Cattleya walkeriana v. coerulea 'Cho-Jo' JC/AOS

[John M]

I bought this plant as a thumb pot seedling back in the early 80's. It eventually grew into a monster on a mount, reaching the equivalent bulk, size, shape, of a large bag of dog kibble with well over 100 pseudobulbs....more likely pushing 200. Finally, it began to rot in the middle, which didn't get enough air and wasn't drying out enough inbetween each watering. So, it began falling apart and a little over a year ago, I began chopping it up and selling off bits. This piece was left laying on the bare bench last summer, where I sort of forgot about it. However, it's grown and rooted and is now in bloom! LOVE the fragrance of this clone and of course, that blue, especially on the lip, is some serious eye candy too! The 'Cho-jo' clone is well known for it's vigorous growth and ease of blooming. Many walkerianas are difficult; but, not this one. If you give it a dry rest, it blooms from leafless growths. If you water year 'round, it blooms from leafed growths.

It's a compact plant that is a strong, robust grower with a tendency to bloom easily and often. The beautiful blooms are large and deliciously fragrant. What more is there to want in a Cattleya?! I highly recommend it for any collection.

 

[Stone]

I bought this plant as a thumb pot seedling back in the early 80's. It eventually grew into a monster on a mount, reaching the equivalent bulk, size, shape, of a large bag of dog kibble with well over 100 pseudobulbs....more likely pushing 200. Finally, it began to rot in the middle, which didn't get enough air and wasn't drying out enough inbetween each watering. So, it began falling apart and a little over a year ago, I began chopping it up and selling off bits. This piece was left laying on the bare bench last summer, where I sort of forgot about it. However, it's grown and rooted and is now in bloom! LOVE the fragrance of this clone and of course, that blue, especially on the lip, is some serious eye candy too! The 'Cho-jo' clone is well known for it's vigorous growth and ease of blooming. Many walkerianas are difficult; but, not this one. If you give it a dry rest, it blooms from leafless growths. If you water year 'round, it blooms from leafed growths.

It's a compact plant that is a strong, robust grower with a tendency to bloom easily and often. The beautiful blooms are large and deliciously fragrant. What more is there to want in a Cattleya?! I highly recommend it for any collection.

Very nice John. I also have an easily bloomed coerulea but another clone (Mount Azul x Edward) which I'm still waiting on.
I remember about 20 years ago or so these blue walks where worth an arm and a leg...if you could find one!
BTW I will have some seed ready for you soon!

 

[JeanLux]

Beautiful !!!! Jean

 

[Linus_Cello]

As big as a bag of dog kibble? That's huge!

 

[John M]

Thank you all.

It had over 30 years to grow and during that time, I never took a division. So, yes, it was HUGE! It was basically producing more pseudobulbs over top of the old pseudobulbs. That's why it eventually fell apart. The decades old bulbs in the middle were in the dark and they never dried out. So, once they began to break down, the whole thing came apart. I'm starting again with a new piece. When I'm in my 80's it'll be back up to "dog kibble bag" size again!

 

[eaborne]

I love that color!

 

[Wendy]

I saw it in person....yep it was as big as a bag of kibble!

 

[SlipperFan]

Love it! Want one!

 

[Migrant13]

Sweet. I love the story behind it. Fragrance, color, ease of blooming....I am sold!

 

[paphioboy]

Wow! Gorgeous..

 

[Hamlet]

Beautiful, great colour. From what I've seen, coerulea is not the most desirable colour form of walkeriana but this is a very nice clone! I'd love to own this one.

Thank you for the tip about watering and its effect on leafed/leafless flower growths, which you also gave in my thread earlier

Would you say that a dry rest is beneficial for the plant? So if my walkeriana blooms from a leafed bulb, I should water less during the winter months?

 

[John M]

Thanks everybody for your nice comments.

Thank you for the tip about watering and its effect on leafed/leafless flower growths, which you also gave in my thread earlier

Would you say that a dry rest is beneficial for the plant? So if my walkeriana blooms from a leafed bulb, I should water less during the winter months?

Yes, keep the plant dry in the winter months and you'll get a lot more flowers all at once in the spring from leafless growths. If you water all year 'round, as I tend to do, you'll get a few flowers produce now and then at any time of year and most of them will be from leafed growths. So really, a small plant can be coaxed into bloom more often by watering during the winter rest period. But, it will only produce one or two stems of flowers at a time. However, when a plant become specimen sized, it's most impressive when it's COVERED in blooms all at the same time. The only way to get this to happen is to be brutal and keep the plant dry in the winter. That prolonged dry spell triggers the plant to initiate many new leafless growths which all flower at the same time. Cattleya walkeriana has the capacity to bloom from leafless growths because in nature, it blooms at the end of the dry season. So, in preparation for blooming, the plant doesn't put a lot of resources into making nice fat pseudobulbs with leaves. It puts all it's effort into getting the growths up and the buds out. However, if there is ample water (no dry rest), the plant is encouraged to just keep growing and make normal sized bulbs with leaves at any time of year. Since the growths bloom as soon as they mature, that's why you get flowers produced a few at a time at any time of the year when you water all year 'round.

 

[Ozpaph]

a very nice clone.

 

[tenman]

The name is correctly 'Chouju' according to the Orchids Plus. I also have one, a division of the awarded plant, which is also an extemely robust grower. Beautiful flowers and wonderful fragrance! Was about 25-30 growths the first time I divided it, had grown in a straight line, forwards and back, one growth only each end, and it was about 18" long. After the first dividing, it turned into a branching monster! I grow it in a slotted clay pot in osmunda and it seems quite happy that way.

 

[John M]

I have seen many different spellings of the clonal name, Tennis. Thanks for your input. If it's listed as Chouju in Orchids Plus, that give more cred to that spelling. Do you have access to the AOS Awards Quarterly that it's award is listed in? If so, how is the spelling there?

Thanks.

 

[Ozpaph]

O+ says 'Chouju' JC/AOS

 

[jtrmd]

Thank you all.

It had over 30 years to grow and during that time, I never took a division. So, yes, it was HUGE! It was basically producing more pseudobulbs over top of the old pseudobulbs. That's why it eventually fell apart. The decades old bulbs in the middle were in the dark and they never dried out. So, once they began to break down, the whole thing came apart. I'm starting again with a new piece. When I'm in my 80's it'll be back up to "dog kibble bag" size again!

I had plants I haven't divided since 2000-2001 (some of my original first orchid purchases).The same thing happened this repotting to most of them. My walkeriana 'pendentive' was one of them.

 

[Hamlet]

Yes, keep the plant dry in the winter months and you'll get a lot more flowers all at once in the spring from leafless growths. If you water all year 'round, as I tend to do, you'll get a few flowers produce now and then at any time of year and most of them will be from leafed growths. So really, a small plant can be coaxed into bloom more often by watering during the winter rest period. But, it will only produce one or two stems of flowers at a time. However, when a plant become specimen sized, it's most impressive when it's COVERED in blooms all at the same time. The only way to get this to happen is to be brutal and keep the plant dry in the winter. That prolonged dry spell triggers the plant to initiate many new leafless growths which all flower at the same time. Cattleya walkeriana has the capacity to bloom from leafless growths because in nature, it blooms at the end of the dry season. So, in preparation for blooming, the plant doesn't put a lot of resources into making nice fat pseudobulbs with leaves. It puts all it's effort into getting the growths up and the buds out. However, if there is ample water (no dry rest), the plant is encouraged to just keep growing and make normal sized bulbs with leaves at any time of year. Since the growths bloom as soon as they mature, that's why you get flowers produced a few at a time at any time of the year when you water all year 'round.

Thank you very much for the explanation. Very informative and helpful! I haven't given my walkerianas a dry rest because I feared they would dehydrate too much and my temperatures in winter are rather mild (17-18C minimum). I will give them a dry rest this year and hope for flowers next year. They are all working on growing new bulbs now.