Soph. coccinea has bloomed --

[Stray59]

Hello everyone:
My recently purchased Sophronitis coccinea has bloomed finally. I am very happy with the color, but very disappointed in the size of the bloom. This seedling line was presented as producing up to 2 - 2 1/2" blooms and as you can see they are about the size of a nickel. The plant is very vigourous and I expect several more blooms to come from this growing cycle.
I have emailed the supplier, but I am sure there is little that he will do as these were all seedlings and thus no outcome is guaranteed. How do I go about purchasing one of the large blooming (4n) coccinea lines?

Stumped -
Steve

[orchidsarefun]

not sure where you purchased yours from but I have read only good things about this vendor :

New World Orchids Sedirea japonica

I like the yellow !

if you were sold yours as 4N, then the vendor has to make you "whole" ( false advertising and that schpiel ). The tetraploids are far more expensive than the diploids primarily because of bloom size.

GL

in fact I just called the owner and asked him to e-mail me a price list as his web-page is out of date.

[Stray59]

I have purchased one of the New World Orchid Sophronitis coccinea - it has not bloomed out yet, but has two blooms that are coming on. I will post when they bloom out and I hope they will be the larger bloom. This coccinea came from Golden Gate Orchids and I notice they are not listing them now. It was expensive and I really am not happy with this at this time. Will let you know what results.
It's a beautiful little bloom, with emphasis on little. The color is great, but so are 2N coccinea.
Thanks for the response -
Steve

[Stray59]

I received a late night message from the seller. Tom with Golden Gate Orchids said that it take 10-14 days for the 4N to fill out and flatten to their full size. I will be doing daily shots to see the "growth" of the bloom - should be interesting.
Steve
Will keep you posted!

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by Stray59

I received a late night message from the seller. Tom with Golden Gate Orchids said that it take 10-14 days for the 4N to fill out and flatten to their full size. I will be doing daily shots to see the "growth" of the bloom - should be interesting.
Steve
Will keep you posted!

it should also be noted that larger, older, healthier plants produce more, larger, and better flowers than young seedlings.

[Stray59]

Thanks for the info CMB:
I knew this was true with most other orchids, but as this is a really established plant, I am expecting the plant will bloom accordingly. Again, I guess I just jumped the gun on this as it does look a little larger today (subliminal suggestion maybe?)
Will keep posts of the little guy as the size may correct itself.
Happy Holidays
Steve

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by Stray59

Thanks for the info CMB:
I knew this was true with most other orchids, but as this is a really established plant, I am expecting the plant will bloom accordingly. Again, I guess I just jumped the gun on this as it does look a little larger today (subliminal suggestion maybe?)
Will keep posts of the little guy as the size may correct itself.
Happy Holidays
Steve

even if its an established mature plant, stress of moving to a new location (did you recently acquire it?) could affect that. and maybe it could just be a runt out of the batch of seedlings

[monocotman]

My 4n coccinea can produce a wide variety of bloom sizes - they can vary by 100% easily.
Give the plant a bit of time!
David

[Stray59]

Bob / Dave:
Thanks for the info - I have posted pics both here in the Cattleya section and in the Advances section. Post title is "Sophronitis coccinea 4N bloomed for Christmas". Also in Beginners section there is a post with different pics titled "Last of 2012 blooms".
It was a matter of time and development as the pics will show. I have flowers of various sizes, but one has reached 2 inches across and two others are still developing. In the first pic below you can see that it is striped - orange and scarlet; you don;t notice it with the naked eye, but there is something striking about the color. The other is a clear scarlet red.
I am very pleased with both of these and appreciate your input.
Thanks and Happy New Year!
Steve
Here is a pic of it currently-

And here they both are in bloom-


--By the way - how long do your blooms last? I want to pollinate, but I am not sure of hte maturity of the blooms.

[DelawareJim]

Beautiful flowers there.

If the flower you are disappointed in is a first time flowering, I think you just need to give it another year or so for the plant to really mature. I've noticed seedlings take a couple of flowerings to really come to their full potential.

That said though, environmental conditions also affect flower size and quality.

Cheers.
Jim