Anyone know of HUGE flowering maudiae type?

[jeremyinsf]

Does 40,000 sqft of orchids constitute a "farm" to you?

I talked to the owner today about some other things but your paph didn't come up. I will see him Thursday though and ask for info etc, and send a picture of what he has in line with this, per my earlier post about the ones I saw before.

[NYCorchidman]

Well, a farm or greenhouse.

Thank you!

[jeremyinsf]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

No, that's not the plant. Alba maudiae with gigantic size flower.
I think I have to find The Queen.
Santa Barbara sells maudiae "The Queen" but I doubt it is the correct name because the leaves of the plant in their picture do not look like the leaves of "The Queen" clone.

I've found where to look for Clair de Lune "Edgard Van Belle" and the pictures look right.

couldn't find anywhere to get Alma Gevaert.

Just got home. My grower tells me the Queen is not the largest, and also told me on his own (as you sort of suggest here) people sell other plants by that name as sort of a knock off. He says the Clair is indeed the one. He is internationally awarded and I trust him pretty much unconditionally, but, that's just me.

He says Clair is a very vigorous grower, and when mature will often put out two flowers per spike, as I saw in some of the plants. He had a Alma Gevaert but said it didn't grow as well. Anyway, here's a picture for you. The flower was a bit larger than six inches... it's only now that I see it on the computer and not on my phone I can tell it didn't take the most amazing photo. But you get the point.

I went ahead and bought one for myself... thank you for your suggestion

PS forgot to mention, yes, it's a "Edgard Van Belle".

[PaphMadMan]

Yes, there are some out there who pass off other plants as Maudiae 'The Queen', and many who claim it is the same as 'Bankhaus' or 'Magnificum'. If you run across the real thing the difference is obvious.

Your Clair de Lune 'Edgard van Belle' is a good choice, but the flower in your picture is not nearly as good as that clone is capable of. Grow it well for a couple years and step back. Even then I'd still bet on 'The Queesn' to do better on a good day.

What is really the biggest? I doubt anyone knows. Even if someone took the time to search all award records for Maudiae types, it is still likely that the largest flower ever was never seen by any judges.

[jeremyinsf]

I like your thinking! Anyway, this one is good enough for me. And I learned some stuff along the way. And I'm having fun. And maybe I helped someone else somehow. That's all that actually matters in my orchid world.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

Yes, there are some out there who pass off other plants as Maudiae 'The Queen', and many who claim it is the same as 'Bankhaus' or 'Magnificum'. If you run across the real thing the difference is obvious.

Your Clair de Lune 'Edgard van Belle' is a good choice, but the flower in your picture is not nearly as good as that clone is capable of. Grow it well for a couple years and step back. Even then I'd still bet on 'The Queesn' to do better on a good day.

What is really the biggest? I doubt anyone knows. Even if someone took the time to search all award records for Maudiae types, it is still likely that the largest flower ever was never seen by any judges.

It seems to be the trend that highly popular things of anything usually have knock offs.

I agree with you about the flower shape. I've seen some nice shapes on 'EVB' with flat & round dorsal with overall well balanced flower.

By the way, the flower I saw at the flower store was bigger than this one pictured here.

I wish I took a picture of it with my hand next to it.

---------- Post added at 01:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:27 AM ----------

Originally Posted by jeremyinsf

I like your thinking! Anyway, this one is good enough for me. And I learned some stuff along the way. And I'm having fun. And maybe I helped someone else somehow. That's all that actually matters in my orchid world.

True, everyone has a different taste and whatever makes you happy.

I didn't know Alma Gavaert is not a vigorous grower as the other two "giants". Maybe that's why they are used a lot in the breeding for flower quality but not sold as commonly as the other giants.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

Yes, there are some out there who pass off other plants as Maudiae 'The Queen', and many who claim it is the same as 'Bankhaus' or 'Magnificum'. If you run across the real thing the difference is obvious.

I don't think it's quite THAT obvious, because you're forgetting the possibility of a poorly-grown plant.

You can have an FCC cultivar, but if it is not given its proper culture, it will not continue to perform up to that level.

I have actually acquired a number of really nice specimens by buying plants with "questionable" identification, and giving them some extra attention.

[Discus]

I saw a "The Queen" not so long ago, and it didn't seem that massive (no more so than my pretty random maudiae plants, which certainly aren't "adult hand sized") which are probably Onyx (a daft name for a green and white flower), but I'm not sure whether to trust that ID (they weren't labelled when sold, so I asked the vendor for a more accurate ID).
The shape of The Queen was quite good though, it must be said.