Double delenatii

[cnycharles]

My plant did finally open it's first flower a while back and the second bud was a little behind, so I waited until both were completely open (and then waited for a sunny day when I could get some pictures. The flower spikes are nice and tall maybe 10" or so. I haven't ever been able to detect any fragrance which is slightly disappointing, but this plant grows so well that I have nothing to complain about!

whole plant

nice view down inside the pouch

I didn't want to pack it up to send to our display at the GROS show in rochester because I thought the flowers would get messed up! .. plus there were a few hidden mealys here and there that just won't go away (grrrrrrrr.....)

 

[biothanasis]

Excellent duet... Sorry to hear about the mealies...!!!!!

 

[NYEric]

Nice plant/blooms! :clap:
One problem w/ mealies is that they get on the bloom also.

 

[Candace]

Looks great.

 

[raymond]

very nice flower

 

[SlipperKing]

Nice pair Charles. I love this species

 

[Ross]

Well bloomed! Nice photos, too. I like the different angles.

 

[PaphMadMan]

.. plus there were a few hidden mealys here and there that just won't go away (grrrrrrrr.....)

Really a double dose of perfection. Very nice.

Mealies are insidious. If they seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere despite long term efforts to control them make sure you check below the surface of the pottiing medium... buried leaf bases, even roots in loose media.

 

[JeanLux]

two lovely flowers on that strong plant!!!! Jean

 

[Elena]

Lovely twins!! Looks like a super plant too.

 

[goldenrose]

:clap: Nice dark pouch! Does yours bloom every year? 2 years ago I bought one in low bud, it turned out to be a double-double. Last year no blooms but this year 2 spikes!

 

[Corbin]

A Double Delight

 

[CodPaph]

very nice bloom

 

[paphjoint]

Nice flowers

 

[SlipperFan]

It's a beauty, and well grown. The mealies thought so, too.

 

[Chris]

I can't believe how tall those spikes are. On my very young, first bloom Delenatii the spike was so short it was almost nonexistent. As the plant matures, do subsequent spikes get taller or is it just a random thing for each one? Another difference: mine did have a slight fragrance. Is fragrance genetically programmed, or can that quality also change as the plant ages?

 

[cnycharles]

Thanks! Yes, last flowering there were mealies trundling up the flower spike and I would pick them off. This year I hadn't seen them on the stems at all, and there weren't that many except I'd see some way on the bottom in old leaf sheaths. The advice about checking everywhere is good, an orchid friend once he would see mealies around his collection would make up a bucket of orthene (from WP not oil based), take everything out of the pot, dunk them and then repot everything. Though I often am spraying at work, I'm not really set up at home for things like that.... (plus orthene really really stinks)

So far I think this has bloomed more or less each year for the last four or so. ...and yes, the spikes do seem to be getting longer! About fragrance, I think it either does or doesn't have a fragrance, though that's a pretty broad statement based on only a few plants' experience; I also have a phal schilleriana that looks like the flowers have been 'improved' towards more flatness but they are losing the wild look I like and they have no fragrance.
If anyone is interested and also has a delenatii in bloom that has a nice fragrance I'd be interested in exchanging some pollen, and would be happy to spread some seedlings around if there were any. I thought about remaking a primary hybrid with the niveum I have still in flower, but pictures I've seen of the hybrid show a pouch that really seems to hang down low, something I'm not really crazy about.