Cattleya araguaiensis

[Nexogen]

He's been struggling for two weeks to open up.

[WhiteRabbit]

Very nice!

[Optimist]

Adorable! I hope that little "flute" on the front poofs up a bit more over time. I know sometimes when I have photographed them on the first day open they are not totally open, and so they look all squashed and strange.

[Salixx]

Gorgeous! I have been drooling over these on Ecuagenera but haven't bit the bullet yet

[Nexogen]

Originally Posted by Salixx

Gorgeous! I have been drooling over these on Ecuagenera but haven't bit the bullet yet

I bought it three years ago from Ecuagenera

---------- Post added at 07:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Optimist

Adorable! I hope that little "flute" on the front poofs up a bit more over time. I know sometimes when I have photographed them on the first day open they are not totally open, and so they look all squashed and strange.

It struggled for two weeks to open the flower, her luck is that I mounted on the same piece of tree branch with Sophronitis cernua, otherwise direction in the trash can...

[katrina]

I've had at least 4 of these over the years and sometimes the flowers are really deformed...they never open well. I have only 2 right now...both with very nice flower shape. Since this is it's first flowering, I would def give it one more cycle. If it's not at least a little better next time...it would go in the trash.

[Salixx]

Originally Posted by katrina

I've had at least 4 of these over the years and sometimes the flowers are really deformed...they never open well. I have only 2 right now...both with very nice flower shape. Since this is it's first flowering, I would def give it one more cycle. If it's not at least a little better next time...it would go in the trash.

Imperfect or not, I would take it!

Don't bin, ship it... to me!

[katrina]

Originally Posted by Salixx

Imperfect or not, I would take it!

Don't bin, ship it... to me!

Curious...why would you want to take up space on a poor example of any orchid? I'm not saying this one will never improve...just in general, a general question applying to any orchid.

BTW...shipping from Canada into the US requires the same permits/docs required for any cross-border shipments and that could cost more than the plant is worth.

[Salixx]

Well, the shipping thing was a Joke- I did t even look at where Nexogen was from.

I don't, personally, have a lot of disposable income to be throwing away generally healthy plants with something I would consider to be a minor imperfection. I certainly wouldn't use it for breeding purposes, but I like it anyway.

All that aside- imperfect flowers could also be the result of environment, not genetics. That's not saying Nexogen is caring for it poorly at all, simply that a poorly formed flower may be the result of a plant getting something it doesn't want or failing to get something it does.

[estación seca]

IOSPE says it's a warm growing epiphyte from moist areas in Tocantins state in Brazil.



I snipped the above image of Tocantins state from this page, which shows and explains the climate zones in Brazil:
Brazilian climates

Tocantins has a tropical summer and dry winter. Maybe the plant should be wetter and more humid when the flowers are opening? Low humidity affects opening of many other kinds of flowers.