# Doritus awarded!



## Rick (Nov 13, 2011)

I went down to the Atlanta center with a couple of plants and got an award on this Doritus pulcherima. 86pt AM and named it "fuchsia fantasy"


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## Marc (Nov 13, 2011)

Congratulations rick and I really think that you chose a nice fitting name for this plant.


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## cnycharles (Nov 13, 2011)

congrats!


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2011)

I was just checking back in my records and figured out I got this plant at our society summer auction 6/03 (for $10). It actually has some good breeding in it, with one HCC parent and the other from OZ.

This one could be one of my poster children for both Ca/Mg sup with low K and basket culture. I couldn't get it to bloom for several years (and it grew poorly). At one time this plant was all red/purple, which is when I started Mag sulfate spiking. That turned it green again and started some better growth. Adding some well water to my RO (more Ca and silicates) kicked it up another notch. I think it was about a year ago, after finally getting some pretty good blooms, that I moved it into a basket (there's a bunch of limestone gravel in the moss too). This spring is when I pushed a lot less K with CaNO3 boosting.

The buds open slowly from the bottom up. The oldest blooms on these spikes have been open for over 2 months now.

I was pretty excited about getting an award with this species since there are already 126 previous awards to this species (and varieties).


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## Shiva (Nov 13, 2011)

Congrats and beautiful. But it was Doritis before being transferred to Phalaenopsis.


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2011)

Shiva said:


> But it was Doritis before being transferred to Phalaenopsis.



That's Ok the judges knew what it was. It seems like Orchid Wiz or AQplus hasn't made the update yet.


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## paphreek (Nov 13, 2011)

Congratulations, Rick!:clap:


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## koshki (Nov 13, 2011)

It's gorgeous! Congratulations!


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## Justin (Nov 13, 2011)

what a beast...good growing.


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## NYEric (Nov 13, 2011)

Excellent! congrats!


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## W. Beetus (Nov 13, 2011)

Amazing color! Very worthy plant.


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## SlipperFan (Nov 13, 2011)

Beautiful color, and excellent flower shape. Congratulations!


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2011)

Thanks All!


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## paphioboy (Nov 13, 2011)

Congratulations! Very nice doritis... Nice full petals and lovely colour.. 

BTW, it is normal for doritis to turn reddish purple when exposed to bright light. I personally think it is one of the toughest orchids in existence, growing naturally as a lithophyte in direct sun, as can be seen here:

http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/search?q=doritis


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## SlipperFan (Nov 13, 2011)

Thanks, paphioboy -- I had no idea they grew like that!


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## paphioboy (Nov 14, 2011)

You're welcome, Dot.. Not always in such dry places, usually rocks along streams, if I'm not mistaken. But in cultivation, they grow the best roots when given very rapid drying cycles, very different culture from phalaenopsis. They tend to be unhappy in continually moist media and grow slowly.


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## Roth (Nov 14, 2011)

Rick said:


> I went down to the Atlanta center with a couple of plants and got an award on this Doritus pulcherima. 86pt AM and named it "fuchsia fantasy"



Wait to get an FCC on that one next time, it is really an excellent one, shape, color, flower display... Most likely a tetraploid but for sure a buyssoniana type. Buyssoniana is always described as having fuller bigger flowers, that are 'pale', whilst the former two traits are correct, I have seen wild plants with dark flowers several times. The plant would match buyssoniana as well.



paphioboy said:


> You're welcome, Dot.. Not always in such dry places, usually rocks along streams, if I'm not mistaken. But in cultivation, they grow the best roots when given very rapid drying cycles, very different culture from phalaenopsis. They tend to be unhappy in continually moist media and grow slowly.



Doritis pulcherrima grows in many places, under many different environments. You can see it in Cat Ba Islands, growing on the beach, in pure sand. In Laos, I have seen them like the photos you posted, dry and rocks. In Dien Bien, there is a form with heavily mottled leaves ( now extinct in the wild) that grows with paph villosum in humus in deep shade, and cannot stand of strong light. 

Again in fern roots in Laos you have miniature doritis, with 5cm leaves, soft and round tip, and 4-6 flowers per spike. I grow some of those, and they never change to another type under artificial conditions. In Sabah there used to be some as well, I was too young to pay attention, and never saw those again, just remember the flowers on the way to Sandakan.

But Rick plant is really well grown, beautiful. I think he can expect an FCC if he grows it a couple years more.


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## Candace (Nov 14, 2011)

Congrats.


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## Rick (Nov 14, 2011)

Roth said:


> Most likely a tetraploid but for sure a buyssoniana type. Buyssoniana is always described as having fuller bigger flowers, that are 'pale', whilst the former two traits are correct, I have seen wild plants with dark flowers several times. The plant would match buyssoniana as well.



One of the parents came from OZ So I could see either of the above 2 scenarios plausible in this plant.


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## Rick (Nov 14, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> BTW, it is normal for doritis to turn reddish purple when exposed to bright light. I personally think it is one of the toughest orchids in existence, growing naturally as a lithophyte in direct sun, as can be seen here:
> 
> http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/search?q=doritis



Yes I knew this when it turned red the first time for me, except it wasn't in bright light when it did this in my GH, and it refused any blooming for probably about 4 or 5 years. It's getting about the same amount of light as when I got it in the early years, but the leaf color change after the first couple shots of MagSO4 was dramatic.


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## Roth (Nov 14, 2011)

Rick said:


> One of the parents came from OZ So I could see either of the above 2 scenarios plausible in this plant.



Then it would be a buyssoniana. The Orchid Zone did not breed many phals, and most of their motherplants were from Herb Hager, who had a very special interest in buyssoniana and making tetraploids. ( They released too an excellent strain of phalaenopsis maculata and equestris, of whom exceedingly few plants are alive today).


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## Rick (Nov 14, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> BTW, it is normal for doritis to turn reddish purple when exposed to bright light. I personally think it is one of the toughest orchids in existence, growing naturally as a lithophyte in direct sun, as can be seen here:
> 
> http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/search?q=doritis



But if you look at these insitu pics growing in full sun on the rocks, they are green and not red/purple (at least nothing like what my plant looked like).

The next question to ask is where would the plant be getting any K since there should be next to none in the limestones that these plants generally grow on.


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## biothanasis (Nov 14, 2011)

Fantastic colour!!! Congrats on the award!!!


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## paphioboy (Nov 14, 2011)

> In Dien Bien, there is a form with heavily mottled leaves ( now extinct in the wild) ...



I'm not sure about the 'extinct' status of that variety. I just saw a photo of what looks like that in another forum:

http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchi...y-meetings/17690-our-orchid-club-show-37.html


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## Roth (Nov 14, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> I'm not sure about the 'extinct' status of that variety. I just saw a photo of what looks like that in another forum:
> 
> http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchi...y-meetings/17690-our-orchid-club-show-37.html



Just extinct in the wild, but in culture there are still plants...


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## cnycharles (Nov 14, 2011)

I have one of those mini-doritis pulcherrimas, which didn't seem at all to like my culture. It hasn't tried to put up leaves in quite a while (new ones black off) but the mass of roots seems to be alive (maybe). It never seemed very vigorous, and i'm at a loss as to what to do with it now?


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## paphioboy (Nov 14, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> I have one of those mini-doritis pulcherrimas, which didn't seem at all to like my culture. It hasn't tried to put up leaves in quite a while (new ones black off) but the mass of roots seems to be alive (maybe). It never seemed very vigorous, and i'm at a loss as to what to do with it now?



I think growing it drier and brighter (like phal cornu-cervi) can help...


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## cnycharles (Nov 15, 2011)

It's been pretty dry for the most part, but when I read in roth's post about small doritis pulcherrima growing in amongst tree fern roots I didn't know if maybe I had the wrong media conditions/fertilizer for it. It doesn't look like it's tried to grow new leaves for a while, but the roots still look active. maybe it's deceased...


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## jtrmd (Nov 15, 2011)

congrats


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## emydura (Nov 15, 2011)

Well done Rick. Well deserved.

David


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## JeanLux (Nov 16, 2011)

Congratulations Rick!!!! Jean


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## FlowerFaerie (Nov 16, 2011)

Wow - stunning plant, and congratulations on the award. You have chosen a very fitting name, too.


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## SlipperKing (Nov 16, 2011)

Congrats Rick on your award! It may have been ask already but is this your first award?


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## toddybear (Nov 16, 2011)

Good on you! It's a beauty!


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## Rick (Nov 16, 2011)

SlipperKing said:


> Congrats Rick on your award! It may have been ask already but is this your first award?



No. Two other AM's on Bulbophyllum species, and a CHM on a Malaxis sp.


But no AOS awards for slippers at this time


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## John M (Nov 16, 2011)

Rick said:


> No. Two other AM's on Bulbophyllum species, and a CHM on a Malaxis sp.
> 
> 
> But no AOS awards for slippers at this time



Won't be long now. Your new feeding regimen and basket culture seems to be producing superior results. You're going to be bringing out the best in your plants over the next year or two. 

I keep looking at this Doritis. It sure is stunning and well grown, well bloomed. Congrats again! :clap:


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## abax (Dec 1, 2011)

*The color is stunning, Rick.*

I've had a few little problems with Doritis mixed in with
my mounted species Phal. collection and your suggestions
just might be very helpful. Aside from the gravel, what
else is in that basket besides marvelous roots?


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## Rick (Dec 2, 2011)

abax said:


> I've had a few little problems with Doritis mixed in with
> my mounted species Phal. collection and your suggestions
> just might be very helpful. Aside from the gravel, what
> else is in that basket besides marvelous roots?



The basket was lined with sphagnum before adding the plant and gravel. There's also some building sand (maybe a tablespoon) washed down into it as a top dress.

I got a big shift in this plant before going to the basket. Namely by dosing with epsom salts, and then "diluting" my fertilizer with calcium nitrate.

You may want to ckeck out some of the threads started on my nutrition changes, since they have been helping just about all my plants (I have a lot of mounted phals too).


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## Pete (Dec 4, 2011)

congrats. a beautifully colored and well formed example of the species.

also roth and paphioboy-you guys talking about the tough growing conditions of this species reminds me of the superb photos a speaker at the recent WOC showed during his lecture 'orchids of laos'. he showed very similar photos to the ones shown here.


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## SlipperFan (Dec 4, 2011)

I just saw this in the Atlanta OS newsletter. Congrats again, Rick!


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