My first serious Catt: a Blc. Chia Lin from Lowes
 

Went in to get a power drill and found this thing staring me in the face on the way in. I've been good! It's like four months since I bought an orchid, I was trying to save up for the expo next month. :p When I walked up to it and found it had fragrance I was done for.

This shot is blurry but shows the color pretty accurately:

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Closer up at home:

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It's from Gubler Orchids and did indeed have a species tag-- but it only says Blc. Chia Lin on it. I have no idea what cultivar it may be.

I keep seeing Chia Lins described as "red", but when I saw it all I could think was PURPLE. The petals are a bit more magenta, but the lip is a really dark color that's almost blueish at the edges. There are yellow striatons in the throat alternating with near black.

Any idea which Chia Lin cultivar this might be?

And how much light should I be bombing this thing with? I have only one other Catt type, a mini Potinara rescued from Trader Joe's, and it's blooming now but I have a feeling those blooms came quick enough the plant might have initiated them before I bought it-- I don't know how much light a Potinara wants vs this much larger more Catty-looking Blc.

I have a north-facing window shelf under a pair of T5 bulbs right now, my phals are spitting out spikes like crazy but my Catasetum and Vandas are sulking, so maybe I need more supplemental light for Cattleya types?

Or should I stick it outside, even?? San Francisco is Zone 10 and all, although it's winter at the moment.

Congratulations on your new orchid. Rlc. Chia Lin is usually a dark red. There are several different cultivars pictured in Orchid-Wiz but none of them look as purple as yours. Yours may be an unnamed version of the cross. The Chia Lin hybrid has won many awards and several different clones have won AM/AOS awards. The most widely available clone is Rlc. Chia Lin "New City" and it can be very dark so there's always a possibility that's what you have although it should be more red. Cattleyas prefer strong light but they don't need quite as much light as vandas. A North window is not ideal unfortunately. If it doesn't grow well under your conditions you may need to give it more light. Wait for summer and see if it starts putting on growth or not. Good luck.

you got a real treasure! such deep intense color! very good purchase in my opinion....I wouldn't put it out just now, wait till spring....while cats can take some cold, it really doesn't help them, they kind of go into hibernation....slows them down too much....I think yes, more light is necessary....you will have to get a separate light set up to make your vanda, cat, and potinara truly happy....good luck with it, and enjoy!

I did a little more research and found out that Rlc. Chia Lin "P.T.C." has won an FCC/AOS. That's the highest AOS award possible. Another cultivar Rlc. Chia Lin "Shin Shy" was Grand Champion of an orchid show in Japan in 1996.

Yeah, that would follow me home also. Nice find!

Thanks for the tips, guys!

I wish I could find more info on just what Chia Lin cultivars are out there and what they actually look like. Most of them do seem to be a more proper red, some even a tomato type red. It's frustrating how cameras can pick the colors up so very badly. As soon as I get my hands on a camera with proper white balance controls I'll start taking better pictures of my plants.

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After more attempts in the daytime that's the best I could do with my iPhone.

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There's my Potinara Paradise Beauty "Marcela" next to it, much smaller plant. Similar hues of purple though.

Great find! I am always amazed by what people say that they find as they go about their day to day life. Me...I am unlucky in that sense. Never win a raffle or find a winner at Lowes or anything like that :) Do enjoy yours...it is beautiful!

Lovely color. I wanna shop at YOUR Lowe's instead of mine. :D

That's a nice plant, you never know when you might find some nice ones at certain Lowe's. I found some great vandas at one on two occasions, but that's the only time that's ever happened.

Even with sunlight, the blue from the sky Drive the color toward bluish red. It's tough to get it right with digital and no WB controls. But most flash is color balanced. Back away and then in subdued light, use your flash.

Wow nice color if it is the color. I hope it stays that color. I tried to get a pic of a catt that I had gotten from Sun Valley but could not get the color right at all.

I didn't post it because the color was not the color of the bloom. I wish I could find a Lowes with orchids like this.

Oh right, the flash. Forgot about that, good point.

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Up too close the texture of the petals throws off some really weird reflectivity.

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Very nice, love the color!

that's such a nice plant! I have a chia lin that hasn't bloomed and it doesn't look like it will either... it goes a little farther downhill each winter, it might not make it through this one.

and youre so lucky your lowes carries catts. my lowes only carries SUPER OVERPRICED phal noids in ugly ceramic pots half dead and flowers dying. sometimes dens, oncs, or cymbidiums but they always have broken spikes or are insanely overpotted to charge $30 when its a 7 dollar plant and the cyms always have a virus. and when theyre ALMOST dead on "clearance" theyre still 10-15 dollars, and the mgmt. wont even just let me pay less without the ceramic pot which is all theyre charging for. its sad really, I wish I could just save them :/

If you have a polarizer it would cut down on the reflections and back away from the flowers.

That is stuning. The leaves look like a little too much sun.

Our Lowes here in SF seems to get a lot of orchids from Gubler. The Gubler orchids come with ID tags, for one thing, and usually look like they're in excellent health. Not sure where they're located exactly or how many other stores might source from them.

This flower is wilting now. It may have already been a little old when I got it, so maybe that influenced the color? It will be very interesting to see how it looks when/if it blooms again. Will repot it into S/H shortly.

There's a lot of purple splotches on the stems and the pseudobulbs look a bit shrively, but I think the color is probably mostly just natural or something from high light even though it really resembles bruises. Will post pics of the roots when I repot.

Gublers Orchids is located in Landers, Ca east of San Bernardino. They've been in business for a very long time. I have some cattleyas that they crossed. One is named for one of the Gublers daughters. C. Karen Gubler. White and very fragrant. They grow superb orchids.

I have been complaining to my Lowes for a year and a batch of geublers orchids came in. In the red by 80$ but don't care.I was amazed by the quality of the plants. I got a Catt ina six inch pot---It is huge. It has one spike and another on the way. A pink emperess, which looks dark pink with an orange lip.

Even with a good camera equipment and photoshop it is difficult to reproduce the true colour and beauty of this clone. For me Chia Lin was a "must have".

Yep!! That beauty would come home easily with me too:):) Amazing flower!!

Repotting!

It was in half bark, half potting soil with some perlite.

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Some of these roots don't look so great. I've watered it twice in the month since I got it home, and only very lightly, so I'm not sure it's because of me? I'm curious how long it was in the store before I picked it up.

(Man... tapatalk uploads some pathetically tiny images!)

Nice intense color! Good find!

Hi,I own your Chia Lin's sister. It is from

Gubler/Lowes Just recently, and looks like yours. It has a very fuzzy blood red lip and a somewhat purple /pink but very dark petal.

It smells awesome and like a rose. It is a very strong scent and you can smell it from a cross the room. This is a keeper!

Here is a picture of mine:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psc3bdac6b.jpg

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I will keep in mind the shape of your roots. I will probably re-pot tomorrow. Have bought azelia ceramic pots for my big cattleyas and hope they do not loose their blooms, but if the bark is that soggy I want it in new bark right away!

You don't have to repot right away. Wait until the blooms drop and then pot. Just don't water as much as normal. The flowers are using the energy reserves and can last quite a long time if they are fully open.

Very cool, Optimist-- that definitely looks just like mine!

My flowers didn't last long, but it may have already been at the store for a while. I repotted shortly after they dropped. Whether or not it got soggy at the store probably depends on who they had minding the plants at the time, yours might be better off than mine. Do show us pics when you repot!

Sure will. I did not pot right away, took James M's advice. When back lit it is that purpully red. When not, it is very dark red. Like the American Beauty Rose. And the scent is strong and amazing. All my big catts have purfume odors, but this is the strongest.

Wow! My mom bought Blc. Chia Lin 'New City' for me 10 years ago when it was $75. At least it was blooming size! She also had good faith that I'd be able to grow it "for her". There's a photo of it in my profile, too. I LOVE it because it smells like bubble gum to me!

I have to say that it is tricky to get to bloom... I have a laeliocattleya that is more reliable, as 'New City' tends to blast it's flower spathes -- but that's in a windowsill in Michigan. I would assume you would have better chances in San Fran. Enjoy, it looks like you have a healthy specimen! Mine is so vigorous, I'm throwing out the original plant... anyone want a piece? :-)

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Oh yeah. By the way, I envy your Potinara! I have two and they don't like my house very well... I need to take pictures and troubleshoot with some others on here soon. :-)

My first serious Catt: a Blc. Chia Lin from Lowes
 

I have (someplace) a Chia Lin New City. After seeing these photos, I'm going to have to do an expedition in my GH to find it and see how it is doing. :biggrin:
Beverly A.

I actually called up Gublers today, just for the heck of it, and asked them-- they said Blc Chia Lin is as far as it goes in their records, they don't know the cultivar apparently. She did say, though, that the blooms do start out a more orangey-red when they first open, and darken more purple with time.

Thanks Rose Madder. Very nice of you to make that call to find out!