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bkay2000

Sport or Reversion?

bkay2000
10 years ago

My Orange Marmalade is sporting or reverting. So since OM is a sport of Paul's Glory and Paul's Glory is a sport of Perry's True Blue, is that a reversion to PTB or is it a new sport?

Inquiring minds want to know.

bk

(Yes, I know it's an ugly plant, but's it's OM in the fall after a lot of spring cold damage and too much sun.)

Comments (10)

  • Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
    10 years ago

    It's a sport. A reversion, by definition, means the plant reverts back to the cultivar it came from, in this case 'Paul's Glory'. In other words you go back one generation only.

    Pieter

  • bkay2000
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    So, if I pull it out and and grow it into a real plant, should it look like Perry's True Blue (not that it will look blue here)?

    bk

  • Steve Massachusetts
    10 years ago

    You won't know until it gets big, if it ever does for you.

    Steve

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    10 years ago

    But after waiting several years for it to mature, unless you can do some sort of genetic testing, you wouldn't be sure if it is indeed a Perry's True Blue, or a whole new blue sport from Orange Marmalade. Guess you would have to wait for it to mature, count veins, size and flowers.

    -Babka

  • bkay2000
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    So Steve, do sports have a low survival rate or do they usually not get very big?

    bk

  • Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
    10 years ago

    bkay, while the overall form of this sport may perhaps remind you of 'Perry's True Blue' once it matures, it's green, not blue, so it'll never be PTB. PTB looks fairly puckered, this sport looks quite smooth at this stage, but that may change as it matures. The other thing that'll change with maturity is leaf shape and vein count, certainly right now it looks nothing like PTB.

    Sports can be quite vigorous. I regularly separate green sports off 'Revolution' -which I refer to as "Green Revolution"- that are more vigorous than it's parent. They grow larger, and while they may have descended from 'Fortunei Hyacinthina', there is no family resemblence.

    I wouldn't be surprised that this sport will prove to be more vigorous than the parent plant.

    You may well find when it matures that it looks very much like 'Marmalade on Toast'.

    Pieter

  • User
    10 years ago

    Well, BK, it seems that the best thing you can do is buy yourself a PTB that is as mature as your green sport, and watch. I'd also get a Paul's Glory just in case, and maybe double down on the Orange Marmy. Get yourself another one from a different source. Also, try to find a Marmalade On Toast. Now THAT sounds right tasty.

    I would keep all the plants close together and watch for similarities/differences as the weeks go by. With the same amount of sun/water/nutrients, seems the best way to give them equal shot to show what they can do.

    You've got room for them....of course you have. That's what I tell myself because I KNOW some older ones will be lost after our wet humid winter.

  • bkay2000
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Well, our winter has been fairly dry and very cold, so I don't think i've lost any. The squirrels keep knocking over my Cathedral Windows, so it may not be very nice. BUT, I have a new one on order. I don't know if it was just a bad specimen, it doesn't do well here or it was damaged somehow. I've had it since 2009 and it's never gotten big.

    I'm not sure I want another Orange Marmalade. It's beautiful for a month in the spring, then average for a couple of months and turns to carp for me by July 1. Paul's Glory stayed pretty all season. It's the first year, but I'm impressed.

    I'm also not buying any more blues (if I can restrain myself). They aren't blue here anyway. My Elegans looked terrible. Part of the wax melted, but not all and it just looked mottled and ugly. That's the only one thats ever done that, though. Blues are usually just green.

    Marmalade on Toast.....Hmmm. I'll try it. I already have it, so why not?

    Thanks everyone for the info.

    bk

  • ctopher_mi
    10 years ago

    Actually it is believed that the parentage of Paul's Glory was incorrect and that it didn't actually come from Perry's True Blue. Zilis believed this because solid blue/green sports out of Paul's Glory don't look anything like Perry's True Blue and instead he named the solid sport Wheaton Blue. That would be the closest that your sport might be compared to.

    Chris

  • bkay2000
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks, Chris. Inquiring minds love to know.

    bk