Flower Porn

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by SADE2020

Beautiful ❤️! Is that all grown in a Greenhouse? What temperature range ??

Yes, in my greenhouse.

The temperature range varies greatly by time of year.

In the summer, the hot south central Mississippi (not coastal) heat dominates. I have a very powerful ventilation fan that keeps the greenhouse interior temperature very close to outdoors. Once nights start dropping below 65F inside the closed up greenhouse, the heater prevents temperatures from dropping below 65F.

Summer - South central Mississippi ambient (daytime 95-100F, nighttime 70-75F). A 30F difference between between day and night isn't unusual. Very high humidity.

Winter - Heated (Cloudy days, 75F daytime, 65F nighttime), sunny days daytime temperatures are roughly 10F warmer when the sun is shining.

-Keith

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Cattleya pupurata v. carnea 'Ruby' FCC-AOS. I don't think I'll ever get used to the renaming. This is and probably always will be Laelia pupurata when I think about it. Four spikes, 12 flowers. Most of the flowers opened yesterday, so they have not completely "unfurled".

-Keith

[K-Sci]

This one only has two spikes and 7 flowers, but they're big, extremely thick and long-lasting, and wow colors. If you zoom in on central flower's left petal spots you can see that they are thicker, and have a rough texture. The first flower opened the first week of April. After the flowers on this orchid open, they grow for a few days, then darken in color after a couple weeks.




-Keith

[K-Sci]

Between the nighttime neofinetia fragrance and daytime fragrance of these beauties, it's a pleasure to be in my greenhouse anytime.
Cattleya tigrina 'Sanbar Giant' FCC/AOS (about 20 flowers)






Cattleya tigrina 'Exiter'
The flowers of this clone are very thick and stiff, almost as if made of plastic. It is almost certainly polyploid. The photo was taken with natural lighting, the dark red color is not from photo editing.


My third, Cattleya tigrina, 'Summer VooDoo' HCC /AOS, just started a spike from a new sheathless growth. It's flowers are more like the Sanbar Giant.

-Keith

[Fairorchids]

Well, it is Dendrobium season in NJ. They do not take up too much space, and can produce a lot of flowers. The flip side is, that the flowers do not last very long (about 10 days for farmeri).

This plant in an 11 cm (4.3") pot produced 3.1/2 inflorescences from the lead cane, and 2 each from two of the older canes. Couldn't get it to hang straight for a proper photo.

Now I just need a junior AOS judge to count the number of flowers.

Update: With another Dendrobium now in bloom, I can see that the plant marked farmeri is actually a thyrsiflorum (so I have two of those now).

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Well, it is Dendrobium season in NJ. They do not take up too much space, and can produce a lot of flowers. The flip side is, that the flowers do not last very long (about 10 days for farmeri).

This plant in an 11 cm (4.3") pot produced 3.1/2 inflorescences from the lead cane, and 2 each from two of the older canes. Couldn't get it to hang straight for a proper photo.

Now I just need a junior AOS judge to count the number of flowers.

Update: With another Dendrobium now in bloom, I can see that the plant marked farmeri is actually a thyrsiflorum (so I have two of those now).

I'm envious. My dendrobium aggregatum bloomed in my care for the first time this year. It never flowered when I was growing it outdoor in the summer / under lights in the winter, though I've had it for 5 years or so. It produced one spike with maybe 20 flowers this year. I've read that the key to flowering it well is to cut way back on water during the winter, which I didn't do this year.



-Keith

[K-Sci]

Two spikes, 20 4.5" flowers. This may not be an exceptional bloom to some, but it is for me.
-Keith

[WaterWitchin]

It's exceptional to me! That color contrast is mesmerizing.

[Fairorchids]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

I'm envious. My dendrobium aggregatum bloomed in my care for the first time this year. It never flowered when I was growing it outdoor in the summer / under lights in the winter, though I've had it for 5 years or so. It produced one spike with maybe 20 flowers this year. I've read that the key to flowering it well is to cut way back on water during the winter, which I didn't do this year.



-Keith

Den aggregatum (aka aggravation) requires cooler, brighter & drier conditions from late Oct till inflorescences appear.

For years I couldn't get mine to bloom, when I left it hanging with other Dendrobiums. Then I moved it up high on the northern wall, and literally did not water it at all from Nov 1st. It promptly bloomed in late February, which is when I started to water again.

This works in a high humidity greenhouse. In a house, I would suggest a light watering every 3 weeks or so.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Den aggregatum (aka aggravation) requires cooler, brighter & drier conditions from late Oct till inflorescences appear.

For years I couldn't get mine to bloom, when I left it hanging with other Dendrobiums. Then I moved it up high on the northern wall, and literally did not water it at all from Nov 1st. It promptly bloomed in late February, which is when I started to water again.

This works in a high humidity greenhouse. In a house, I would suggest a light watering every 3 weeks or so.

You've confirmed what I recently read about these dendrobium. Maybe next year I'll get the big bloom.

Thanks,
-Keith

[Fairorchids]

I thought we had a mention of this one in one of the active threads, but couldn't find it when I searched. It is deserving of joining this thread, so here it is.

Parentage is RhyncholaeliocattleyaMemoria Helen Brown x Brassavola perrinii. In other words it has both digbyana AND B. perrinii in the family tree. This leads to very slender & tall pseudobulbs, so it is necessary to stake it before it blooms. With 10-15 flowers on each inflorescence, it usually causes the PB to bend/break when the flowers open.

I got this plant off a raffletable 2-3 years ago. It was in a basket, but I grow it in a clay pot. This plant is super fragrant. On one of the photos, you also catch a glimpse of a a first bloom C. tenebrosa (Exotic Orchids of Maui breeding).