mrhappyrotter
Grand Chupacabra
This one is Phrag. kovachii 'Anabolic' x besseae 'Rob's Choice' from OrchidWeb. I think it's 3N plant, but don't quote me, I'm pretty sure Rob's Choice is 4N.
I purchased this plant sometime around 2018 or 2019 when Jason Fischer was in North Carolina and I was able to meet him in person. Yes it was ridiculously expensive, but it was my first opportunity to buy something of this caliber in person where I could see the plant before making the decision. Plus, I was buying directly from Jason Fischer!
Anyway, this is a pretty decent quality flower. Nice size, consistent color, symmetrical, and shapely. It's been open several days, yet the petals still seem pretty flat. Of course as the flower continues to age they may not stay this flat, but probably won't change dramatically.
On to the bad news, I'm not sure this is worth the money for me personally. I don't hate the flower, far from it, it's a good flower. But I was hoping for darker & redder (or orange) color. When the flower first opened, the red coloration was deep and saturated, like an MDC or similar cross. That got my hopes up. Oh well. The other issue with this plant is that it is sssssssssssssslow growing. It was near blooming size when I bought it half a decade ago. The first growth finally matured last year but this is the first year it actually bloomed (I can't recall if it tried to bloom before but blasted).
Part of the reason I think I'm less thrilled about this is because I ended up with a flask of Phrag. Robert Jan Quene (Fritz Schomburg x besseae) and the best of those really spoiled it for me. They're not quite as large as Fritz, but several of them have been quite shapely, have much richer color, and are faster growing as well as more reliable blooming.
I also purchased a Phrag. La Vingtaine from Jason at the same time that I purchased this plant (and it was equally ridiculously expensive). It tried to bloom last year but all the buds blasted. I'm probably pressing my luck by even mentioning it, but that plant is in spike again this year. I am (and was) more excited about that cross than this Fritz. So, fingers crossed that it actually blooms this time and that the flowers have color more my taste. But we'll see.
I purchased this plant sometime around 2018 or 2019 when Jason Fischer was in North Carolina and I was able to meet him in person. Yes it was ridiculously expensive, but it was my first opportunity to buy something of this caliber in person where I could see the plant before making the decision. Plus, I was buying directly from Jason Fischer!
Anyway, this is a pretty decent quality flower. Nice size, consistent color, symmetrical, and shapely. It's been open several days, yet the petals still seem pretty flat. Of course as the flower continues to age they may not stay this flat, but probably won't change dramatically.
On to the bad news, I'm not sure this is worth the money for me personally. I don't hate the flower, far from it, it's a good flower. But I was hoping for darker & redder (or orange) color. When the flower first opened, the red coloration was deep and saturated, like an MDC or similar cross. That got my hopes up. Oh well. The other issue with this plant is that it is sssssssssssssslow growing. It was near blooming size when I bought it half a decade ago. The first growth finally matured last year but this is the first year it actually bloomed (I can't recall if it tried to bloom before but blasted).
Part of the reason I think I'm less thrilled about this is because I ended up with a flask of Phrag. Robert Jan Quene (Fritz Schomburg x besseae) and the best of those really spoiled it for me. They're not quite as large as Fritz, but several of them have been quite shapely, have much richer color, and are faster growing as well as more reliable blooming.
I also purchased a Phrag. La Vingtaine from Jason at the same time that I purchased this plant (and it was equally ridiculously expensive). It tried to bloom last year but all the buds blasted. I'm probably pressing my luck by even mentioning it, but that plant is in spike again this year. I am (and was) more excited about that cross than this Fritz. So, fingers crossed that it actually blooms this time and that the flowers have color more my taste. But we'll see.
