What are some species of blue and orange orchids?

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by Dart21

Cleisocentron is pretty sky blue. Of course it depends on where you get it from. I've encountered quite a bit of variation amongst the species in the 'blueness' but some are truly sky blue. My newest one is yet to bloom... hoping that it's bluest one yet ;-)

You are quite right. I haven't seen that one before, but some of them are a pretty pure blue! Are they difficult to grow?

[Dart21]

Surprisingly they are not that difficult to grow. I obtained my first one years ago when I was much more novice of a grower (probably around age 16) and that one lasted for about 2 years... between moving around (getting my own places) and not having the right environment it simply dried out too much one time and that was the end of it. Around the same time I lost my first Dracula vampira to the same issues :-/.

I have since located another source and was given a second chance due to my lovely girlfriend as a valentine's day gift. She purchased both Cleisocentron and Dracula v. for me!

It is a misconception that they are high-light orchids. Due to their Vandaceous appearance one would immediately think that they prefer no potting medium and high light... quite the contrary in fact they do great in sphagnum as long as it's either an open basket/tree fern fiber. I can only imagine they would do great mounted wrapped in sphagnum as well. As far as lighting, they do better in lower light, mine is currently sitting next to my Draculas and Phrag. The grower who I purchased it from also mentioned that he believed the lower light brings out the true blue-ness of the species.

On another note, I was just browsing through this month's AOS magazine and stumbled upon the Western Australian truly blue varieties that were mentioned. Thelymitra campanulata and Thelymitra crinita are about as blue as I have ever seen in Orchidaceae! Apparently they are extraordinarily difficult to propagate or at least to get to bloom as they require very specific conditions. There is, however, a German orchid grower who has come up with some Thelymitra hybrids he claims to be quite easy to cultivate. These can be found at www.myorchids.de and his prices seem quite reasonable. I am eager to get my hands on one or two and try my luck... apparently some of them are winter hardy to -5 degrees Centigrade.

[Vanda lover]

Interesting! Of coarse, they wouldn't be available here, so I think I will have to stick with more common orchids for now. I need more space.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Dart21

Surprisingly they are not that difficult to grow. I obtained my first one years ago when I was much more novice of a grower (probably around age 16) and that one lasted for about 2 years... between moving around (getting my own places) and not having the right environment it simply dried out too much one time and that was the end of it. Around the same time I lost my first Dracula vampira to the same issues :-/.

I have since located another source and was given a second chance due to my lovely girlfriend as a valentine's day gift. She purchased both Cleisocentron and Dracula v. for me!

It is a misconception that they are high-light orchids. Due to their Vandaceous appearance one would immediately think that they prefer no potting medium and high light... quite the contrary in fact they do great in sphagnum as long as it's either an open basket/tree fern fiber. I can only imagine they would do great mounted wrapped in sphagnum as well. As far as lighting, they do better in lower light, mine is currently sitting next to my Draculas and Phrag. The grower who I purchased it from also mentioned that he believed the lower light brings out the true blue-ness of the species.

On another note, I was just browsing through this month's AOS magazine and stumbled upon the Western Australian truly blue varieties that were mentioned. Thelymitra campanulata and Thelymitra crinita are about as blue as I have ever seen in Orchidaceae! Apparently they are extraordinarily difficult to propagate or at least to get to bloom as they require very specific conditions. There is, however, a German orchid grower who has come up with some Thelymitra hybrids he claims to be quite easy to cultivate. These can be found at www.myorchids.de and his prices seem quite reasonable. I am eager to get my hands on one or two and try my luck... apparently some of them are winter hardy to -5 degrees Centigrade.

If we ever do another group buy with him I'm all over those Thelymitras! My laundry room gets hot in the summer and cold but not freezing in the winter. I'll grow them in trays aquaponically above a large aquarium that sits in the window. But as far as the pricing, once they make it here through legal channels with all that entails, I don't think the word "reasonable" will apply! I used to buy tropical marine fish all the time and transship them in. A fish that cost $1.25 in Bali actually cost about $6-$7 by the time it was shipped and cleared customs. At least with plants you don't have all that water to pay freight on, but the actual landed price from a deal like this will no doubt be 2x-3x the listed price.

[Dart21]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

If we ever do another group buy with him I'm all over those Thelymitras! My laundry room gets hot in the summer and cold but not freezing in the winter. I'll grow them in trays aquaponically above a large aquarium that sits in the window. But as far as the pricing, once they make it here through legal channels with all that entails, I don't think the word "reasonable" will apply! I used to buy tropical marine fish all the time and transship them in. A fish that cost $1.25 in Bali actually cost about $6-$7 by the time it was shipped and cleared customs. At least with plants you don't have all that water to pay freight on, but the actual landed price from a deal like this will no doubt be 2x-3x the listed price.

I just received an email back from Dr. Beyrle regarding the Phytosanitary certifications required to get the Thelymitra or any of his other rare orchids into the states. He said it is 30 Euros per plant. Shipping is a reasonable 8 Euros and I'm sure there is group discounting for that.

I've sent him an email back asking if there are any discounts on the Phytosanitary certifications (though I suspect since it is governmental, probably not...) if multiple/bulk plant material were ordered and it would be quite wonderful if there were.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Dart21

I just received an email back from Dr. Beyrle regarding the Phytosanitary certifications required to get the Thelymitra or any of his other rare orchids into the states. He said it is 30 Euros per plant. Shipping is a reasonable 8 Euros and I'm sure there is group discounting for that.

I've sent him an email back asking if there are any discounts on the Phytosanitary certifications (though I suspect since it is governmental, probably not...) if multiple/bulk plant material were ordered and it would be quite wonderful if there were.

You need a permit from the USDA/APHIS to complete the order legally, or it might have problems getting in the US. He'll most likely ask you to order summer growing/winter dormant plants right now.

The only group discount for the Phyto and the CITES is when several people are ordering at the same time, and the costs are split amongst each individual. Yes, Phyto and CITES are government papers from each country's respective department of agriculture. They are priced differently between countries - with Australia topping the charts at $1,000 Australian Dollars.

There is a different kind of "discount", and it's called Value Added Tax (VAT).

I've organized this before in the past. I'm only willing to organize a group effort if I don't have to run into the problem of nonpayment, (I'm referring to not being reimbursed for shipping the plants from my place to the home of those who ordered their plants. USPS charges a box fee, and if people didn't pay me that box fee, I lose.).

Should there be any other issues, I don't know what they might be, but all I can say is; I'm super busy right now, and if people want to do this through me, they got to be responsible for the transaction from start to finish.

While I understand that not everybody involved in the group order pulls this kind of nonsense, for those who do, it ruins my experience. It also makes it a bit more inconvenient for those who have been responsible and have come to me in the past to organize these group orders.

Should you want to organize a group order for yourself, I'm letting you know…just a fyi.

Another fyi to everybody - the tuberoids are generally small, only because the plants themselves are generally, naturally small. These are near flowering sized or blooming sized plants, but many of them are not big. The last order I had, I felt that maybe a couple people may have been disappointed by the size of the tuberoids they got. So I'm letting everyone know - these terrestrial orchids generally go about unnoticed in the wild because they're generally naturally small and easy to miss.

[kindrag23]

I have a cattleya that is a peach orange color called coopers queen it was a bag baby from lowes. And is growing so fast I cant keep up with feeding it. Good luck!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

FYI, the prices on Dr. Beyrle's page are in Euros. If you're in the US, the current exchange rate as of Tuesday, March 11, 2014, is 1 Euro = 1.39 USD.

30 Euros is currently $41.70 USD. 8 Euros is currently $11.12.

Thelymitras are difficult to grow, but some people are doing it.

[Corsetière]

I really like Habenaria Rhodocheila for an orange orchid. It's just so charming in person.

http://www.aaoe.fr/public/reunions/T...hodocheila.jpg

[Vanda lover]

Habenaria also has a wonderful shape. Love that colour!