Of the 146 awards documented in OrchidWiz 7.0, the largest having size documented was 22 cm top to bottom.

Thanks for your help Ray! This is nice now that we have numbers, or a number to work with. To start off with.

An extra say 8 cm would certainly be do-able. We've seen giant pumpkins and things. So up to 30 cm or more flower is not a far fetching scenario.

They said it was big. They didn’t say it was good...

Since you brought up pumpkins... a few years ago, I sponsored a “giant” pumpkin grower. He decided to start by trying KelpMax on his grandson’s efforts.

1 ounce per gallon, applied once per week (8 times my recommendation) yielded pumpkins that weighed about 30% more than the “gauge” weight, calculated from the physical dimensions.

I’m quite sure something similar can be done with orchids, but now that I am limited in my scope of growing, it’ll be someone else that’ll have to punch the envelope.

I don't think those giant punkins taste good, either.

ES ------ don't judge a book by its big cover. But - I think you could be right about that.

Hi folks , this thread is about a Cattleya species (C.warscewiczii) , not about hybrids bred for size.

I have a rather sensitive personality:biggrin: -this is why I love Stanhopea and Cattleya flowers- and I feel a bit touched
to be considered the 'iffy one' here ...

I will hereinafter try to make my case (smile) ...
------------------------------------

I have just measured a blooming C. labiata , and the flowers are 6 in. tall , the pseudobulb+leaf are 14 in. tall , and
the diameter of the flower stalk is a quarter inch -- just a normal Cattleya plant.

If there were Cattleya flowers 12 in tall , i.e. double in size to my normal flowers as mentioned above , it is safe to assume that it's pseudobulb+leaf dimensions are *more than double* the size of a normal Cattleya plant ...

Hence , a Cattleya plant to be able to hold (several !!) flowers 12 in. tall should be expected to have a vegetative
height of 2 and a half feet , and the flower stalk would be thick like your thumb ... -- And the petals would need
to have something similar to a 'fish bone spine' to hold them straight ...

And ... if you would photograph this giant Cattleya plant including it's 12 in. flowers , the image would look just like my normal Cattleya plant mentioned above -- unless you do hold a measuring tape to it (smile) ...

I have a 12” stick that I use. Any object if a known dimension will work

Also, I am confused about the hypothesis you are trying to prove? Are you implying that the grower who made this claim was lying or that it is impossible according to physics for this to occur?

I ask by because I don’t want to misdirect the thread with my response.

I do not know this grower so I have know idea if they would use puffery and exaggeration

I have a FEW Catt. Orchids that flower in the excess of 7” and one or two that probably are 8”. When a more developed colony I would not be shocked to see those another 1” bigger. My only point here is that I have no doubt that it is both possible and likely that 12” flowers on orchids exist. Sheesh, I have epiphyllum that flower over 14”!

So if it is about the grower, I dunno. If the flower, certainly possible.

True DC ----- it's not like 30 cm span is something so large that totally excludes believability.

If somebody said 50 cm span for this kind of orchid, then I would then say 'yeah ...... right'.

Thank you.

No , I am not bad-mouthing anybody.

I just do not believe that a flower as large as 12 in. tall (30 cms) is possible to be produced by C. warscewiczii or any natural Cattleya species plants ... And not even by a Cattleya hybrid plant ...

And whoever knows better , please show me conclusively (smile).
And this is about 12 in. tall , not 8 in. or 9 in. tall ... And it is about Cattleya flowers , not Epidendrum ...

It might be that it is hearsay , when exaggerated stories are told from mouth to mouth and the flowers get ever larger.

-- Case closed --