yellow Schlumbergeras

Yellow Schlumbergeas by Frank Süpplie

Many times I do hear the comment that yellow schlumbergeras are not really yellow. (The same with the white ones but thats not the subject of this thread.) Now after more than 20 years in cultivation, many questions are still unanswered or the answers haven't found yet (because some literature is not available).

Already in the 1980's I have performed a research to the flower behaviour of Schlumbergera hybrids, especially to the then new introduced yellow 'Gold Charm'.

Some of the hybrids were kept at 5 ? C, others at 15? C and others at 20? C. I did this investigation with each 200 schlumbergera cuttings which had the same threatment over summer and were brought back in cooling houses (airco) when flowers where nearly opened. It proofed that how colder the temperature the cuttings were put, that the pink coloration would be appearing more in the flowercolour. The ones at 20? C didn't had any problems.


Another 'investigation area-angle' was how long can they stay with colder temperatures without coloration during budseason. During the research I had the abaility of getting cuttings from the grower without limitation.

So I performed another research putting schlumbergera Gold Charm cuttings in cold from 5? C for several hours: 5, 4 and 1 hour during budstage.After this cold shock the particular cuttings were brought back to 20° C.

The result was that the pinkcolorotian of flowers was already vissible after one hour in budstage. I also diod smallr researches on yellow schlumbs in the 1990's en in the 2000's with the newer hybrids.

Conclusion of the research:
1. yellow schlumbergeras should be kept above 20° C during budstage for the optimal (perfect) yellow colouration.
2. Yellow Schlumbs should be bought before budding stage and should not be transported during budding.
3. Yellow Schlumbs will not make it in the commercial market as result of the coloration (different from collectors market)

Commercial firms are still launching yellowish hybrids. Some are more lighter yellow hybrids than the dark yellow ones. The lighter yellowish are more cold restistant than the dark ones but still have the pink colouration.

Short overview of yellow schlumbergera hybrids:
between the ( ) the grower
** creamy yellow flowers

Japan:
Chiba Lara (Mitsuhashi ?)
Sunny Bright (Mitsuhashi)

Denmark:
Thor-Alec (Thoruplund)
Thor-Alex (Thoruplund)
Thor-Amanda (Thoruplund, new for 2006)**
Thor-Liva (Thoruplund, new for 2006)**
Limelight Dancer (PKM)
Golden Dancer (PKM)

Netherlands:
Golden Sun (Süpplie)
Yellow Queen (Süpplie)
Maria Callas (Süpplie)
Nutbush City Limits (Süpplie)
Smooth Dancer (Süpplie 2007/2008)

USA:
Gold Charm (Cobia)
Christmas Flame (Cobia)
Cambridge (Cobia)
Gold Fantasy = rename for Christmas Flame (Cobia)


Canada:
Eva Marie Mckeen (Goodfellow)
Lorraine LeClerc(Goodfellow)

additional comments:
Cobia is the best known grower of Schlumbergera hybrids in the USA. The first yellow hybrid (Gold Charm) was introduced by them. The first photographs which appeared in magazines were shot with a yellow colourfilter to get a much nicer yellow flower. However in the early 1990's Cobia did go bankrupt. The firm did manage to start over again but not with christmas cacti anymore.

More information about all hybrids can be found in the following book Schlumbergera: the directory of species and hybrids, published by EPRIC and avaialbel in the webshop.

© epric