C. violacea s/a flammea ('SVO splash' x 'Icabaru')
C. tigrina ('Paul' AM/OS x 'SVO Dark Wonder' 4n)
Extremely impressed with the vigor that Fred selects for in his species offerings. Orchids are fed a montly diet of microbes, kelp and fulvic/humic acids (new addition I've been trying out) alongside their fertilizer. I alternate between 40ppm N and 75ppm N of k-lite at every watering + 10 ppm potassium silicate.
The
C. tigrina was re-potted in May and never missed a beat- this is the 3rd flush of primary roots from the rhizome and the 2nd flush of branching tips. I cant seem to water this plant enough because the root tips you see on the surface are just the "tip of the iceberg" so to speak. Expected to be 2 years out from blooming but I wouldn't be surprised to see blooms next summer from a plant from SVO. I couldn't help myself and bought a guaranteed tetraploid
tigrina as well from their second wave offering. The plant pictured here is likely 3n, though I did buy the oryzalin treated version of this cross.
The
C. violacea also bought from SVO is an experiment on whether or not I can grow and flower this species successfully in my largely intermediate temperature growing conditions with typically lower than ideal humidity- however my mornings are 60% plus with the windows open. So far, I have not found the
violacea to be bothered at all from night temps around 60F (my night temps never get below 60F year round in my indoor space) or low-ish humidity. Plant is getting a lot of light but we will see if the top end temps are enough to get this thing to bloom as my temps rarely exceed 80F in the summer and never beyond 75F in the winter. The plant will be in need of another repot once its new growths come in and is growing in 2 directions.