How do they get the flowers so perfect for photos?

[Shadeflower]

kim good pictures there.

My observation is based on just one flower that I have flowered inside a high humidity cabinet and then I tried to grow it in my living room. I have not experimented that much with differnt flowers yet but the living room blooms do not come out as good as in the high humidity cabinet. The petals bend back more

Now it could be many reasons, in the cabinet they get led lighting, they are temperature controlled and get air flow.

In my living room they just get average conditions. So maybe it wasn't humidity at all but just less ideal conditions.

If someone has some thoughts on it by all means but to me it makes sense if you provide better conditions the flower will come out better

What the best conditions are depends on each orchid of course and the challenging part to discover.

I will just add my last observation that I had a really horrible first bloom on one cattleya where the flower came out a bit twisted but the next flowering the flowers came out symmetrical and perfect.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Which brings me to another favorite subject. These photos abundantly illustrate why you should always buy more than one, when looking at seed grown plants (unless you are picking from plants in bloom).

You are making a great point. I am hyper-aware of what you are pointing out. I go a step further. I don't purchase potted seedlings even for species. I don't have room to grow them up to flowering size...except sometimes I get stupid. When I get stupid buying orchids, I don't just get a little stupid.

I have about 140 seedlings from two very fine H&R C. walkeriana and C. dowiana aurea compots. I have a very small greenhouse, so in around two years I'm going to hate myself for doing it. At least the walkers are small.

-Keith

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

kim good pictures there.

My observation is based on just one flower that I have flowered inside a high humidity cabinet and then I tried to grow it in my living room. I have not experimented that much with differnt flowers yet but the living room blooms do not come out as good as in the high humidity cabinet. The petals bend back more

Now it could be many reasons, in the cabinet they get led lighting, they are temperature controlled and get air flow.

In my living room they just get average conditions. So maybe it wasn't humidity at all but just less ideal conditions.

well, just to add fuel to this fire, here is a perfect example of conditions influencin* flowers. we got this phal dragonheart in bloom about 3 weeks ago (a little retail therapy ) you can see the lower flowers had bloomed before we got it, and the top tier have opened since with us. besides being smaller, the yellow is coming thru way way more, which to me is why the older flowers look more red and our seem washed out/ more beige. anyways, yeah, it’s quite clear to us your culture and conditions affect blooms!

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

I have flowered inside a high humidity cabinet and then I tried to grow it in my living room...the living room blooms do not come out as good as in the high humidity cabinet. The petals bend back more

This is my experience too. My Cattleya flowers tend to be smaller and more reflexed when grown and flowered indoors.

Now it could be many reasons, in the cabinet they get led lighting, they are temperature controlled and get air flow. ... maybe it wasn't humidity at all but just less ideal conditions.

When I've grow orchids indoors they didn't get the 10-20F diurnal temperature variation they get outdoors. I'm convinced that this has a significant effect on the plant's strength

-Keith

[estación seca]

Color and spotting in round-flowered Phals are known to be affected by temperatures. Spikes initiate in winter. Flowers may open over a long time from late winter to early summer. Later flowers may be very different from earlier flowers.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by tmoney

well, just to add fuel to this fire, here is a perfect example of conditions influencin* flowers. we got this phal dragonheart in bloom about 3 weeks ago (a little retail therapy

Out of curiosity, did you get it shipped to you in the mail, or pick it out and take it home?
I live in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, so the only place I can pick out flowers around here is Lowes, and nearly all of the flowering Lowes plants I've brought home were virused. For this reason most of my orchids are mail-ordered. I've seen the effect your photo shows, but have, perhaps wrongly, attribute it to spending 3-4 days in the dark.

-Keith

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

Out of curiosity, did you get it shipped to you in the mail, or pick it out and take it home?
I live in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, so the only place I can pick out flowers around here is Lowes, and nearly all of the flowering Lowes plants I've brought home were virused. For this reason most of my orchids are mail-ordered. I've seen the effect your photo shows, but have, perhaps wrongly, attribute it to spending 3-4 days in the dark.



-Keith

ah, well absolutely true. we had it mailed, and it spent about 2 days plus a couple hours in the dark. so, yes, this is a variable that needs to be considered. it stopped for about a week before they started opening again, and it was noticeable right away. so....maybe this is something to test more in the future! buy more plants!!

[Roberta]

As far as the color of the Phal goes, a good bit of that is genetics - the red (and peach or art-shade) in many of these is really yellow overlaid on lavender. And the yellow does tend to fade as the flower ages. So the color is better on the newly-opened flowers.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by tmoney

ah, well absolutely true. we had it mailed, and it spent about 2 days plus a couple hours in the dark. so, yes, this is a variable that needs to be considered. it stopped for about a week before they started opening again, and it was noticeable right away. so....maybe this is something to test more in the future! buy more plants!!

One way to tell might be whether future successive flowers go back to the original color. Of course, that may not be possible if there are no more buds.
-Keith

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Roberta

... the red (and peach or art-shade) in many of these is really yellow overlaid on lavender. And the yellow does tend to fade as the flower ages. So the color is better on the newly-opened flowers.

Roberta,

You're right, I've seen this too but didn't think of it until you mentioned it. One of my yellow Phals fades to beige when the flowers are open for a couple months. The attached photo just taken is a very well aged cream-yellow flower with high contrast bright crimson-purple spots when the flowers first open. Right now, the flowers are pretty drab.
-Keith