phal violacea 'best blue' x 'doctor rob'

[cnycharles]

I thought I had posted this before, but it's possible I never actually submitted the thread.... age is creeping up on my I guess

I bought this plant from a vendor at an ipa regional meeting at parkside orchids in pa a few years ago. She was trying to get a 'blue' or coerulea phal violacea and though the color is pretty intense it isn't really blue. If it looks blue then I didn't adjust the color correctly! I have it in s/h culture though it is happier during warmer weather suggesting that I need to keep it warmer in the winter.

front view

view showing lip and sidelobes

 

[streetmorrisart]

Nice! Great color. One of my very favorite phals--second only to corningiana, and that's probably only because violacea doesn't love me as much.

 

[SlipperFan]

Pretty. It does have a slightly bluish cast, but mostly magenta.

 

[cnycharles]

it does have a tint of blue to it, but mixed with the bright pink. I like corningiana quite a bit, especially the bubble-gum fragrance! Mine flowered about a month ago but as some of the buds were dropping off and I've been trying to set a pod on it for a while with no takers, I pollinated the remaining flower right away and didn't get a pic of it. I need to have some higher humidity to keep my violaceas/bellinas happier... the roots get sort of scorched-looking in winter as do the ones of my sumatrana. I'm right now making a new growing cart that has most of my warmer and mounted plants in it along with an ultrasonic humidifier which should help a lot. Not enough room in my apartment for all of these things, though!

 

[Heather]

Mmm, yummy (smelling too!)

I keep wanting another one but I just don't have the warmth for them. Boooo!!!

 

[cnycharles]

I keep wanting another one but I just don't have the warmth for them. Boooo!!!

well, we orchid collectors are known to get creative in adapting growing spaces if there is something we *really* like! try a cheap 20gal aquarium with a soil heater cable in the bottom and a light in the top of the lid; that would easily get the temps to be low at 65F at night if not mid-70's during the day. A little water in the bottom and crack the lid once in a while or get those tiny muffin fans. Violacea is known to grow in places that are very warm but also very humid, over and next to swamps

 

[Heather]

Humid I've no trouble with, it's the warmth that's the problem.

 

[cnycharles]

if you put a heater cable in the bottom of the tank with some water in it and have a standard aquarium lid with a fluorescent light (and warm ballast), you won't have a problem with heat. you will have high humidity but the plant shouldn't have a problem with the high humidity (since it's from a high-humidity and fairly low air movement environment) in the tank as long as you don't leave water droplets on the plant hence cracking the lid once in a while

 

[Rick]

I wonder if it will do the hydrangea thing if you acidify it and starve it of phosphorusoke:

 

[cnycharles]

um, I sort of under-feed a lot of my plants already, and often use plug feed (13-2-13 cal mag) so I'm pretty close to that already. They don't look happy so I'd better not stress them any more!
I'd be happy with just glossy, green leaves and nice healthy roots. We have some hydrangeas at work and some of that aluminum sulfate or whatever that is supposed to turn them blue, but we don't seem to be using any of it....

 

[Phyrex]

Love it love it love it. Need one soon!!