How does temperature affect blue vandas?

[Paul Mc]

Bud, for almost all orchids, you are correct that frost is dangerous. And perhaps for most Vanda's your temperature range is correct as well.

My question to you is based upon your experience versus the Baker's culture sheets on average monthly temperatures in the coerulea's native homeland. The data indicates they can withstand the temperatures I listed. 65F would not be the lowest they are exposed to in nature, though it may be the lowest we growers would prefer to give them. However, out of all the Vanda's in the world, the coerulea is one of the cooler growing ones.

Since the Pachara Delight is a hybrid, how do you feel it reacts to temperatures lower than 65 in relation to the others? I'm curious how much the Pachara Delight favors the coerulea side as opposed to the rest of it's parentage.

[Wrebbitrocks]

i always see plates from other states here and i wonder "why the heck did they come HERE, of all the great places in the world...?". i think its too hot even during the "winter". oh well.

as for the vanda, i think i can provide those temps on my porch during the day since its facing north and its gets only direct morning and late afternoon sun. and my catt is about to rebloom so it could work for the vanda. i was thinking a hanging basket with coconut fiber or hydroton for maximum air flow and moisture retention.

back to topic though: from your experience, did the heat bleach out the colour more then, as compared to more saturated colors inside where its cooler?

[Gage]

Good discussion. Vanda Pachara Delight can vary in color just like any hybrid. However, if you google image search it, you can see that most of the cloned Pachara Delight seem to be consistent. Just my

[Bud]

I had a very large renanthera that I mistakenly thought would bloom for me if I shoked it: it tasted 32F (frost) on the fire escape last year; I think it froze overnight=it never recovered ... it melted into mush) Vandas can survive even at 50 overnight for a week...but I suggest not to do it because it will mess with their growth pattern especially with hybrids who were always inside labs or GH(I strongly beleive that hybrids were so pampered they will die if returned to the wilds)...the natural vandas have never felt 60's in their life in the tropical jungle. They are also equatorial zones and seldom found on temperate zones...If Baker's says never below 70 then better follow it...because plants have their inner sensors that triggers growth, dormancy and they even sulk! Just like humans have the sense of touch and some of our arthritic grandparents know when its gonna rain...LOL; thats why if it rains outside I spritz my indoor orchids to be fair to the ones outside being rained on...
The sun can really affect the color of the bloom( my vandas on the fire escape do not have direct sunlight=the neighboring buildings shade it after 10 am). It can also dry blooms easily...as I told you the Pachara this summer had flat flowers, deeper indigo violet and larger blooms because I brought it indoors as it spiked=as opposed to last summer's Pachara left on the fire escape to bloom had curved flowers, lighter purple color and smaller blooms
Omar, Tucson is in the I-10...you will always find plates from Vancouver to Florida because I-10 starts from way up North Washington State down to Florida...when I drove the Americas: I have driven I-10 from end to end

[Paul Mc]

Bud, my apologies if I confused you. I was wondering about the temperature since 1/2 of the lineage for the Pachara is coerulea (actually, it's coerulea x Dillon's Delight). The coerulea is one of the only species of Vanda's in existence which naturally grows in cooler climates. Of course, I highly doubt that they ever get freezing temperatures like your renanthera did, lol... Sorry about your loss.

For the coerulea, the Baker's say night temperatures to 45F in January (monthly average, not actual temperature low) with daytime monthly average in April at the highest which is 84F.

However, I do get what you are saying about the hybrids. Not knowing the lineage of Gordon Dillon, I would have to assume that it's lineage is hotter climate Vandas as cooler ones are extremely rare. Logically, you are most likely correct about the Pachara not making it on the same cooling schedule as a true coerulea.

Interesting how you had two different results given two different environments with this one. I will have to keep that in mind.

Gage, can the color vary from year to year as well? I know some of my orchids have different shadings and patterns every year. Several of mine won't even have a single identical looking flower on the same flower stalk (i.e. Tolumnias).

[Wrebbitrocks]

also, the blooms will be better with age im assuming.
i, too, have heard of those extremes for the coerulea. orchidweb has a site on youtube with the most beautiful select clone and hes talked about how the plants will take very cold temperatures (15F) in india where theyre from, and 40s in his gh without any harm to the growth.

OrchidWeb - Vanda coerulea supra (Lord Rothschild's Variety) - YouTube

thats the link. as for the hybrid part of this plant, it would be great to know the lineage so as to determine what boundaries we can play around with. i know that several orchids ive had have lived through 15f and are still growing today, that thing is that i had them sort of acclimate during the fall and they somewhat got used to it. but it was the ones i weened and cut off some water for the winter that made it since they were already in what i assume was a dormant stage and werent as hydrated so there wasn't as much cells prone to rupture from the freezing ice crystals. and the orchidweb video does describe the plant being shriveled in nature during the cold then plumping up when it rains again in the warm spring

[Paul Mc]

Interesting! I'll have to watch it once everyone is awake in the house so I don't wake them up.

I'm going to try running a few searches on Dillon's Delight to see what I can come up with today.

[Paul Mc]

Well, I'm not having much success at the moment in finding Dillon's Delight. I wonder if the person whom I bought mine from had the wrong name. There's many forms of Delight's out there, and from what I can find there is a Gordon's Delight.

Wrebbitrocks, where did you get your Pachara from? I'm curious if we got it from the same vendor, thus we both have the same (potentially wrong) name for the other half of the breeding.

[Paul Mc]

OK, so I did a bit more digging. I had assumed the grower that I bought my Pachara Delight from had misspelled coerulea as Korulea. That was apparently wrong. Here is a detailed listing of the parentage up to the 5th generation.

Pachara Delight Parentage

While the coerulea is in there many times, it's interesting to note that you never truly get to the bottom of which species went into this particular orchid's making. However, this website notes that it is a cool grower which would follow along with the original thoughts about keeping it cooler than most Vanda's.

[Wrebbitrocks]

i got mine on ebay. its still not bloom size but id like to get it to there.... i forget the vendor name. i'll check up on that :] as for your research, many thanks and il have to look into it as well. i suppose we could experiment and and more knowledge to the question. bud has indeed provided some helpful insight on how cool/heat may affect the blooms.