Cattleya Bob Betts ‘The Virgin’ FCC/AOS x Cattleya Bob Betts ‘Conqueror’ FCC/AOS

[PeteM]

I purchased 3 flasks of white cattleyas from Marni Turkel back in 2018. This is one of them.

Cattleya Bob Betts ‘The Virgin’ FCC/AOS x Cattleya Bob Betts ‘Conqueror’ FCC/AOS

Unfortunately, only 4-5 plants survived from this flask under my care. It’s been a real struggle and none of them are really thriving yet but they continue to grow each year.

This plant was the first to bloom for me last year, but the flower opened up a bit wonky and I never posted in the forum.

This second run is very impressive in person, while the form has room for improvement, the flowers have a real presence in the grow room compared to the other white cattleyas currently in bloom. I’m liking the improvements in form compared to the first bloom and with some fresh media this year, I’m hoping it will continue to trend in the right direction.



Enjoy.

 

[niche]

That is beautiful. It has all the frills.

 

[monocotman]

Looking promising. Cattleya blooms can improve out of sight as the plant matures. You wouldn’t even recognise them as the same plant.

 

[terryros]

Although I have been a serious grower for about 25 years, I have not had the courage to buy a flask! I also feared the space it might take up, but that was assuming that many plants survived. You are an excellent Cattleya grower and I wonder what you think has caused your difficulty growing and maturing the flasklings? Could they all be tetraploids and just slow growing?

 

[tomp]

Wow and wow again from one white Catt lover to another

 

[PeteM]

Although I have been a serious grower for about 25 years, I have not had the courage to buy a flask! I also feared the space it might take up, but that was assuming that many plants survived. You are an excellent Cattleya grower and I wonder what you think has caused your difficulty growing and maturing the flasklings? Could they all be tetraploids and just slow growing?

It’s never too late for a flask. I think in the end I got tired of seeing such high priced divisions of the most famous white clones. When I saw these flasks available around the same time I was starting to fill my grow room, I thought I would have the space. Seven years later, space is definitely an issue but the journey has lead to some remarkable blooms that have better form in some cases than divisions I could purchase for hundreds of dollars. And at $40-$60 a flask, it made sense to try. I was able to and still am selling off a few here and there.

This flask was more difficult to get the seedlings to survive than the other two, even though I gave them the same amount of resources. I think some plants are just generally better suited to different conditions, this one seems very sensitive to repotting and choice of media. 80% of the difficulties are probably due to my own ill timed decisions. Cattleyas are still a real struggle for me. It oscillates between thriving then crashing.. and when that happens it’s years of nursing them back to health to a point where I can sell them or bloom them again.

I was talking to Deborah about wanting to get out of the cattleya growing altogether because of the length of time at nursing them back, my tables are filled with cattleyas that won’t bloom for years to come. It’s absolutely frustrating at times. I’m still planning to keep my main bloomers and somehow prune down the collection so I can focus more on phrags. But thank you for the nice complement. I do love when they bloom and I am rewarded after years of struggling with myself and questioning my growing practices. I still feel I’m learning and an amateur when compared to others in the forum.

 

[southernbelle]

I thought I commented but don’t see that it posted. This is gorgeous, Pete! It looks huge. If I stopped growing catts, I’d stop growing. 60% of my plants are cattleyas.i love the big fluffy type that say Wow! And this is sure one of them! Great growing!

 

[Ozpaph]

well done. Keep going and growing.