

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' -- Single stem


How can this not be a successful flowering houseplant?

Or better yet, a ubiquitous Spring plant for patio planters?

 

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' has come to light

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' by Dr Jon Lindstrom

 

            Sinningia ‘Arkansas Empress’ is a magnificent flowering plant when grown well.

 

            This salmon flowered Sinningia, an F1 hybrid by the late Dr Jon Lindstrom of the University of Arkansas, has many flowers in a terminal cluster.  It then expands into a second whorl of flowers.

 

            This exceptional plant has never been grown commercially.  It’s sterile, so it makes no seed.  Propagation is limited to side-shoot tip cuttings, unless tissue culture could multiply it.

 

            How could it be sold if quantities could be had?

 

            It is a stand-alone specimen plant that could be a premium gift plant for Mother’s Day.   If a continuous supply of small plants were available, it could be flowered at any time of the year.

 

            It’s big enough and showy enough that it could be sold as a flowering plant in mixed Spring/Summer patio planters. 

Beginning as a plantlet with roots, the Sinningia will form a tuber under the finished foliage.  Although not many indoor gardeners want to deal with it, the tuber will resprout and the tuber will grow bigger each year.  My friend, Vicky, has kept hers in a patio planter for years to grow and flower each Summer.

 

‘Arkansas Empress’ will be expensive because of the tissue culture and long crop time, but these salmon flowers will be worth it.

 

This tissue culture project has started, and results could be seen next year.  Updates as they occur --- No guarantee.

Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' needs to come back

          

            Sinningia ‘Prudence Risley’ is a flowering houseplant that deserves to be grown in commercial quantities.

 

            Like many Gesneriads, it has been hiding in the hobby world and shows up at Gesneriad Conventions and occasionally at the Philadelphia Flower Show to be judged.

 

            It’s always judged to be a cheery plant with its tubular red flowers.

 

            I know how to produce this amazing plant and have grown small quantities over the years.  Being sterile, seed propagation is not possible.  Tissue Culture can work, but who’s going to do it?  My method is side shoot, tip cuttings.

 

            The picture of ‘Prudence Risley’ in flower is at my West kitchen window in April 2025.

 

            No one is more surprised than I am that these flowers showed up with only window light.  It’s been growing there for a year or more, no fertilizer, just water.

 

            Celebrate!

Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' at Windowsill

 

Tolumnia with double spike

Tolumnia with double spike

 

                    Is the rare double spike on Tolumnia genetic or culture?

                    I've found 5-6 plants that have two flower spikes on the same fan.  That's 5-6 out of 11,000 plants.  If it is genetic, we need to select for this trait.  If it's just good growing health of the plant, we should learn how to do that.

                    If anybody out there knows the answer, please tell me.

The future of Tolumnia Orchids

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight'

Is this the future of Tolumnia Orchids?

Eight flower bud count, two spikes per fan.

Will tissue culture mericlones duplicate this?

 

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight' --- Is it good enough?

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight'

                        The last story introduced a Tolumnia with potential for promotion. 

                         Now we have a name that could help ---  'Peppered Sunlight'.  The name came from Kerri.  I like it.  It describes speckled bright yellow.

                           This plant is a one-in-four thousand find.  It has good characteristics.  It has vigor and high bud count --- eight flowers per spike.

                            It is one of those rare double spikes per fan --- three in 11,000.  Nobody knows if this double spike is culture or genetic.  Nobody knows if the double spike would carry through in the tissue culture process?  The flower stem is strong and thick.  The flower stem is very tall, but acceptable.

                            Is this 'Peppered Sunlight' worth entering it into tissue culture?

                            If I had a thousand of these, would they be valuable?

                            

 

Is this pretty enough?

                 

                 This Tolumnia has several special traits, but is it pretty enough to be selected for tissue culture production?

                   Propagation by tissue culture is very expensive and time consuming so only the most promising clones should be selected for this effort.

                    If this were a named variety and promoted as a very special small flowering houseplant, would customers buy it because it is stunning?