thinking of getting catt. skinneri

[Fairorchids]

Just to tempt you a little more, I have a couple of divisions of Gua. skinneri 'Waldor' AM/AOS (natural divisions, not meristems), right here in NJ.

I am closed on July 3rd, but will be in the greenhouse for a couple of hours to water on July 4th.

Also, all of my Catts have to accept temps down to 55F at night in the winter. True dowiana does not appreciate temps that low.
I visited Waldor Orchids last weekend. Dave Off advised us to grow dowiana very dry during the winter months.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Just to tempt you a little more, I have a couple of divisions of Gua. skinneri 'Waldor' AM/AOS (natural divisions, not meristems), right here in NJ.

I am closed on July 3rd, but will be in the greenhouse for a couple of hours to water on July 4th.

Also, all of my Catts have to accept temps down to 55F at night in the winter. True dowiana does not appreciate temps that low.
I visited Waldor Orchids last weekend. Dave Off advised us to grow dowiana very dry during the winter months.

I just love Dave. That man is a prince.

[Fairorchids]

Speaking of Dave Off, he is the speaker at Deep Cut OS first post-Covid meeting on July 13th (at the Temple, in Holmdel).

The title of Dave’s presentation is "You bred what?”- A dive into seedlings and the process of making crosses. Dave will also have plants for sale.

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

at one point I had most of the cloned varieties of skinneri, many with FCC awards. They are all gone as I entertained the notion of getting out of the orchid world.
I also suggest you get one or three. there have been many cloned over the years but as the price of non throw away collector type orchids is exploding.
There are spectacular cloned skinneri in purple, alba, coerulea, albascens color varities.
Best bet may be to check with fellow orchid society members who have some and see if/when they divide their plants and have a division for trade or sale.
btw, this may happen when you start growing and splitting and keeping your skinneri's

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_North_FLA

at one point I had most of the cloned varieties of skinneri, many with FCC awards. They are all gone as I entertained the notion of getting out of the orchid world.
I also suggest you get one or three. there have been many cloned over the years but as the price of non throw away collector type orchids is exploding.
There are spectacular cloned skinneri in purple, alba, coerulea, albascens color varities.
Best bet may be to check with fellow orchid society members who have some and see if/when they divide their plants and have a division for trade or sale.
btw, this may happen when you start growing and splitting and keeping your skinneri's

Just a question: How do you feel about Carpenteria? It's the only one I have, but are there other clones you think are superior? I really like my skinneri and am looking for some other clones to add to my collection.

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

Carpenteria is an excellent plant with FCC (originated from Stewart orchids) , so is Heiti Jacobs which I prefer due to a sparkling sheen of the flower, casa luna is also a great clone, Debbie (another FCC) is a great white, but I find that most white skinneri's are actually "albascens " as they show some color in lip when grown in high light but lip stays white when grown in moderate cattleya light. A coerulea clone from a former grower at Jones & Scully is nice also, but very light in coloration.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_North_FLA

Carpenteria is an excellent plant with FCC, so id Heiti Jacobs which I prefer due to a sparkling sheen of the flower, casa luna is also a great clone, Debbie (another FCC) is a great white, but I find that most white skinneri's are actually "albascens " as they show some color in lip when grown in high light but lip stays white when grown in moderate cattleya light.

Hey man, thanks for the tips. I'll be on the lookout for those, especially Debbie, as I am particularly interested in an alba (or albescens, as the case may be) plant, since I already have a tipo.

---------- Post added at 09:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 AM ----------

Well, 'Debbie' sure was easy. I saw it was listed as out of stock on the Waldor website, but "sold out" doesn't always mean "completely sold out" so I emailed Dave (I said it once and I'll say it again: That man is a prince) to ask if maybe he still had one or two hanging around somewhere, and he said that in fact he has quite a few them in lots of different sizes. So that's done Thanks, Dave, and thank you Ben for the recommendation.

[Keysguy]

a sparkling sheen of the flower

I think that is absolutely the coolest attribute of the skinneri blooms. I love how they 'sparkle'.

JScott- you will enjoy 'Debbie'. Very nice cultivar. I grow mine under 60% shadecloth and I will occasionally get a little pale lavender hue on the very tip of the lip but I'd say 90% are pure white, at least to my eye. Certainly not the concentration of lavender I get on the lips of my occulata under the same conditions.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Keysguy

I think that is absolutely the coolest attribute of the skinneri blooms. I love how they 'sparkle'.

JScott- you will enjoy 'Debbie'. Very nice cultivar. I grow mine under 60% shadecloth and I will occasionally get a little pale lavender hue on the very tip of the lip but I'd say 90% are pure white, at least to my eye. Certainly not the concentration of lavender I get on the lips of my occulata under the same conditions.

Well thank you, I'm glad to know I made a good choice. 'Carpenteria' has been such a vigorous, care-free plant, I'm sure Debbie will prove to be just as vigorous and easy to grow.

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

BTW, my previous mention of a former Jones and Scully grower is Bill Peters, owner of Whimsy Orchids
based in Redlands. Does not seem to have a web site. Smallish operation but excellent cattleya grower and source for some of the classic primo catts from the Jones & Scully era.