Phal. BaShi Blackspot

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Beautiful!
I'm not familiar with this plant, but I think it looks great without the spots.

Is the presence of spots supposed to be random on this plant or is it triggered by temperature?

I had harlequin phals and under warmer conditions, the spots were much less in numbers and overall the color was lighter.

Interesting observation. The label on this plant was actually Ba Shi Blackspot 'alba', so I expected it to be totally white and that's why I bought it in the first place because I really like the shape of the bloom but not a big fan of harlequins.
Last May it bloomed for the first time like this:



See, there was very little color, mostly hidden:



Now there is much more color. The conditions are the same both times: 25C temps, 75-80% RH.
I am thinking maybe with each blooming it will get more and more spots? We'll see next time...

[NYCorchidman]

The harlequin phal I had was Chen x pearl or ox, or something like that on the tag, and it has lots of spots of different sizes all over the flower, and the main color is dark pink over white. It is quite pretty, but when grown in warmer indoor temperature, the subsequent blooms opened up nearly white with much less spots.

I'm not sure about the influence of temperature on harlequins with dark pots on white as I don't like that type and never bought any.

Any red (reddish?) phals seem to bloom with much more intense color under cooler and brighter condition and this is well understood with plant physiology. I think it goes the same for the "harlequin" I had as the dark pink bleached out white under warm temperature.

[No-Pro-mwa]

It's very cute both times. Not sure which one I like the most. But them I like the dark spots on white, in fact love them and am going to have 2 of them bloom, one very soon I think. Can't wait, can't wait.