Harlequin Dtps. Jiuhbao Fairy

[Moirae]

Doritaenopsis (now Phalaenopsis) Jiuhbao Fairy

Won't win any praises on flower presentation/orientation here (or photography for that matter). Just did my best to keep the (unexpected) branches from running into each other or the window. However, this was the first of my orchids to bloom off a new spike and with 17 flower buds, so I'm still happy .



Got this one a year ago almost to the day with 3 flowers

closeup of the flowers then


I got 3 more flowers off the end of the original spike in May. Closeup:


I didn't realize when I first got it that the flower coloring/patterns on harlequins was affected by temperature (and light?), but no biggie since I still like both.

[NYCorchidman]

I like the third picture with less red.
If you can manage to keep them warm while spikes and buds are developing, you can get less red.
If you give high light and relatively cool temperature, more red will appear I read somewhere.

All my red/pinkish phals that are blooming now have their red tone highly intensified.

One of my harlequins bought in bloom with 5 out of 8 buds open, well, the last three flowers that opened in my place look really different and I don't like them. oh, well...

[Moirae]

I agree that the pattern in the original looks better and the high-light low temp is probably to blame.

These are in my bedroom window so my I'm comfortable with what my temps are currently 65-68 at night and 75-80F in the day (though I went away for a few weeks around Christmas time and the temps were considerably lower then and that might have affected them). Despite being a north window in winter, I get a lot of light (1000-1500 fc I believe) for a lot of the day, too. Maybe I'll move it next year to a warmer room when it spikes and see if I can get rid of some of the muddy red and get it back to what it was when I bought it. On the plus side I think I might like my peach phal better with this darker blooming than the pastel color it was when I got it. Also my other harlequin with splash is way more vibrant now.

Don't know how well it shows in pics, but:
then
now

[Orchids4ever]

Nice either way

[NYCorchidman]

Yeah, I have a white phal with a slight pink blush at toward the center. When it flowers during the summer, the white part is prestine white.

It is blooming now and the white part is smeared with some pink.

I read that with lower temperature, plants do not use up as much sugar produced (hight light, more sugar produced) and part of that leftover is shown up red in flowers.

[Moirae]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I read that with lower temperature, plants do not use up as much sugar produced (hight light, more sugar produced) and part of that leftover is shown up red in flowers.

That's interesting. I've never heard of that. Come to think of it, up until a couple weeks ago when my buds started first opening up all my orchids were leaking tons of sweet (yes I tasted it ) sap on the spikes and the leaf edges. A couple of leaves on the splash one was pushing out so much sap I had to wash the top leaves down multiple times and was on paranoid pest watch for a week lol.

[tucker85]

Those are beautiful phals!

[WhiteRabbit]

Beautiful!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by Moirae

That's interesting. I've never heard of that. Come to think of it, up until a couple weeks ago when my buds started first opening up all my orchids were leaking tons of sweet (yes I tasted it ) sap on the spikes and the leaf edges. A couple of leaves on the splash one was pushing out so much sap I had to wash the top leaves down multiple times and was on paranoid pest watch for a week lol.

Wow~ that's interesting. I mean I love to eat the orchid honey too, but usually oncidiums and cattleyas produce lots of them for me, not my phals.

Lucky you!

[BKFSRS]

I think they're all quite nice!!