BLC with 1 (one) flower on 1 stalk - flower 8 in. (! eight !) across ...

[Manfred Busche]

Cattleya growers.

An Indonesian orchid merchant went to Taiwan to buy and import into Indonesia dozens of
in-flower Cattleya plants, all of which had very appealing blossoms.

I fell for --BLC KING OF TAIWAN TA HSIN #1-- not because of it's pompous name or it's colour,
but because it had only 1 (one) very large flower with the impressive spread of 8 in. (!) across ...

So far so good. However, when the plant flowered again it had 4 flowers on it's stalk,
and each was only a smallish 4 in. across ...

My question is :: how to manipulate this plant to get it to repeat what it had done before,
i.e. produce only 1 (one) REALLY LARGE flower ??

Any generous sharing of your esoteric knowledge would be very much appreciated, thank you .
Best Regards,
Manfred.

[Paul]

Well I've never tried this with orchids but I know with many other flowering plants one could remove all but one of the buds. That way the plant would put all the resources it would have contribute to a group of buds into one bud.

[PaphMadMan]

Removing buds should work, though perhaps not as dramatically as the 8 incher. Remove the buds as soon as possible for best effect.

[Call_Me_Bob]

i agree. ive ever tried this with orchids though. when one wants to grow a mamoth pumpking for the state fair or something, they leave only one bud on the plant. so that it can focus its energy solely on the one plant

[trdyl]

Also do you fertilize regularly?

[Manfred Busche]

Hello Paul, PaphMadMan, help and trdyl:

I have thought along these lines myself but then had doubts, because a Purist might call it 'un-ethical' ...
But with your support I will do it next time.

This Cattleya plant, when it grows, gets fertiliser every day and lots of 'dappled' light also.

Thanks very much,
Manfred.

[PaphMadMan]

I wouldn't consider this unethical in any way. You bought this plant becasue you liked the large flower. Growing it in a way to recreate that just seems logical. As the question about fertilizer implies, the first step is to grow it perfectly. Good luck, and show us a picture when you get your perfect huge flower.

[Call_Me_Bob]

yep! its all about your opinion. if you like more flowers that arent as big, then fine. if you want one huge one, that is fine too! do what you like