Temperature and Flower Color

[Phantasm]

My experience in the overcast and short days of a Seattle winter is that the color richness is primarily due to cool temperatures rather than bright light for S. coccinea and it's hybrids and also Phrag besseae and it's hybrids. They all bloom noticeably lighter in color with brighter light and warmer temperatures. The best combination would be bright light and low temperatures for the very best colors in the red shades.

[ronaldhanko]

Mine are grown under lights with very little other background light. That would make little difference in any case, since the artificial lighting is on far before and after the beginning and end of daylight. I have tried varying the length of the time the lighting is on (reducing it a certain amount for three or six months and then increasing it by the same amount for either three or six months) and it has made little difference in flowering that I could tell, and has not affected flower color at all (though I understand that is not necessarily a matter of light intensity, but the amount of light).

[Sandy4453]

Those colors are absolutely fantastic, Ronald.

My Dend. blooms, are much more intense in color during the summer than the blooms (from the same plants) that occur in winter. Though, much cooler temps now, I'm growing on a screened patio where light intensity is much lower in winter.

[ronaldhanko]

Just discovered that this plant is correctly: Sc. Dream Catcher, not Slc.

[Jerry Delaney]

Isn't it possible that both light and temperature play an important part in color? For example, in the spotted Phals with Golden Peoker, Super Stupid et.al. in their background, it has been fairly well documented that the size, number and intensity of the spots are pretty well controlled by the temperature.
Likewise, light intensity is known to affect the production of many pigments.
Also, exposure to light as the flowers are opening quite dramatic. Once had a C. maxima that I took to work and placed in a fairly dark lobby. About half of the blooms were open when I took it in and were normal in color while the ones never exposed to light after opening were still white weeks later!

[cday2inflorida]

Being so far south, I notice the difference in color. I think the combination of day and nigh time temps, sunlight and humidity all contribute to the variations in bloom color. I think all combined can make for a washed out looking color on a bloom and still be blooming on a very healthy plant. Some of the best colored blooms in catt and laelias are seen in Calif and Hawaii, where the nights are cooler with warms temps during the day. Couple that with a high humidity level...and you get spectacular color.