# Lc. Ports of Paradise ‘Emerald Isle’ FCC/AOS; Rlc. Betty Ford ‘York’



## southernbelle (Nov 11, 2021)

A really nice sweet fragrance to boot!!


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## abax (Nov 11, 2021)

SB you do a GREAT job with Catts.! Sniffing flowers is my occupation and delight.


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## Paphman910 (Nov 12, 2021)

Really beautiful! I see alot of digbyana in the first flower!


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## monocotman (Nov 12, 2021)

Those are really beautiful and well grown!


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## Ozpaph (Nov 12, 2021)

Lovely. I remember when PP plants cost a small fortune


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## southernbelle (Nov 12, 2021)

abax said:


> SB you do a GREAT job with Catts.! Sniffing flowers is my occupation and delight.


Thank you! Some years are better than others.


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## southernbelle (Nov 12, 2021)

monocotman said:


> Those are really beautiful and well grown!


Thanks, David. My grow room is all catts now. They really like my lights. I’ve moved the Paphs (western exposure) and phrags (eastern) up to our living areas, so they are at room temp now. The phrags are starting to grow rather than decline, after your help.  Thanks. Paphs are in spike or starting to bloom so we will see how they like the cooler temps. It will be the first bloom for some, so can’t really compare those, but we’ll see.


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## Linus_Cello (Nov 12, 2021)

southernbelle said:


> The phrags are starting to grow rather than decline, after your help.


what was the fix for the phrags?


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## PeteM (Nov 12, 2021)

Linus_Cello said:


> what was the fix for the phrags?


I’m curious too, was it just cooler temps?


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## PeteM (Nov 12, 2021)

Well grown Deb! Both of these are a real treat. I’m in a cattleya lull right now. Seemed to have spent all my buds in the end of summer and early fall.. the peak for my grow room . Hoping to get a few more to bloom but slim pickings sheath wise heading into the winter. I keep checking the sheaths and the cupboard is bare!

Also this time of year as the season changes and the heat goes on in the grow room, many of my Cattleyas decide to switch gears from throwing sheaths to putting out new roots and growth. Must me the added humidity and ideal temps.. they think it’s spring.

thanks for sharing!


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## southernbelle (Nov 12, 2021)

Linus_Cello said:


> what was the fix for the phrags?


David seemed to have similar growing conditions to my home temps, so I moved the phrags up to ambient home temp from the grow room high of 84. He also grows his In water and re-waters when the water in the saucer evaporates. So I used a soldering iron to put 4 holes in the pot about ⅜” up from the bottom so the roots would get some air, fill the saucer with clean water to just below the holes after I water and let it drain. When the saucer is dry I repeat the process. That and an eastern exposure with ambient room temps (and a fan for circulation) have caused my leaves to start to grow normally (no brown spots). Maybe doing the watering technique in my grow room would have worked, I don’t know. But it freed up a table (¼ of my growing space) when I moved the phrags and Paphs upstairs so more room for catts! Everyone seems happy. We’ll see how they do next spring/summer.


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## Linus_Cello (Nov 12, 2021)

Yah 84 is a bit warm for bessae or kovachi phargs


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## LadySlipper (Nov 12, 2021)

Wow, they're so beautiful! Thanks for sharing.


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## NEslipper (Nov 12, 2021)

Agree they’re beautiful and exceptionally well-grown! I love the Betty Ford! What do you get for night temps in your grow space?


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## southernbelle (Nov 13, 2021)

PeteM said:


> I’m curious too, was it just cooler temps?


Cooler temps were definitely a plus, but I lost my division of Bill’s besseae flavum ‘Broadwaters’ AM/AOS (huge OUCH) after it bloomed and steadily declined in the cooler temps, when the only change was temp. I’m so geared to not rot things, I’m pretty sure I was underwatering Phrags. After asking David what he was doing in similar conditions (which is continuous water via water in the saucer), it greatly improved the growth. I’d read not to sit phrags in water, as Phrag roots need air and water and sitting the pots in water seal off the air. So, I punched holes in the side of the pots as described above and saw real results. My own experiment, but for my conditions, it’s a winner so far!


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## southernbelle (Nov 13, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> Agree they’re beautiful and exceptionally well-grown! I love the Betty Ford! What do you get for night temps in your grow space?


Thank you! I really appreciate your comments. Surprisingly, I never get below 63-65 and that’s only in Dec./Jan. But, I almost always have at least a 10 degree day/night difference. Except maybe in winter months.

The photo below shows the temp goals I go for. The chart originally had minimum temp goals. I removed them because I do my best but can’t bring them as low as I would like. Every month, I manipulate things as much as I can to get as low at night as possible. In winter, I’m limited by my basement temps, as I have no windows in my room, so can only shut off the heat and open the door to the basement. Once, I got to 62 when I left the basement door open to the outside by accident, not something I can do normally (critters come in)!

This schedule was given to me by my mentor in all things growing orchids under lights, Terryros. I am s very grateful for his advice. As a matter of fact, this Betty Ford ‘York’ is a division of his plant. He graciously shared it with me in Aug, 2020. It was shipped bare root, in spike. We grow in different mixes, so I potted it in my Orchiata mix in an 8” pot on 8/6/20 as it was a huge division with great roots. The spike bloomed on 8/25/20 with 4 flowers!! Quite spectacular, those flowers had better form and were bigger. After that, it did not thrive in growth. So I repotted it (again in spike) 9/4/21. I downsized the pot because of root loss and went from super to super/power + mix and it is happier. It bloomed again (this bloom) 11/7/21 with 2 flowers. So I expect once it settles in after it’s repot, it will thrive and the next bloom will be more flowers.

The plants just love these lights (from Orchids Ltd.). I just had to figure out what works in my situation, mostly catts love the temps. I’m in the state of VA (US). So depending on your latitude, you might want to adjust the coldest month if you were to think about trying to make this work for you. Hope this helps.


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## terryros (Nov 14, 2021)

Deb, my two plants of Cattleya Betty Ford 'York' are also blooming right now, one with a four flower spike and the other with a two flower spike. The shape of your blooms is great. I thought the Ports of Paradise would look greener? I have also decided to vary my day length from just 11.5 for a couple of mid winter months to 12.5 for two mid-summer months with 12.0 hours the rest of the time. That is the natural range near the equator where most Cattleyas grow. I am varying the light intensity modestly by raising the lights a bit for the mid-winter months, mirroring the 25% decrease in illumination intensity seen at the equator between winter and summer, but this is probably unnecessary but I need things to fiddle with. I think you are getting the cooler conditions and good moisture with good root air that the Phrags need. When you are confident of the conditions, I have a couple of special Phrags to share with you!


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## southernbelle (Nov 14, 2021)

terryros said:


> Deb, my two plants of Cattleya Betty Ford 'York' are also blooming right now, one with a four flower spike and the other with a two flower spike. The shape of your blooms is great. I thought the Ports of Paradise would look greener? I have also decided to vary my day length from just 11.5 for a couple of mid winter months to 12.5 for two mid-summer months with 12.0 hours the rest of the time. That is the natural range near the equator where most Cattleyas grow. I am varying the light intensity modestly by raising the lights a bit for the mid-winter months, mirroring the 25% decrease in illumination intensity seen at the equator between winter and summer, but this is probably unnecessary but I need things to fiddle with. I think you are getting the cooler conditions and good moisture with good root air that the Phrags need. When you are confident of the conditions, I have a couple of special Phrags to share with you!


Thank you!! I thought I’d read (don’t know where) that some need less than 12 hr days to trigger bloom, but you think 12 is sufficient? I just got 2 of Bill Goldner’s besseae flavum ‘Broadwaters’ x self seedlings. Since I killed the division of that, they should be a good test of whether it’s working now.


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## terryros (Nov 14, 2021)

Many growers, including the author of the nice series on LED lighting in the recent AOS, just use 12 hours year round with success. I have looked up the natural environment minimum and maximum day length for the species I grow and can find a minimum of 11.5 and maximum of 12.5 for what I grow. Phrags are equatorial so should be fine with this narrow range. I can’t find any reason to use longer than 12.5. Some bifoliate Cattleya and some Paph species might naturally get wider daylength variation but I am not growing these types.


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## NEslipper (Nov 15, 2021)

Thank you so much for the detailed response! I currently grow on south-facing windows, but I’m considering adding some supplemental lights since I’m pretty much out of space, and I’d like to try to bloom them closer to their full potential. The days get pretty short up here in New England this time of year. Your setup seems to be working great!

I get decent temperature drops at night from fall-spring, particularly near my old, drafty windows, but struggle to get much of a differential during the summer. So far it seems to be ok- since most of my plants are fall/winter bloomers, they’re usually finishing up their last growth just as the temperatures start to dip. It’s reassuring though that you’re getting such great blooms without getting down to 62.

If I’m not mistaken, it looks like you have another sheath there on the Betty Ford, so hopefully you’ll get another wave of blooms soon!



southernbelle said:


> Thank you! I really appreciate your comments. Surprisingly, I never get below 63-65 and that’s only in Dec./Jan. But, I almost always have at least a 10 degree day/night difference. Except maybe in winter months.
> 
> The photo below shows the temp goals I go for. The chart originally had minimum temp goals. I removed them because I do my best but can’t bring them as low as I would like. Every month, I manipulate things as much as I can to get as low at night as possible. In winter, I’m limited by my basement temps, as I have no windows in my room, so can only shut off the heat and open the door to the basement. Once, I got to 62 when I left the basement door open to the outside by accident, not something I can do normally (critters come in)!
> 
> ...


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## PeteM (Nov 15, 2021)

southernbelle said:


> Thank you!! I thought I’d read (don’t know where) that some need less than 12 hr days to trigger bloom, but you think 12 is sufficient? I just got 2 of Bill Goldner’s besseae flavum ‘Broadwaters’ x self seedlings. Since I killed the division of that, they should be a good test of whether it’s working now.


 2! … Got a back up this time


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## southernbelle (Nov 15, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> Thank you so much for the detailed response! I currently grow on south-facing windows, but I’m considering adding some supplemental lights since I’m pretty much out of space, and I’d like to try to bloom them closer to their full potential. The days get pretty short up here in New England this time of year. Your setup seems to be working great!
> 
> I get decent temperature drops at night from fall-spring, particularly near my old, drafty windows, but struggle to get much of a differential during the summer. So far it seems to be ok- since most of my plants are fall/winter bloomers, they’re usually finishing up their last growth just as the temperatures start to dip. It’s reassuring though that you’re getting such great blooms without getting down to 62.
> 
> If I’m not mistaken, it looks like you have another sheath there on the Betty Ford, so hopefully you’ll get another wave of blooms soon!


Thanks! Yes, I have another sheath there. I’m trying to nurture it, but I’m a sucker for blooms, so I move the plants in bloom upstairs to my breakfast room window so I can enjoy them. Unfortunately, it’s an eastern/southeastern exposure so I’ll have to see if the sheath has enough light to mature, especially this time of year. Will keep you posted.


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## DrLeslieEe (Nov 25, 2021)

I have always love PP. Well done...


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## terryros (Nov 25, 2021)

Deb, I know you dislike this naming stuff and messing around with Orchid Roots, but right now, the Ports of Paradise is an Rlc because Rl digbyana as one of the parents. The Betty Ford is a straight Cattleya because purpurata in the background is now C and not L. I don’t go changing detailed commercial tags that are out of date, just the separate detailed listing of my plants. When I need to make a new tag myself with my label maker I am even leaving off the beginning stuff, so I just have Betty Ford on the tag! Genetic studies will probably keep spasmodically changing things with plants and I don’t want to chase the changes on my tags.


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## Guldal (Nov 25, 2021)

Two strikingly coloured flowers! Congrats on the flowering, Belle!


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## southernbelle (Nov 25, 2021)

Guldal said:


> Two strikingly coloured flowers! Congrats on the flowering, Belle!


Thanks!


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## southernbelle (Nov 25, 2021)

terryros said:


> Deb, I know you dislike this naming stuff and messing around with Orchid Roots, but right now, the Ports of Paradise is an Rlc because Rl digbyana as one of the parents. The Betty Ford is a straight Cattleya because purpurata in the background is now C and not L. I don’t go changing detailed commercial tags that are out of date, just the separate detailed listing of my plants. When I need to make a new tag myself with my label maker I am even leaving off the beginning stuff, so I just have Betty Ford on the tag! Genetic studies will probably keep spasmodically changing things with plants and I don’t want to chase the changes on my tags.


Thanks! Yes, it’s hard enough for someone only seriously growing for about the last 4 years to figure out the intricacies of names/nomenclature without them changing what the growers’ tags say. Sabatoge . I’m kidding, but I’m one of those detailed people who wants my tags to be exactly right so it makes me a bit crazy. But, c’est la vie!
Oh, it’s not so much Orchid Roots that makes me nuts, I can maneuver that pretty well. It’s Orchid Pro that I seem to never find what’s there. I need to do the tutorial but when I want the info, I don’t want to take the time. But it is getting better and growing on me.


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