More purpuratas
 

L. purpurata (f. cindarosa x f. schusteriana) is a cross of two semi-alba forms with very saturated color on the lips - cindarosa is more red and schusteriana more purple. The result almost glows. And L. purpurata f. russelliana 'Pinkie' has a special delicacy. These were both Santa Barbara Orchid Estate $7.50 show specials... they were seedlings when I got them, took 5 years so so to get each to a size big enough to bloom well, but now they put on a lovely show each year. I think both money and time well spent.

Fantastic show and great growing from small seedlings! I'm jealous of these 7.50 specials. I was about to drive up to the show last spring when it was canceled the day of. Hopefully next year...

I love the delicate pink / yellow of the russelliana.

Russelliana is one of my favorites, too. So far it looks like SBOE is going to skip this summer open house too (at least at my last check of their website), though Cal Orchid just announced theirs for July 16-18. So maybe SBOE will still come around, but I know they have been really cautious.

beeeuuutiful show of blooms, I have to ask though, are you not concerned about the foliage being almost yellow due to really high light exposure? looks like its near sunburn territory.

Would they not blooms as strong if you gave them a bit more shade to have new growth a light green versus almost yellow?

Basically, they get what they get. I think part of the yellowing is under-fertilizing (In the last year I gave very little... getting better, I recently got a battery-operated sprayer that will make the job easier for me) They have been growing that way for years. so whatever insults they're receiving don't seem to affect either blooming or growth. Other Catts may occasionally get sunburned (when the sun gets around the shade cloth) but I can't recall ever having a L. purpurata show signs of burning. They are REALLY tough. The fact that the leaves point vertically indicates to me that they have evolved in a high-light environment. The ones that show signs of toasting tend to have more horizontal leaves. Actually, the vertical presentation of leaves seems to be really common among my species Catts and Laelias (both the Brazillian ones that are now Catts and the Mexican ones that are still Laelias)

Lovely plants Roberta. Are these growing outside year-round ?

Agree with previous comment - they get a lot of light.what shade do they get?

For fertilizing lots of plants with a hose, look into a hose-end fertilizer injector. You mix concentrated fertilizer solution in a bucket, screw the injector onto the hose bib, drop the rubber tube into the concentrate bucket, turn on the water and water your plants with fertliizer sucked and diluted out of the bucket. Most of them have a 1:16 dilution ratio because there are 16 Tablespoons in a cup, and many people water vegetables and the like with 1 Tablespoon per gallon of 20-20-20. What comes out your hose is diluted 16 times.

Syphonject with 170PL Water Breaker | Dramm Lawn & Garden
DRAMM - Syphonject

I see they're now plastic. Mine is brass and I'm not getting rid of it.

Totally outside, with no cover to protect from rain. I have them under 60% shade cloth, but the yard runs east-west so in summer they get strong sun nearly all day. In winter, they get temperatures to 40 deg F/4 deg C or occasionally lower, they get rained on (when it happens to rain which isn't very often).

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------

I'm quite familiar with the fertilizer injector approach, but I have a water-pressure issue. If I used tap water, I'd get an honest 60 lbs. pressure but still be limited to 50 ft which is not sufficient. And I'm using RO for fertilizing (with MSU cal-mag) - my RO pump doesn't put out even that much pressure (more like 40 lbs), and again there's the hose-length issue. Not even close to enough "oomph" to make a venturi work. So I was schlepping a 2-gallon pump sprayer around, took about 5-6 refills to get the whole yard. My new sprayer (on a cart) has a 100 ft hose, generates plenty of pressure. (actually, I deploy about 60-75 ft of hose, move the unit once, one side of the patio to the other) It also has a wand long enough to properly get the hanging plants. And I know exactly how much they are getting (not the case with the Hozon... everybody complains about them... don't ever lose yours, the ones currently available are garbage). One can also get a Dositron, which gives precise dilution of a high concentration (I think it's something like 150:1) but those are even more expensive and would take more plumbing.

I love this unit! Amazon.com . Billed as a "backpack sprayer" but not on MY back! The cart works great. The whole thing is right-sized for my application. What used to take all day (allowing for breaks to get off my feet, leaving me wiped out) now takes about an hour to get everything - greenhouse patio, yard. Did I mention that I LOVE it? :D

Beautiful! I love it!

well.... let me throw my 2 cents on fertigation. I have used a hozon syphon mixer for many years and have found it to be very valuable tool in my gardening endeavors. It now costs abot $25 and with some dditional tips it can last forever as it is made of solid brass. If you can hold a hose, you can fertilize to your heart's content all your plants, orchid and otherwise.
I posted some usage details on this item on another forum but the basics are the same.
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wanted to add some personal experience on the Hozon fertilizer mixer from my days as a heavy duty orchid grower in South Fla.

If using a dry water soluble product and keeping in mind the 16 to 1 ratio, an 8 ounce used yogurt cup of dry stuff will give you 16TBSP=48tsp which divided by 16 gives you 3 gallon of concentrated fertilizer, I used to pour 2 cups for a full 5 gallon of water and it came out a bit more than a teaspoon per gallon dilution. This is the concentrated mix, using the hozon device you would then dilute the hose output to one teaspoon per gallon flow.
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As the dry fertilizer should be fully dissolved, I used hot water in the 5 gallon bucket to melt the dry fertilizer and would stir mixture to make sure no granules are left at bottom to possibly clog up intake. A separate gallon jug of hot water to run through mixer to clean the uptake after all done feeding the plants. This will remove any leftover fertilizer in the system and make sure water runs out clear.
This little bit of maintenance will keep the unit functioning nicely for a long time.

Get a WHITE plastic cup to observe when the blue water reaches the end of the hose and compare the color with a teaspoon of fertilizer mixed separately in a clear gallon jug to at least initially match the color. Occasionally if the uptake clogs, you will not hear the hissing sound of air rushing in when the uptake hose is out of the water, you will need a very thin piece of stiff wire (fishing wire is perfect for the purpose) and poke around inside air uptake hole to remove clog. You can also open valve and put full pressure on mixer and kink hose, this will stop water out of the hose and force water out of air intake and flush it out. For the hozon to work you must have full flow pressure out of the hose. If you use the hand held spray gun and reduce the water flow, it will not work.

BTW, Walmart has the 5 lb expert gardener brand (non miracle gro) plant food (similar to miracle gro) for $6.93 5 LBS box - contains 4 x 1.25 lb individual packets = 20 ounces each - 40 TBSP=120tsp=7.5 gallons of concentrate at 1 teaspoon per gallon rate. for small to medium users this is as low a price as you can find. It is not always available in Walmart's garden area, so when you see it get a few boxes and stock up.

Expert Gardener All-Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food Fertilizer, 5 lb. Box - Walmart.com
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here is a link to buy

Hozon Siphon Mixer
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here is link to fig forum growing tricks for any additional info that can be garnered from it
Tricks of the Trade... -

Ourfigs.com



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lastly I would add that if you're growing vandas you need to feed at 1 TableSpoon per gallon rate to get more blooms. After many years of growing vandas I can confirm that 1 TSP per gallon feeding will give nice grow and few flowers but I TBSP will give you more blooms.