first orchid show this weekend--advice??

[cbuchman]

Originally Posted by Rowangreen

Mine's outside getting near freezing temperatures for a few weeks in the hopes of getting it into bloom! I got it in my society raffle so I've no idea what it's like, but keeping my fingers crossed. I think it's probably a wild type rather than a line bred plant (line bred ones, which may have a 'clone name', are apparently easier to get to flower... )

Hmmm. I've never had to worry about getting my Kingianum to bloom and certainly never get it that cold. Mine. is a species as well

These can grow in a wide range of light levels and a reddish or light purple hue to the leaves is appropriate. For temp they like 50's F to initiate spikes. Very cold temps will force them into dormancy.

Of course, whatever works in your environment is what you should do !

[catherinecarney]

Hi all--

Thanks for the feedback on my purchases--I had a wish list and tried to stick with it and things that I thought would be reasonable based on my research beforehand. Gotta admit is was hard, though, with all these huge, beautiful plants in full bloom as I walked in the door.

It's interesting how my preferences in orchids has changed over the past few weeks as I've been researching. I started out (as I'm sure many do) ogling the large flowered Catt. hybrids, but I found as did more reading and looked at more pictures that I was spending more and more time with species or primary crosses, especially the ones with more delicate or subtle flowers.

Of course, I still ended up with some catt hybrids, but my current favorite purchase is the kingianum--it's in bloom and the warmth of the sunlight in my office meant that it was wonderfully fragrant today while I was working. I suspect once the phal blooms (and the one I saw in bloom was stunning) it will bump up close to the top of the list--pity it's not fragrant...

Thanks for the tips on kingianum, both on potting and rebloom. It is edge to edge in it's pot, and it's in sphagnum, so I probably will end up repotting it once it goes out of bloom.

Catherine

[Rowangreen]

Re the kingianum: I'm not saying freezing it is a good idea. Since I live in a flat with no private outside space the options are inside where it never gets really cold or outside on the public access balcony. It was inside but showing no signs of flowering (and there were a load in flower at a recent society meeting...) so I decided to risk it outside for a few weeks. I've read they can take down to zero C or even slightly under, but that's at a stretch. Mine has lost some pulbs out there but it's got loads and I'm willing to risk it a bit to get it in flower!

Re my comments about ones with clone names being easier to flower: apparently wild type species plants can be difficult to get into flower without being chilled: they tend to produce keikis instead. However ones that have been line bred in cultivation for generations may flower freely without chilling. Hence generally if it's got a clone name it may well be easier to flower than one that's just 'a kingianum'. Both are species plants.