new potinara and warscewiczii crosses pictures

[InnaK]

Hello! Wanted to share pictures of new crosses I acquired from Matthias Seles of Shogun Hawaii nurseries. Yellow with purple lip is rlc. Susan Fender 'Cinnamon Stick' AM/AOS x rlc. Hilo Grand. Second one is warscewiczii 'Michael' AM/AOS x 'Stewart's Meteor'. They are first blooms on both plants, hopefully next round will be even better. Potinara turned out to be an interesting plant: she produced two slightly different flowers of same spike, with one having veining at lip's throat and the other without. It might be a one off, we'll see what next bloom season will bring

[InnaK]

I am looking forward to hear comments on flower quality

[Shadeflower]

Hi Inna,
some great crosses there. First one looks really good and the parents sound really promising. Both should handle the cold well. Have they just been repotted into lecca?

[InnaK]

Thank you for your assessment, glad to hear the potinara cross has a potential. It was actually a bonus plant I received together with Bow Bells original division that is tracing back to Clint McDade and Rivermont nurseries of London. My cattleyas are all planted in mix of LECA, charcoals and a bit of bark. Please define 'handle cold' in your comments, what do you think the low temperature range would be? I am in NJ, bring my plants outside in late April and take them back inside when night temperature drops to around 50. Can they tolerate a little lower benchmark?

[Shadeflower]

50 is the lowest the first one will be able to handle, the warscewiczii can probably handle even lower

[Roberta]

I checked the Baker culture sheet on C. warscewiczii, it shows a temperature minimum of 46 deg F/8 deg C. I grow a lot of Catt species outside where they get winter temps into the low 40's F so I push the envelope a lot, this one I wouldn't...It is one of the few Cattleya species that I grow that I keep warmer. I'd also have doubts about going that cold with Rlc. Susan Fender - it is almost 60% C. dowiana. So I think min temperature for both of 50 deg F/10 deg C is very reasonable. And if wet, even that's pushing it... a dry orchid will tolerate a lot more cold (below its normal range) than a wet one.

[InnaK]

Thank you both for the tips and temperature suggestions. September in my area is usually a dry month, but once the rains start and temperature drops, I bring all Catt's home.