Doritus awarded!

[Rick]

I went down to the Atlanta center with a couple of plants and got an award on this Doritus pulcherima. 86pt AM and named it "fuchsia fantasy"

 

[Marc]

Congratulations rick and I really think that you chose a nice fitting name for this plant.

 

[cnycharles]

congrats!

 

[Rick]

I was just checking back in my records and figured out I got this plant at our society summer auction 6/03 (for $10). It actually has some good breeding in it, with one HCC parent and the other from OZ.

This one could be one of my poster children for both Ca/Mg sup with low K and basket culture. I couldn't get it to bloom for several years (and it grew poorly). At one time this plant was all red/purple, which is when I started Mag sulfate spiking. That turned it green again and started some better growth. Adding some well water to my RO (more Ca and silicates) kicked it up another notch. I think it was about a year ago, after finally getting some pretty good blooms, that I moved it into a basket (there's a bunch of limestone gravel in the moss too). This spring is when I pushed a lot less K with CaNO3 boosting.

The buds open slowly from the bottom up. The oldest blooms on these spikes have been open for over 2 months now.

I was pretty excited about getting an award with this species since there are already 126 previous awards to this species (and varieties).

 

[Shiva]

Congrats and beautiful. But it was Doritis before being transferred to Phalaenopsis.

 

[Rick]

But it was Doritis before being transferred to Phalaenopsis.

That's Ok the judges knew what it was. It seems like Orchid Wiz or AQplus hasn't made the update yet.

 

[Ross]

Congratulations, Rick!:clap:

 

[koshki]

It's gorgeous! Congratulations!

 

[Justin]

what a beast...good growing.

 

[NYEric]

Excellent! congrats!

 

[W. Beetus]

Amazing color! Very worthy plant.

 

[SlipperFan]

Beautiful color, and excellent flower shape. Congratulations!

 

[Rick]

Thanks All!

 

[paphioboy]

Congratulations! Very nice doritis... Nice full petals and lovely colour..

BTW, it is normal for doritis to turn reddish purple when exposed to bright light. I personally think it is one of the toughest orchids in existence, growing naturally as a lithophyte in direct sun, as can be seen here:

http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/search?q=doritis

 

[SlipperFan]

Thanks, paphioboy -- I had no idea they grew like that!

 

[paphioboy]

You're welcome, Dot.. Not always in such dry places, usually rocks along streams, if I'm not mistaken. But in cultivation, they grow the best roots when given very rapid drying cycles, very different culture from phalaenopsis. They tend to be unhappy in continually moist media and grow slowly.

 

[Roth]

I went down to the Atlanta center with a couple of plants and got an award on this Doritus pulcherima. 86pt AM and named it "fuchsia fantasy"

Wait to get an FCC on that one next time, it is really an excellent one, shape, color, flower display... Most likely a tetraploid but for sure a buyssoniana type. Buyssoniana is always described as having fuller bigger flowers, that are 'pale', whilst the former two traits are correct, I have seen wild plants with dark flowers several times. The plant would match buyssoniana as well.

You're welcome, Dot.. Not always in such dry places, usually rocks along streams, if I'm not mistaken. But in cultivation, they grow the best roots when given very rapid drying cycles, very different culture from phalaenopsis. They tend to be unhappy in continually moist media and grow slowly.

Doritis pulcherrima grows in many places, under many different environments. You can see it in Cat Ba Islands, growing on the beach, in pure sand. In Laos, I have seen them like the photos you posted, dry and rocks. In Dien Bien, there is a form with heavily mottled leaves ( now extinct in the wild) that grows with paph villosum in humus in deep shade, and cannot stand of strong light.

Again in fern roots in Laos you have miniature doritis, with 5cm leaves, soft and round tip, and 4-6 flowers per spike. I grow some of those, and they never change to another type under artificial conditions. In Sabah there used to be some as well, I was too young to pay attention, and never saw those again, just remember the flowers on the way to Sandakan.

But Rick plant is really well grown, beautiful. I think he can expect an FCC if he grows it a couple years more.

 

[Candace]

Congrats.

 

[Rick]

Most likely a tetraploid but for sure a buyssoniana type. Buyssoniana is always described as having fuller bigger flowers, that are 'pale', whilst the former two traits are correct, I have seen wild plants with dark flowers several times. The plant would match buyssoniana as well.

One of the parents came from OZ So I could see either of the above 2 scenarios plausible in this plant.

 

[Rick]

BTW, it is normal for doritis to turn reddish purple when exposed to bright light. I personally think it is one of the toughest orchids in existence, growing naturally as a lithophyte in direct sun, as can be seen here:

http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/search?q=doritis

Yes I knew this when it turned red the first time for me, except it wasn't in bright light when it did this in my GH, and it refused any blooming for probably about 4 or 5 years. It's getting about the same amount of light as when I got it in the early years, but the leaf color change after the first couple shots of MagSO4 was dramatic.