Which Sophronitis sp. to choose? Info and help needed!

[Kostas]

Hello!

I would like your help in choosing which Sophronitis species to grow. My main criteria for choosing which Sophronitis species to grow are: flowering late winter or spring,having the largest and fullest flowers and beautiful flat leafs held parallel to the surface they are grown on.
From what i have found, S. brevipendunculata flowers late fall to early winter which rules it out(unless i heard wrong,please let me know if i got that right). S. wittigiana (and former S. rosea) and S. mantiqueirae seem to fit the above criteria from what i have read but would like to ask you too which season they flower for you and how big their flowers are
Another criteria would be which can flower well with medium shade and can tolerate my hot summer(usually 33C max for all August with a rare 35C every now and then,i suspect in the medium shade location i am going to mount them the heat will be somewhat less and the humidity much higher)weather the best.
I would very much appreciate your help and info in choosing the best species for my taste and my conditions!

Thank you very much in advance!

[Kostas]

Anybody growing Sophronitis wittigiana,S. rosea,S. mantiquirae or S. brevipendunculata? I would really appreciate it if you could help me with my questions above please!

Thank you very much in advance!

[BruceP]

I don't believe any of those are suited to your conditions. I have similar conditions and cannot grow any but cernua. You might be able to do something like mounting them on a clay vessel that can be kept full of water so that the evaporation keeps the roots cool.
Of those that you mentioned, wittigiana would have the largest, fullest flowers.

[Bud]

I dont know...but my favorite was always coccinea...I am still buying and buying them whenever I find them...they are not rare but its just hard to find them in the market...I have now a sucer like size colony and I cant wait for them to bloom all at once

[camille1585]

brevipedunculata blooms early-mid winter, and may not like the heat too much.
mantiqueira is in early spring I believe, and wittigiana is more of a fall-winter bloomer.

I like Bud's suggestion of coccinea, those are really nice!!

And none of those are called Sophronitis anymore, they have all been reclassified as Cattleya.

[Bud]

Thanks for the info Camille...so I will from now on name it as: Cattleya coccinea ( syn. Sophronitis coccinea)

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Bud

Thanks for the info Camille...so I will from now on name it as: Cattleya coccinea ( syn. Sophronitis coccinea)

Here's some info on it that I had bookmarked I don't remember when: http://www.manateeorchidsociety.com/...her%20Name.pdf

[msaar]

The only species I would recommend in good conscience for 33-35C summers (which I experience) is cernua. The rest would be compost in short time.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replies!

Is it sure S. brevipedunculata blooms Early-mid winter and not Fall? I see it mentioned in various websites as fall(or late fall) bloomer but the only actual blooming documented by a hobbyist i found was on December. If its flowering doesnt overlap with Cattleya maxima,i want to go with this one!

Thank you very much in advance!

[camille1585]

Whoops, in my earlier post I just wrote winter. On orchidwiz, all the recorded bloomings they have are in October, November, December, with the majority in November.

I don't see why it is a problem for the blooming time to overlap with another orchid. Don't you want several things in bloom? Nothing keeps you from enjoying both at once!