Cattleya skinneri

I have one C. skinneri - the 'Heiti Jacobs' clone.  Seems like many people grow this species in a basket, mounted or in a shallow pot with fast draining medium.  My plant was in a basket filled with coconut husk chips and topped with a bit of sphagnum, but it declined this year.  Weak growths, no flowers.  I decided to move it to a pot.  I killed a very strong plant of this species a few years ago when I re-potted at the wrong time.  So my experience is that this species will absolutely not tolerate a re-pot at any time other than when new root growth first initiates.  I noticed root tips this week, so the weekend was the target.  After removing the plant from the basket I could tell the roots were not doing well.  Perhaps the basket was too big or filled too much, but I'm guessing the CHC retained too much moisture in the center of the basket and that's all she wrote.  If I had a greenhouse I would mount this plant.  As it stands, I'm trying to move plants from baskets to pots.  Anyway, in the pictures below you can see the new root growth, four divisions (two lead, two backbulb) and the Aircone pot I used to re-pot.  I like clear plastic so you can tell how much moisture is in the pot and can see the roots.  Aircones have a little cone at the bottom that projects into the media in the center of the pot - this is supposed to keep the media "airier" and reduce rot - so we'll give the skinneri a shot in these pots.  I potted up the two leads; two backbulbs are just hanging around.

Cattleya C.G Roebling

Another plant I got from Cal-Orchid is this primary hybrid between purpurata and gaskelliana. 

There are a couple of coerulea mericlones out there.  This is not a mericlone and it is the tipo form.  Here is an example of a sibling.

Cattleya Callistoglossa

One of the plants I recently acquired from my trip to Cal-Orchid was an Lc. Callistoglossa.  This is a primary hybrid between Laelia purpurata and Cattleya warscewiczii (thus, Lc.).  However given that Laelia purpurata is actually a Cattleya (see Chadwick's article, which is supported by recent DNA evidence), I am calling it Cattleya Callistoglossa.  This is a tipo form that was just finishing blooming when I bought it - even at this stage with the flowers senescing the scent was amazing.  I also have an alba form of this, also from Cal-Orchid.

New C. purpurata

One of the plants I just acquired from Cal-Orchid is a Cattleya purpurata - probably a striata given the parents.  This plant was originally from Aranda Orchids in Brazil according to the tag.  I noticed last week that some of the old roots had new growing root tips emerging, even though there was no new root growth from the developing pseudobulb.  So, this told me the new growth was going to start putting out roots soon and that if I wanted to get the plant re-potted and allow for the new tips from old roots to develop without damaging them during the re-potting, I was going to have to re-pot right away.  When I took the plant out I saw that all the older roots (from the older pseudobulbs) had rotted.  I trimmed off those dead roots and then re-potted in a clear plastic pot with some rocks in the bottom for ballast, #5A orchiata bark, and a topping of a thin layer of sphagnum.  Finished off with a sprinkle of slow release orchid food on top.

See the new root tips on the old roots?

There is lots of air in the pot because I had trouble getting the orchiata down there.

Finished product.

Sunday NY Times article on hybridizing

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/fashion/an-orchid-by-any-other-name-is-a-marquee.html?ref=fashion

Trip to Cal-Orchid

Two weeks ago I was passing through Santa Barbara and made a stop at Cal-Orchid, owned by James and Lauris Rose.  It was Sunday, but luckily for me, James was around.  The Cal-Orchid greenhouses are amazing.  I have never seen so many incredibly well grown plants.  In fact, seeing plants like this makes me realize how mediocre my plants are.

James is a super nice guy and we strolled around the greenhouses talking for almost two hours.  I ended up buying six plants.  All very high quality and at a ridiculously reasonable price.  If you ever have the chance to go to Cal-Orchid, do it!

So, Cal-Orchid is known for many things including superior Laelia anceps crosses.  I mentioned to James that I shouldn't leave his place without an anceps or two and he proceeded to take me to a greenhouse with several long benches filled with anceps.  As I have some nice tipo and pink anceps already, I told him I was interested in a very light one (or even alba) one and a dark (so called, "Mendenhall") one.  We looked over the benches and spotted this plant below which I grabbed immediately.  It is an offspring of two well known parents, Marble Queen and Figment.  Richard over at Backbulbs posted a photo of a sib earlier this year.  Two spiking growths on this baby, and look at those roots!

C. leopoldii

Color is hard to capture - much better in real life.