C.trianaei ('Jungle Feather' x Self) ?????

[southernbelle]

Some flares are created opposite to my comments above. So it’s possible that ‘Jungle Feather’ (which is really a picotee folding rather than a flamea or peloric) can create more anthocyanin in heat between these folds.

Or it’s possible the one in Florida was in cooler GH while the NJ was in hot house GH?

Interesting! I’m patiently waiting for mine to spike, since I’m about midway between the two in VA, however, my environment is artificially manipulated indoors under lights. I do try to mimic the outdoor conditions to a degree though so I have in bloom what others do who grow here in greenhouses.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

There is another thing to consider. I too, thought it was more of a temperature thing causing the color differences BUT a simple google search revealed something that I was not aware of. With the reds, raspberry, purple and blue pigments, acidic conditions cause red colors, alkaline conditions cause more of a raspberry purple, or purple color in flowers.
In either event, I don’t think that colors change drastically in a few days of shipping or by a warmer night or two in a greenhouse.
It would be an interesting experiment though to take two divisions of the same Cattleya, grow them side by side, and give one say slightly alkaline water/fertilizer at a ph or 7.6-7.8 and give the other water a fertilizer at 6.2-6.4 and see after blooming, just how much that the color might differ?!

Interesting point. I had thought that while doing blue orchid research for my presentations on blue cattleyas and indigo violacea talks. What I found out was:

The media pH doesn’t alter the petal pH in orchids to change red to blue colors or vice versa. This was proven by Dr. Griesbach in his blue Phalaenopsis orchid studies.

This change only happens to certain plants (other than orchids) in nature. For example an acidic soil will change hydrangeas from white/pink to blue.

The colors of orchid flowers of the anthocyanins are set to red or blue (or certain color combinations) and are either increased or decrease in amount, and not the change of base color. For example, a tipo pink cattleya will never be coerulea no matter what happens to media pH. Or vice versa. It may become deeper or lighter color but not become another color type.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Interesting! I’m patiently waiting for mine to spike, since I’m about midway between the two in VA, however, my environment is artificially manipulated indoors under lights. I do try to mimic the outdoor conditions to a degree though so I have in bloom what others do who grow here in greenhouses.

Besides temperature control, some food additives and hormone auxins can increase flares too like kelp and Superthrive.

 

[terryros]

With at least temperature, pH, and probably light conditions as variables we have a very difficult experiment to sort out how best to suppress or enhance the flares!