Japie, Your #1 would be my first choice, primarily because the color is strong. I find that Neos whose older leaves either maintain their color or turn darker tend to give the plant a more "finished" look than ones where the older leaves turn green. I consider green lower leaves on a marmorate to be a weakness, but one that is tolerable if there are enough other good qualities.

#2 would be my second choice because it has good rounded form and the markings are fairly strong. Some of the others may develop some interesting traits (a few look like they might have a bit of a dark edge), but I think if you held onto the first two you'd feel satisfied that you'd gotten the best, and wouldn't miss the rest. The fact that they are quite distinct from each other is an important factor too. I generally try to pick the best representation of each "type", rather than a bunch of lookalikes.

I do know exactly what you're talking about, you just can't keep them all once the pipeline gets full. I'd keep the first one and give/sell off the rest.

Japs. Like Lisa I like the look of 1,nice strong colour and I reckon it will grow into a nice plant. 3 would be my second choice. I like the light pinky colour. Its not easy to toss plants but maybe you could make a plan with the others.

Cheers for now

Dennis

YouÂve done well Japie, getting these hybrids to a good size in under 2yrs shows very good growth. With that cross of marmorata x Royal Cordovan I would guess you were aiming for something having the form of RC, with the spotting of marmorata. Looking at the group together #2 seems to have the best combination of traits, & it has the potential to develop the form of RC which would make it a really nice neo. I also like that layered marmoration effect that shows up in #2 with light shining thru the leaf. I agree that #1 has the best colour, so IÂd keep #1 & #2, & get rid of the rest. Easy to say that when theyÂre not mine!

Cheers, Andrew.

Hi Japie,

Wow! to get them to that size in two years is something I could never hope to achieve, that's really good growth.

I gave myself a little test on this group and looked carefully at them several times before I decided what I would do, and I am dead chuffed that when I looked at the other responses, I had come up with exactly the same answers as Lisa (Our No.1 Neo breeder). I went for the uniformity in colour for No.1 and the nice rounded leaves in No.2, but if I had to pick just one, I would go for No.2. You certainly have my sympathy in having to make these decisions.

I know what you're going through as I am in a similar "culling dilemma" with Neo seedlings myself. I find it very difficult to toss nice healthy looking plants as I wonder how much they will improve as they mature. Initially I planted all the culls in the garden and was surprised to see just what an inprovement another year made both in shape and in colour. However I have now reached the stage where there is no more garden space at home so now I'll have to start relocating the culls, until I can convince my wife it's best to turn all the remaining grass over to brom's.

I am fortunate to belong to an organization which runs old light gauge steam trains within a park comprising a lot of Melaluka trees and in this area there are a few large garden beds where nothing has yet been planted, so it looks like this is where the excess will go, but I suspect it may be too shady to maintain the best colour of the plants, however time will tell.

All the best, Nev.

Japie, you know this forum doesn't take kindly to "flower-fiddlers"!
Well, being a non-Neo guy I vote for #1 as the boldest of the group. The growth rate you got from them is as Nev says, "Amazing!".

Hey Japie - another vote for #1 from me, for the same reasons as stated by others.
My second choice would be #4, because of its rounded leaf tips and nice peachy colour with smaller light spots.

Congratulations, and good luck with the culling decisions.

K

Hi Japie,

Congratulation and welcom to the world of hybridization.

I give another vote to #1. Like everybody said it had light spots on intense coloe leaf. Very nice. Another vote is #5. It has dark red broad leaf with more spots than #1. I usually like marmorate plants like your hybrids.

A very good job. You might have a big problem in culling your plants. Difficult to make a decision.

Cheers
Yong

Well done Japie !... I'm with the others too, #1, #2 are my picks but I also like #4 as Kerry said. Don't throw that one out just yet, as I think the lighter pinky colour sets it apart from the others and it could develop into a nice RC shaped plant when larger.
Cheers
Graeme

Hi Japie,

Some nice plants there. Must be fun watching them start to show their stuff. 1, 2 & 4 do it for me, in that order and for all the reasons above, but there is also something definitely about #8 - dark edges developing? starting into an RC shape? It be keen to see where that one goes.

Cheers, Paul

Must say that No 1 gets my vote also ,good dark colour nice clear spotting ,should shape up to a nice plant ,Jack

Thanks to you all for your comments!

Now let me tell you my thoughts about them:

MRC01: I like that dark colour and I like the spots, would have been nice if the spots were a bit larger. I'm going to keep it.

MRC02 : I like the apiculated leave tips and the broader leaves. If hat plant does not flower too soon, I am sure it will have a very nice form. I am not very fond of the colour. But I am going to keep it.

MRC03 : This one was a long time on top of my list, purely because of those 'temperature banding'. I am going to keep it at least until after after the coming Winter to see what happens with those green banding, maybe even until it flowers.

MRC04 : The form of this one is not as nice as #2, but almost, and I like this one's colour more. Keeper.

MRC05 : I was planning to trash this one, but it looks more and more acceptable to me. Almost as dark as #1, the leaves are wider and the tips also more apiculated, so it might mature better looking. But the spots are a bit 'untidy' to my liking. So I think I am going to hang on for a while on this one.

MRC06 : Should have been trashed already!

MRC07 : Same here.

MRC08 : Now this one has got one very interesting 'thing'. Those welts on some leaves. That was one of the things that attracted me to Royal Cordovan in the first place. But this plant has turned them side ways! I do not know whether that is a true 'trait' of the plant or just a quirk. It looks actually as if it is out-growing it, but if it keeps on giving them on some leaves, I am very tempted to keep it!

Now apart from what I said about them all, could all be changed when the plants flower and some give me the cup colour of Royal Cordovan. Or #3 shut off the chlorophyl and give me a green/white cup at anthesis!

Japie

LOL... well, you've managed to eliminate 2 out of the 8, that's a start! ;-)

I don't want to muddy the waters, but #5 is the other one that continues to catch my eye, just because it looks the most likely to develop a dark edge. Unless that feature becomes stronger it probably wouldn't be enough for me to keep it in the long run, but it might survive the first cut.

Frankly, the ones that look pink to some of you just look washed-out red to me. If there was a good strong candy pink I'd keep it too, but with that parentage I wouldn't expect that. I'm also not a big fan of leaf puckers, but to each his own.

Hi Japie,

I like #5! the colour is very nice!

Eh Japie, us South Africans have the same taste in broms- 1 and 3!

Uh oh, I just noticed the upturned leaf tips on #4! I've always been partial to that feature, and it will be much more noticeable when the plant fills out. I see what you mean about the temp banding on #3 too. Hadn't noticed that before either.

Okay, keep 1-5 for now; lose the rest. And start shopping for a vacant lot!

Hi Japie, u can give away some to your neighbours so that you monitor them from a distance LOL

Ok, I've done it!

Lisa, to keep 6 out of the initial 48 that was spotted off, is not too bad for a start?! But I actually did better, I kept just 4! The first 4. But I did what Cecilia suggested sort of, another brom addict living not far from me has got the others now, so I can still check up on how they are doing from time to time and maybe get some pups if they turn out to be real nice!! I suppose that's cheating a bit, but now I have the advantage of seeing all 8 of them growing to maturity while I only have to provide for 4 of them!

Dennis, so sorry, I cannot slip one in the next box - BUT maybe even something better?!

Japie

I have a friend who manages the landscapers at his housing complex and he will take anything and has no use for name tags. I have given him a few dozen seedlings and they are growing (in the ground) so I may give him some more and see how that works out. But, I can't really imagine going back in two or three years and taking pups from anything since I couldn't really tell if it was one of mine or something he picked up somewhere else.

Ah the dilema of hybridizers ,what to keep ,what to cull ,and allways the thought of ,' but in different conditions this could be good ' (or not) and you will never know if you never go , as they have a lot of growing to do (and if you have lots of room )wait and see , but its also a case of ' how does it stack up to whats allready out there ' , best of luck though ,life is full of choices ,
Jack

Hi Japie

Oh....what you got? hmmm?