C. Caudabec Candy - Orchid Board

SouthPark · #1 04-04-2020, 07:43 PM

This one is a bit of a chameleon.

The colouring - in particular how pink it can get, seems to be quite temperature dependent. Temperature dependence of flower colouring is well known among lots of orchids.

This time around, I allowed the plant to receive quite bright light - direct early to late morning sunlight (which makes the plant quite warm, and maybe the buds too) - right through to the budding and flowering stage. Not very pink at all. More toward the whitish side. Will see if there's any change in the days ahead.

I do know for sure that - towards the end of the bloom period, the flowers will quite abruptly transition to a reddish-pink colour.

The photos below were taken today, with the C. Caudabec Candy flowers opened for several days now (since buds first opening).

C. Caudabec Candy-caudabec-candy_2020_1-jpg

C. Caudabec Candy-caudabec-candy_2020_1-jpg

C. Caudabec Candy-caudabec-candy_2020_2-jpg

C. Caudabec Candy-caudabec-candy_2020_3-jpg

Above: C. Caudabec Candy (right) with Ctt. Porcia 'Cannizarro' (left).

Jeff214 · #2 04-05-2020, 12:16 PM

I'd have guessed more pigmentation under higher light, in response to light-induced oxidative stress. Maybe not so much in the flower? Does the spot number increase under brighter conditions?

Do you prefer it more pink? more white? or do you like the chameleon-ness of it, haha. Nice blooms!

SouthPark · #3 04-05-2020, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

I'd have guessed more pigmentation under higher light, in response to light-induced oxidative stress. Maybe not so much in the flower? Does the spot number increase under brighter conditions?

Me too Jeff! I would has assumed that too! I heard also from growers that some catts - such as yellow flowered catts - may be just all yellow in warm climates, while in quite cold climates, they may have red regions and red patterns around the lips.

A really interesting thing about this C. Caudabec candy orchid is - it was originally growing in quite a cold place, and it arrived with flowers - that still lasted a while ----- that looked like this: Click Here. Those very pink flowers were from the same plant as in this thread.

But where I live, in the much warmer northern region ----- having the plant in the shade during blooming resulted in Click Here.

And when I gave the orchid lots of sun, it resulted in that whiter one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

Do you prefer it more pink? more white? or do you like the chameleon-ness of it, haha.

I prefer the very strong pink colour Jeff. But also like the white with spots colour too. I will do some extra 'runs' for future buds, just to make that the correlation is really there! I'll give it more shade next time, and will see if it changes any more in colour in the next few days.

I know that toward the end of the bloom ..... at the very end, just when the flowers fade right out, they change colour and have some kind of glazed look ..... such as in this photo Click Here.

The flowers are full of surprises haha.

Jeff214 · #4 04-05-2020, 01:25 PM

As the cells in the flower die, it may be lysing and releasing its pigment. You can see the spots where the pigments are most concentrated disappearing as the overall pink of the flowers increase. Just a thought, might be something else.

SouthPark · #5 04-05-2020, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

As the cells in the flower die, it may be lysing and releasing its pigment. You can see the spots where the pigments are most concentrated disappearing as the overall pink of the flowers increase. Just a thought, might be something else.

Jeff ...... I believe you hit it --- right on the mark. That's very likely what it is! Once I see the flowers changing to that final state and colour, it's not too long after they will wilt.

rbarata · #6 04-05-2020, 06:12 PM

One of mine with a similar color and spot pattern turns into a complete pink losing the spots.
Perfectly normal!

SouthPark · #7 04-05-2020, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbarata

Does the blooms change color as they fade?
One of mine with a similar color and spot pattern turns into a complete pink losing the spots.

rbarata ...... they do!!! Just prior to the wilt ..... the colour change to the darkish maroon or maybe quite dark pinkish red occurs on my flowers. And then they wilt or drop off maybe 1 day later.

Thanks for mentioning that your orchid with similar colour and pattern has the same behaviour. Even if it is for a short time during fade, just capturing photos of the flower just before the degradation sets in too much ----- is still very nice! (ie. one extra encore!!).