# Five Besseae in bloom



## Achamore (Jul 28, 2016)

Never had 5 besseae in bloom at the same time before. Ok, one is a D'allesandroi, but even so, I thought it worth taking the trouble to shoot a group portrait this morning.


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## Sirius (Jul 28, 2016)

:clap:

Beautiful. Care to share your growing conditions and practices?


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## NYEric (Jul 28, 2016)

Yay besseae!


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## suzyquec (Jul 28, 2016)

Absolutely gorgeous.


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## dodidoki (Jul 28, 2016)

Any culture tips? I just suffer with them, not an easy stuff.


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## Achamore (Jul 28, 2016)

They're in bark, not repotted often, and I water them heavily every day. I grow them both cool and warm, they seem happy in both halves of my greenhouse. I've begun using those Jobes fertiliser sticks in the past year, as other feeding is difficult with my setup. Oh, and there's LOTS of dissolved salts in the spring water we have here, which is also pretty acidic, about pH of 6.3. The one thing I have learnt the hard way is to never let water sit in the crown of a besseae, as that will bring on rot in the crown more or less overnight. (Unlike kovachii, which is incredibly hardy in that regard.)


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## adiaphane (Jul 28, 2016)

This reminds me I need a besseae flavum. How much light are you growing yours in?


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## SlipperFan (Jul 28, 2016)

Wow, that is a fantastic sight! And a very good photo, also.


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## trdyl (Jul 28, 2016)

Well done, Don!


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## troy (Jul 28, 2016)

Excellent!!! Except the one with no color, throw that one away!!!!


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## abax (Jul 28, 2016)

I've have four in bloom at one time, so you beat me by one. My besseae seem to bloom all at the same time
within a week or so. The flowers and the photo are excellent. Magic Spring Water is his secret! I think Gigha
is a fairrie place.


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## eaborne (Jul 29, 2016)

Fabulous photo!


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## Hien (Jul 29, 2016)

all are very nice , the chubby one is no question a besseae , but to my eyes the other three could be something in between the besseae ...dalessandroi spectrum


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## Kawarthapine (Jul 29, 2016)

I love your group shot.

Great culture... Your plants look extremely happy and I imagine you must be as well, with good reason.


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## mrhappyrotter (Jul 30, 2016)

Hien said:


> all are very nice , the chubby one is no question a besseae , but to my eyes the other three could be something in between the besseae ...dalessandroi spectrum



That's what I was thinking as well.

Amazing flowers either way. I like the flower on the one at the top right the most, though I'm glad I don't have to find space for it -- it looks like it prefers to stretch out a bit with its growing habit.


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## Achamore (Jul 30, 2016)

The one on the upper right is my favourite, and to my eye has none of the hallmarks of dalessandroi. And the one in the lower left is besseae 'Icarus' (3N) which I bought about 8 years back from Orchids Limited in Minnesota.


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## Justin (Jul 30, 2016)

Gorgeous


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## Brabantia (Jul 30, 2016)

Beautiful collection !


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## Hien (Jul 30, 2016)

Achamore said:


> The one on the upper right is my favourite, and to my eye has none of the hallmarks of dalessandroi. And the one in the lower left is besseae 'Icarus' (3N) which I bought about 8 years back from Orchids Limited in Minnesota.



That is a good collection of besseae, I like the fact that they all look different from each other , sort of what nature would produce .
They are all keepers for sure


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## JeanLux (Jul 31, 2016)

Bravo !!!! Jean


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## garysan (Jul 31, 2016)

Do you know what light levels & humidity they're getting? My phrags don't seem to be doing that well this year and although I've got great root growth and new shoots, they're either not spiking or aborting spikes rather than taking them full term. Can't figure out if it's not enough light, not enough fert or not enough water...

I water every other day (hybrids are in trays of water, species are not) and fert at half strength every third watering (effectively once per week).


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## Ozpaph (Jul 31, 2016)

beautiful collection


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## Hamlet (Jul 31, 2016)

Oh wow, gorgeous bunch! Is the one on the top left dalessandroi? I like that one the best.


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## Achamore (Jul 31, 2016)

garysan said:


> Do you know what light levels & humidity they're getting? My phrags don't seem to be doing that well this year and although I've got great root growth and new shoots, they're either not spiking or aborting spikes rather than taking them full term. Can't figure out if it's not enough light, not enough fert or not enough water...
> 
> I water every other day (hybrids are in trays of water, species are not) and fert at half strength every third watering (effectively once per week).



I'm up in southern Scotland, so my light levels will be worse than yours. I would bet its the watering schedule. Unless its one of the really long-petalled species, I would begin watering daily and heavily. Certainly all the short petalled phrags I have known all love as much water as I can give them, and respond well to that.


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## garysan (Aug 1, 2016)

Achamore said:


> I'm up in southern Scotland, so my light levels will be worse than yours. I would bet its the watering schedule. Unless its one of the really long-petalled species, I would begin watering daily and heavily. Certainly all the short petalled phrags I have known all love as much water as I can give them, and respond well to that.



Am I correct in assuming yours aren't in saucers of water/SH and are just watered normally (but every day)?

I grow under lights and believe (from my free app fc measurement) that they're getting approx. 1000-1400fc of light. My Paphs which are a touch closer to the lights than the Phrags seem to be doing great and producing spikes, flowering nicely, etc.


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## eteson (Aug 1, 2016)

Amazing picture! Very good culture.


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## Achamore (Aug 1, 2016)

garysan said:


> Am I correct in assuming yours aren't in saucers of water/SH and are just watered normally (but every day)?



Correct. I have found that the phrags I sit in water don't do as well as those which don't. Not sure why. But that's my experience.


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## Spaph (Aug 1, 2016)

Awesome growing, great group shot!


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## Achamore (Aug 2, 2016)

Spaph said:


> Awesome growing, great group shot!



Took a good bit of wriggling them all into good positions. :wink:


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