# Cattleya maxima



## naoki (Nov 5, 2017)

I got this from a ST member, Bullsie, in 2016. It is a good grower, but it skipped blooming last year, so this is the first time I see the flowers. I like it. I hope that it will make more flowers next year. I don't know too well about Cattleya, but this one seems to be taller than the other highland forms.




Cattleya maxima on Flickr




Cattleya maxima on Flickr




Cattleya maxima on Flickr




Cattleya maxima on Flickr


----------



## Ozpaph (Nov 5, 2017)

you have to be happy with that!


----------



## Happypaphy7 (Nov 5, 2017)

Such a beautiful species!!!
I love that second close up shot showcasing the intricate patterns in the lip. 
Do you use LED on your Cattleya during Alaska winter??

What is going on with the leaves?

Mine was a shorter variety and always bloomed around summer time. Late summer. 
Some upland varieties I have seen were taller than yours. A lot taller. Unless your pot is 20inch wide.

Can I use your second photo? 
Not for any commercial gain, but just sharing with friends and for personal enjoyment??
Nevermind, I see the footnote explaining this matter. 
Thank you!


----------



## naoki (Nov 6, 2017)

In the summer time, this one is semi-window-sill. In the winter, it is mostly LEDs. Some (traditional) Cattleya are pretty tough under my condition. C. violaceae, C. luteols, C. nobilior are relatively ok, but I have troubles with many others. LEDs can easily provide enough light, but I don't want to spend too much money for the electricity.

Yes, it isn't too tall. The pot is 5" diameter, and the pseudobulb is 7" long, which is still way shorter than the full grown lowland. I have 3 or 4 other highland, but they have much shorter pseudobulbs (5" or less) compared to this one. So I was wondering if this is a hybrid (between lowland and highland).

Off course, you can use any of my (non-human) photos for commercial or any purpose. You can just credit me and mention that it is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0 (e.g. in this page).


----------



## TyroneGenade (Nov 6, 2017)

Well grown plant, congrats, Naoki. 

The plant looks to be growing in a compact fashion, correct? I am also finding that Catts do well for me with the low winter humidity and am interesting in growing more of these but I don't like sprawling Catts... This plant look compact and the leaves present well. How do the other Catts you mention fare?


----------



## blondie (Nov 6, 2017)

Beautiful looking flowers and plant


----------



## SlipperFan (Nov 6, 2017)

What a crazy beautiful lip!


----------



## naoki (Nov 7, 2017)

Yes, the lip is beautiful!



TyroneGenade said:


> The plant looks to be growing in a compact fashion, correct? I am also finding that Catts do well for me with the low winter humidity and am interesting in growing more of these but I don't like sprawling Catts... This plant look compact and the leaves present well. How do the other Catts you mention fare?



This one is hanging out from the edge of the pot (I will repot soon), so it is stuck there, but with a couple C. maxima I have, their internodes are fairly short. But there may be individual variations about the internode lengths. This particular plant is a bit tall side (15-16"), though.

C. luteola is very compact, and free-flowering. Internodes isn't too short for the size of the plant, and it does escape from the pot, but I wouldn't call it sprawling.

C. araguaiensis and C. kerri are compact, too. How about rupicolous Cattleya? They don't make huge flowers, but they are colorful and some of them are compact. ID-ing those are super frustrating, though (most literatures aren't in English).


----------



## TyroneGenade (Nov 7, 2017)

naoki said:


> This one is hanging out from the edge of the pot ...
> 
> C. luteola is very compact, and free-flowering...
> 
> C. araguaiensis and C. kerri are compact, too. How about rupicolous Cattleya?...



Thanks for the info. I will experiment with different plants next spring and see what works under my conditions. I am interested in the rupicolous but wonder if they will be OK in the water culture?


----------



## SlipperFan (Nov 7, 2017)

Beautiful photos, also, by-the-way!


----------



## gego (Nov 8, 2017)

Very pretty lip.


----------



## paphioboy (Nov 9, 2017)

Beautiful! Love the veining on the lip of this species. I have a piece of the semi-alba form (I think it is the popular 'La Padrena' clone). I find the leaf tips of new growths keep turning black until I potted the thing in mainly limestone and charcoal. Does anyone else experience this species being susceptible to calcium deficiency?


----------



## My Green Pets (Nov 11, 2017)

The pink-on-white veining is really nice! Love it! You should post a pic of the plant in its grow area


----------



## naoki (Nov 12, 2017)

paphioboy said:


> I find the leaf tips of new growths keep turning black until I potted the thing in mainly limestone and charcoal. Does anyone else experience this species being susceptible to calcium deficiency?



Some of my Cattleya do the black leaf tips. But in my case, it is probably not related to nutrient. When they get exposed to some (relatively strong) stress (e.g. root rot, change in the grow environment, mismatch in the temp, etc), they usually respond by making much smaller growth. These are the ones which suffer from the leaf turning black from the tip. After 1 or 2 additional pseudobulbs, their pseudobulbs become the normal size, and they rarely show this symptom without changing the culture. With my four C. maxima, I haven't experienced any issues (I have pretty limited experience with Cattleya). A lot of people say that the black leaf tips may be Ca-related, but I just use MSU or K-Lite most of the time (most are in med. bark, and a few are in sphagnum moss).



CambriaWhat said:


> The pink-on-white veining is really nice! Love it! You should post a pic of the plant in its grow area



Hmmm, the grow area is pretty ugly. It's in an open top-29 gallon aquarium sitting right next to the S. facing window.


----------



## jjkOC (Nov 13, 2017)

Wow! I am amazed that Cattleyas can grow in Alaska! My friends live in Fairbanks and they are still adjusting to the long dark and freezing cold winters!



naoki said:


> In the summer time, this one is semi-window-sill. In the winter, it is mostly LEDs. Some (traditional) Cattleya are pretty tough under my condition. C. violaceae, C. luteols, C. nobilior are relatively ok, but I have troubles with many others. LEDs can easily provide enough light, but I don't want to spend too much money for the electricity.
> 
> Yes, it isn't too tall. The pot is 5" diameter, and the pseudobulb is 7" long, which is still way shorter than the full grown lowland. I have 3 or 4 other highland, but they have much shorter pseudobulbs (5" or less) compared to this one. So I was wondering if this is a hybrid (between lowland and highland).
> 
> Off course, you can use any of my (non-human) photos for commercial or any purpose. You can just credit me and mention that it is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0 (e.g. in this page).


----------



## naoki (Sep 20, 2021)

A couple species of Cattleya are blooming in my place. Frequently, with Cattleya, their roots are tangled up in the growing area, so I don't feel like taking photos. But since I got the two morphs (tall and short, or lowland and upland forms) of C. maxima blooming simultaneously, I decided to take side-by-side photos. The flowers look similar, but I'm surprised to find that these two have completely different fragrance; the tall one is pleasant, but the short one is rather stinky. More info in my blog post (link).

The tall form (left) is the same plant as the original post of this thread.




Short form; 'Königin Silvia' SM/DOG x 'Hsinying'. I wasn't sure if the spelling of the first parent is correct; I thought that it was 'Königin Sylva', but following Guldal's suggestin below, I corrected the name. I think both parents are supposed to be alba.



Tall form:


----------



## GuRu (Sep 20, 2021)

Lovely flowers and interesting to see both forms side by side.


----------



## PeteM (Sep 20, 2021)

Fantastic flowers. Are you still growing these under LEDs? I’m interested to learn what brand lights you are using and what you set the day and night intervals to throughout the year. Thanks!


----------



## Guldal (Sep 20, 2021)

Nice display... and intriguing to see the two forms side by side. 


naoki said:


> Short form; 'Königin Sylva' SM/DOG x 'Hsinying'. I'm not sure if the spelling of the first parent is correct.


My guess was, that the first parent was named after Silvia, the Queen of Sweden, who is of German origin...a little bit of looking around online seems to confirm that supposition. So the correct name for that parenral clone, that is Indeed an albinistic colour form, would be: Catt. maxima fma. alba 'Königin Silvia'.


----------



## naoki (Sep 20, 2021)

PeteM said:


> Fantastic flowers. Are you still growing these under LEDs? I’m interested to learn what brand lights you are using and what you set the day and night intervals to throughout the year. Thanks!



Pete, yes, they are under LEDs. But in the summer, their main light source is natural light through south facing window. The area is illuminated by Sunritek T8 LED (link, link2 to my blog posts). It is fairly old, but it was one of the most efficient T8 LED bulbs 6 years ago. The short form is on wire shelves, and 4'x2' area is illuminated by 4 LED T8 bulbs. But they are really close to the plant; the leaves really close (touching distance) to the bulb got some sun-burn. The tall form doesn't fit in the shelf, so it is sitting next to the shelf. I have a flood light type LED bulb shining on it.

I used to do 12 hours of light in the summer and 11 hours of in winter. But I've been forgetting to change the setting, so in the last 2-3 years, I think it has been 11 hours both winter and summer.



Guldal said:


> My guess was, that the first parent was named after Silvia, the Queen of Sweden, who is of German origin...a little bit of looking around online seems to confirm that supposition. So the correct name for that parenral clone, that is Indeed an albinistic colour form, would be: Catt. maxima fma. alba 'Königin Silvia'.



Wow, thank you verymuch for the insight! I now searched the meaning of German word, Königin, which is queen. I'll update the blog post!


----------



## DrLeslieEe (Sep 20, 2021)

Very nice comparison of the different plant morphology. 

Sometimes two albas can produce colored progeny because:

1. the alba genes are located in different areas
2. one parent is not an alba, but rather an albescent or light rosada (pinkish).


----------



## naoki (Sep 20, 2021)

DrLeslieEe said:


> Very nice comparison of the different plant morphology.
> 
> Sometimes two albas can produce colored progeny because:
> 
> ...



Yes, the first explanation is called complementation in genetics. If I can find the photo of 'Hsinying', I can use it as an example for my genetics class!


----------

